KnowMore Blogging

Mavens

I wrote earlier about Malcolm Gladwell's Tipping Point Why We Weblog and about the notion of social epidemics and about how ideas can become viruses and spread like an epidemic.  How exactly does that occur?

According to Gladwell, it's all about people.  Specifically, certain kinds of people including mavens, connectors, and salesmen each of whom play a key role in starting an epidemic.  Gladwell quotes Linda Price, a marketing professor at the University of Nebraska, who defines a maven as "a person who has information on a lot of different products, or prices, or places.  This person likes to initiate discussions with consumers and respond to requests." 

So in fact, ideas germinate among the maven types and the cross pollination happens from there.

So exactly who are these "mavens"?  I think they are the ones that are always looking for the better mousetrap...always looking to improve the quality of performance and results in anything they do.

These people are "knowledge collectors"; actually more like knowledge "pack rats."  I know because I happen to be one.  Any piece of information, whether in a magazine, newspaper, off an internet site, etc. becomes fair game for the knowledge pack rat.

The justification is most always, "it will come in handy someday."  And quite often, it doesn't stop there.  The knowledge pack rat will also attempt to integrate new pieces of knowledge into his/her current knowledge base.

The knowledge maven (a nicer term for the knowledge pack rat) relates to the world through models or "schemas."  Every tidbit of new knowledge just adds to those models, often making them richer and more robust.   Often these models are tested in the real world through application and adjusted as necessary to reflect the realities of putting the knowledge to actual use.   This is consistent with the nature of the knowledge maven...always striving to improve the performance and results of his/her models.

The mavens are the true connoisseurs of information.  And like connoisseurs, they are often sought out for their gift of knowledge; and they are almost always willing to share. 

So there you have it...the idea behind KnowMore Blogging - A weblog created for Business Mavens to share their knowledge, experience, and know-how.

Post 3

Now that I have gotten my second posting behind me and answered the question of why I would spend a good portion of my Sunday evening sitting in front of my computer weblogging, I want to turn my attention to more serious matters...my strategy for weblogging.

The way I figure it, in order for me to maintain a reasonably decent weblog I have to devote sufficient time to list posts, answer comments, e-mails, and the other tasks required to update and maintain it.

At a minimum, I have been told, I need to list a post on a weekly basis.  I believe I can handle that.  But the question is how to systematically post every week...do I use an approach like Rosa Say's Talking Story which invites people to comment on a monthly topic that Rosa picks for her weblog, or select some other approach to organize my weblogging.

I have also looked at a number of other weblogs to see how others approach their weblogging.  My conclusion after wandering about a bit is...there is no consistent approach.  Most people who weblog seem to use it as it was originally intended i.e. an online journal, diary, record; a sort of self-published electronic magazine.

In fact, that isn't a bad analogy.  Now, I only have to decide on the type of weblog "magazine" I want to publish.  And then of course, do I want to be the publisher, writer, editor, etc.  That is another question.

So many questions...more questions than answers at this point.  But, I will gladly accept any suggestions or recommendations from anyone out there in blog world.  My only requirement is that your suggestion consider the original purpose of KnowMore Blogging...a weblog for business mavens.

Hope to hear from you.

Why We Weblog?

Being new to the world of weblogging, and not having an opportunity to fully research this phenomenon, I found myself searching to understand it through my past experiences.  Part of my search was to find the answer to why people weblog.  Unfortunately, not much in my past was directly related to this new experience.

I did recall, however, reading a book some years ago titled The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell which provided a framework of sorts for me to understand weblogging.  At the time, I had dismissed the book as "pop literature" and had not bothered to treat it very seriously.

My thinking on the book has changed as a result of further consideration and research into epidemic theory, the basis of the book's thesis.  It appears that epidemic theory is very legitimate and scientifically credible.  In his book, Gladwell introduces the notion of social epidemics and the kinds of personality types who are natural "pollinators" of new ideas and trends.

And further research on the internet found a number of references to The Tipping Point, some specifically in the context of weblogging.  John Hiler wrote in the March 12, 2002 issue of the Microcontent News about "The Tipping Blog - How Weblogs Can Turn an Idea into an Epidemic".  A fellow blogger, Dave Pollard posted in his weblog, "THE TIPPING POINT, AND HOW IT WORKS WITH BLOGS"

I would bet that the people who are attracted to blogging fall into one or more of the types of people Gladwell maintains are critical to starting social epidemics.  These are the connectors, mavens, and salesmen; all three are needed for social epidemics.

What makes weblogging so interesting, is the potential it offers to facilitate, at light speed, the work of connectors, mavens, and salesmen.  However, for a true epidemic to occur, vast numbers of people would have to be "infected"...and I am not sure that is the case with weblogging; at least, not yet.

For now, I am satisfied that I have an answer to the question that I started this post with.  Can you see yourself as a part of creating a social epidemic?  What role will you play...connector, maven, or salesman.