Why Do I Quote Seth Godin?

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This question popped into my mind unexpectedly. Well, not entirely … I was reading one of the responses to David Armano’s decision to open his blog up to selected authors and realised that he had a really good point (Adam says):

I’m sorry. I really like your blog. I find its content useful and meaningful. But all this talk of opening up your ‘personal brand’ is making me reach for the bucket!

It is all well and good to open up your blog to others … but where is the responsibility to your audience? Not only that, why is that each of the 600 blogs that trackback to Seth Godin articles (including mine) basically recycle the same view? Why do I quote Seth Godin? Why do you?
Of course, on one level there is the flow-through traffic. But one of the key reasons is that Seth is an opinion shaper. His insights are his own, they are forceful and they are well articulated. They also reinforce his own story and position.
It is great to have ideas and innovations … but you do need a platform from which to speak. And while blogs allow us to do this on some level … you need an audience first. Otherwise you are just blogging in the wilderness … and brrrrr … it can be cold out here sometimes!
S.

9 thoughts on “Why Do I Quote Seth Godin?”

  1. I have to be honest.
    Sometimes I quote or reference other blogs just to bring attention to mine. After all, it’s not a personal journal. I’m not writing a blog for my own good health (though it helps sometimes!).
    I’m part of what DA calls in this post a “next generation of bloggers” … I can’t speak for all my fellow next-gen comrades, but it’s hard to get readers. It’s harder to get them to comment. I don’t know what my “success rate” has been when quoting other bloggers, but I find that I get more response from stuff I make up from my own experiences/beliefs. It’s all well an good to trackback or reference a post of a big-name blogger, but I’m trying to do it as a citation, not a direct quote. After all, within our small target, it doesn’t make sense to regurgitate. We’ve all got pretty much the same big-name feeds. The way the small names gain relevance is through providing a different angle.
    That’s my take!
    – Clay

  2. Seth aside, I respect where Adam is coming from with his reaction—but frankly if he or anyone thinks that the voice of Logic+Emotion would be shaped and guided by having a guest blogger on every once in a while seems silly to me.
    I mean that is the reality. You might see a post now and then that is from someone else. If you go back a bit on my blog, you’ll see that I let Ann Handley guest post while the Marketing Profs site was down. Was that such a big deal? (that is what inspired this idea in the first place)
    Adam’s response is honest and I’m glad he expressed it. But his concerns may end up to be null. L+E isn’t becoming a group blog.

  3. I dunno, David. I thought it was a huge deal to have me guest-posting on your blog…but if you think otherwise…well, HMPHF! to you, too. : )
    Seriously, my take on all of this is that you can quote all of the A-listers and big-name bloggers you want…but if you don’t have passion and a point of view that’s interesting and real and something people connect with, you won’t get readers regardless. If you do have those things…they will. It takes time, certainly…but they’ll come. (Notice how I’m resisting saying, ‘If you build it, they will come?’)

  4. Thank you for giving my sloppy rant more time and attention than it deserved.
    Thinking that people are using trackback links to so-called A-List bloggers just to gain traffic to their own sites makes me want to reach for the bucket!
    Honestly, from these young eyes, cursed with an interest in brands and stuff, I can see very clearly that these so-called A-List bloggers, as insightful and articulate as they may be (note, may be) are only interested in book publishing deals and the increasingly lucrative guest-speaker market. Tell me I’m wrong and I’ll finger you as being a member of that very same club, you blogourgeoisie, you.
    When do these so-called A-List bloggers ever actually apply these monumental thought vomits to real life problems? Where are the case studies? Where are the happy clients?
    I suppose that can be answered by looking at their stellar technorati profiles, because you, dear fellow bloggers, are their buy-1-get-1-free clients. No need to do any thinking for yourself ever again. Just by the book.
    The trouble is, real life clients, the ones that pay us real life money, don’t want our minds stuffed full of the lastest creative-thinking-boosterisms. They want our heads full of their business concerns, their needs for innovation, plus they want us to make THEM look smarter.
    I don’t want my CV to simply read: reads Self God In, reads Malcolm Glad-u-liked-my-latest-bestseller, can recite top 100 technorati blogs, blah, blah. I want it to read: never settled for an easy answer, didn’t just enforce ‘the process’.
    By-the-way, I’m not a blogger, I’m a worker. I work on this stuff. To be better. To serve real clients. To just get on with it. (Blurghk… reaches for the bucket.)
    Ever heard of the agency that lost all its clients because it started to win awards?
    Same thing with will happen with bloggers.

  6. I agree. Adam’s bringing the passion in the comments area. He’s giving “pain in the ass” a whole new meaning. 🙂 Adam, this could be your niche.
    Now since we are all bearing our souls here—can someone change my name back to David Armano? I mean I like the whole David Darmano thing, but I already have enough multiple personalities to deal with. One more will put me over the edge.
    Seriously though—great thread here.

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