The Blog Expectations Game

What do you expect from a blog?  Fred Wilson points out what I have been thinking myself the past few days: Marc Andreesen is doing a great job with his new blog — but he’s setting the bar very high for himself.  Nearly every day he has a relevant, provocative, and informative post.  And they aren’t short, quick observations, but well-thought out missives.

Similarly, Steve Rubel used to post multiple times a day, often short quick notes with a link to other content.  In some ways, he acted as what Chris Brogan and others have called a “curator” (a role played most prominently by Robert Scoble on his link blog/shared Google Reader links).  But Steve now says he’s going to try to focus on longer, more thoughtful posts more in the Marc Andreesen style.  In Steve’s words: “less quantity more quality in the way of op-eds rather than shorter linky posts.”

All of this raises the question of what people expect from a blog.  My philosophy is that as long as you maintain some consistency and don’t change it up all the time, your audience will respect that.  Marc has done a nice job of coming out of the gate strong and that has, I’m sure, built him up a very solid audience.  Unless he feels he can keep the pace up, though, I would think he would be wise to space his posts out a little more. 

On the other hand, I can make a good case for the argument that bloggers should post what they have to say when they have something to say.  It is the philosophy I tend to follow — if I can say something quickly and link away, I will.  If I have something longer and more thoughtful, I’ll share that.  In my own way that’s the consistency I offer: variety.  If it isn’t your cup of tea, move on — there’s lots of voices out there.  If it is, why not subscribe by RSS or email?  (top right of this page, unless you are already a subscriber!)