Very astute.
Mike,
Really salient points, most of which I agree with...However I do take exception with two areas:
(1) "most blogs are first-person, they're self-published soapboxes. They lack third-party validation." While I agree with the first-person comment, I completely disagree with the soapbox comment. They are no more soapboxes than the speaker at a presenation sharing his/her experience, the author who writes a book on an area that they are an expert about, or the professor that facilitates a discussion to advance his/her students knowledge of a content area. With regard to the third party validation aspect, that's where increased readership and comments should come into play.
I'm not suggesting abandoning any of the areas that you referenced in your posting, but at the same time, blogs can fulfill a similar need.
(2) In the March 2007 issue of Associations Now, there is an interview with Howard Gardner. During the interview he makes reference to "unstructured reading" e.g. reading outside of your core interest area to stimulate additional creativity and ideas. Most of the sources you cite (and I am sure you were simply making a point versus trying to compile and exhaustive list of materials that Association Execs read) are traditional...blogs can fulfill the need for unstructured reading...and perhaps fill an unmet or even unknown need.
(3) A blog is more than just a format for information...it can be the start of a conversation or a chance to teach and or learn...we have to transcend conventional definitions in order to realize the true potential of the possibilities that surround us.
Again, I am not trying to disagree with your overall thesis here because I do agree with you wholeheartedly, but at the same time, I fear that if people don't venture into the unknown and try something new every now and again, regardless if there is time or not (nobody has the amount of time they want to spend on the things that matter most to them), learning and growing stops.
"Leave the beaten track occasionally and dive into the woods. For you are certain to see something you will have never seen before." - Alexander Graham Bell
Nice post, Mike. Yeah, that sentence about third-party validation was the one that caught me too. There's nothing wrong with third-party validation, of course, but there IS something wrong about relying on that information exclusively. Is your intuition third-party validated? It's good to be aware of what is validated and what isn't, but you shut yourself off to a large portion of the world if you wait for validation before exploring.
And there is something about this that makes me think of the Long Tail. Third party validation of writing came from "there is only so much room on our bookstore shelves, so we have to reject a lot of writers" mentality. We equate third-party validation with "good," and I don't think that is the case always. I'll have to think about that one some more.
Please don't get me wrong -- I'm not advocating that association executives should not read blogs or making excuses for why they don't. I'm just trying to point out what I believe is the thinking that causes them to overlook blogs (or other formats). I agree completely that execs should look for ideas "off the beaten track."
Despite the talk about blogs having "jumped the shark," I think that's mostly hand-wringing by the incredibly tech-savvy. They're valuable and will continue to be valuable, at least until someone invents the next format.
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