Why Smart Readers Like Dumb Blogs
Posted in Blogs on July 22nd, 2010 by Kevin – Be the first to comment
On Social Media Today, Stanford Smith asks an interesting question: do smart people prefer dumb blogs? It seems like a rather ridiculous thing to ask, until you realize he might be right and for reasons you hadn’t though of.
He tells a personal story, so the evidence Smith offers us does not come via charts and graphs. Still, his anecdote resonates. For example, he talks about having a friend critique an article he recently wrote. The friend pointed out a common problem: it’s too smart. Of course, whether an article is “smart” or not ultimately comes down to semantics. What we often consider to be the smartest stuff on the Internet is really an endless back-and-forth of point and counterpoint. Bloggers writing smartly dig themselves into a downward spiral by incessantly picking apart an argument in pursuit of, as Smith says, “rhetorical victory.” The problem? Readers care much less about the two sides of the debate than those engaged in it. He writes, speaking directly to these “smart bloggers”: