By: Your Blog Caste: How To Understand and Improve it « Change Is Good

Your Blog Caste: How To Understand and Improve it « Change Is Good — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 18:34:17 +0000

[...] Brahmin Blogger - Much like their ancient Indian equivalent, Brahmin bloggers are the high priests of the Blogosphere. This is the group that the rest of the Blogosphere turns to for moral and cultural guidance, along with intellectual rigor and academic obfuscation. Like most ascetics, Brahmin bloggers arent very well known outside of the modern day bastion of religious orthodoxy, academia. Examples of blogging Brahmin’s include luminaries such as Clay Shirky, Lawrence Lessig, Danah Boyd, Henry Jenkins, and Michael Geist . From the minds and keyboards of these lettered intellectuals springs the mana that feeds the rest of us. Brahmin bloggers transcend their Technorati rankings and are afforded the privileges of blogging celebrities although their true popularity is much more limited. Brahmin Bloggers define and describe the evolving culture of the blogosphere. How to become one: There is almost no way to become a Brahmin Blogger unless you have an advanced degree (or you’re ABD) and have published some iconoclastic insight on a lightening rod issue, like copyright, commerce, social networks etc… How to improve your status: A true Brahmin Blogger does not seek to overtly enhance their status, especially since being a Brahmin Blogger is the height ofblogging success. The next step up from here is Blogging Divinity and only Matt Drudge has been able to achieve that status, although he uses his powers for evil rather then good… Shatya Blogger - The original Indian caste system revered a group known as the Shatriya’s. They were the warriors and ruling elite. For the Blogosphere’s updated Caste system, I’ve renamed this group the Shatya Caste.Shatya Bloggers are those members of the blogging A-list who pick fights on our behalf and lord over the Blogosphere with an iron fist; banning, blacklisting, exiling and defunding those who dare to offend their high minded ideals. This group is typified by Mark Cuban, Fred Wilson, Jason Calacanis, David Sifry, Michael Robertson and a bunch of other wealthy white men alpha-males. Their rule over the Blogosphere ranges from the benign to the overbearing. Members of this caste often become identified with a meme and play up the association with any trend they can hitch their names to. As a result this group has cornered the market on press quotes, Web 2.0 conference keynotes and launch party invites.Shatya bloggers see their roll as the defenders and directors of the evolution of the blogosphere’s culture. How to become one: Becoming a Shatriyas Blogger takes some work but it isnt impossible. All you need is a wildly successful Internet business, a contrarian bent, some media savvy and a typepad account. If you’ve got these pre-requisites then the next step is to publicly challenge another Shatya or Brahmin blooger and knock them down a peg or two. For example, Lee Gomes was almost elevated to Shatya blogger status when he took on Chris Anderson at the height of the love fest for The Long Tail, but he foolishly didnt have his own blog from which to fight and was ignominiously forced back into carping from the sidelines. How to improve your status: The key to Shatya blogging is hubris. You have to put some bass in your voice, talk in broad sweeping generalizations, assume that everything you say is fact and disagreement is a form of stupidity. The one thing that you can never be as a Shatyablogger is silent. Special Note: There is a disproportionately high level of testosterone inherent in the Shatya blogger Caste and unfortunately, this limits the opportunities for women to be Shatya bloggers. While its not definitive, both Maureen Dowd and years of evolutionary biology suggest that women have neither the capacity nor tolerance for the self-delusional pomposity required to be a trully iconic Shatya blogger. [...]

By: Errol Smith (of the Nanocasting Alliance)

Errol Smith (of the Nanocasting Alliance) — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 14:12:38 +0000

More from the long tail of The Long Tail debate.

This week Chris Anderson was interviewed by Jack Trout about the Lee Gomes critique of the Long Tail. What was most interesting was the discussion about the “old school” business heads, and traditional companies who are staring at the pages of the Long tail, wondering why it’s a best seller and asking “what the heck do I do with this stuff.” As producer of the program, I was a fly on the wall. Though I’ve read the book, followed the discussions online and read a few of the research papers; I found several good “Ah HA’s” in the interview. Here’s the link:
http://www.troutandpartners.com/radio/strategy.asp

Comments on: When Pundits Attack

By: Your Blog Caste: How To Understand and Improve it « Change Is Good

By: Errol Smith (of the Nanocasting Alliance)