Blog

Wired‘s Life Cycle of a Blog Post is a nice primer illustrating just what happens to a blog post after you publish it. Seasoned bloggers will probably know it all, but for someone who isn’t an expert, it reveals an interesting insight into just where the data goes. Here’s a thumbnail of how it looks, but do click through and explore it fully:

Marks go to the author for showing the importance of ping services and the difference between active pushing of content (pings etc.) and passive (through RSS and search engine bots). Both are important, and both should be borne in mind when blogging.

The diagram needlessly complicates a few things though – sandwiching adservers and corporations between users gives a slightly misleading impression they mediate the message to them. Just remember the diagram is like a Tube Map – it shows how things connect, not where they really are.

Also, I’d like it to demonstrate a stronger relationship between bloggers and readers – without readers a blog is nothing, after all. Readers’ opinions and feedback, be it on their own blogs or in the comments, plays a strong role – it might make you follow up on a post, or explore a topic even more deeply. Keeping this cycle going is key to a lively and well-read blog, and has important implications for any corporate blogger; make it too one-way and people will lose interest.

But the diagram is good in showing how corporations and brands are increasingly paying attention to bloggers’ opinions – something some people might not be aware of. Of course, there’s more to it than just a quick Google search, and gauging how words translate into actions is a growing but still very immature field (and one we’re actively exploring).

Secondly, there’s also the growing problem of spam blog hiving off content and reusing it. How do we spread a message as effectively as possible, without the bad guys ripping it off? What’s the balance between opening up and maintaining your identity, whether it be personal or corporate? Or is it an issue that digital age has rendered irrelevant?

Any thoughts you have, feel free to share in the comments below.

Welcome to the Outside Line blog. We decided to launch our very own blog, not to clutter up cyberspace, but to give those outside Outside Line a chance to see how a digital communications and production company works. Here we aim to give you a picture of what we do and how we do it from the inside, out.

Posted on our blog you’ll find news about the latest projects we’re working on, from several different angles. You’ll hear from several bloggers, each of whom hail from one of the number of different teams within of our company. Some days we’ll feature postings from the design team who’ll tell you about all that goes into designing of-the-moment, cutting edge and visually appealing web content. Our communities team will post about their progress engaging with site users through interaction in the burgeoning social networking scene.

Our blog aims to give you a well-rounded picture of all of the diverse ingredients that go into making the products and services we offer top of the line and powerfully effective. Keep checking back here for new developments, explanations of new projects we’re working on and insight into the world of a digital agency. Welcome to our world!