Patterico's Pontifications

2/24/2005

Hugh Hewitt’s Book “Blog”

Filed under: Blogging Matters — Patterico @ 6:14 am



I have just finished Hugh Hewitt’s book Blog.

I’m probably not an ideal reviewer of this book, for at least two reasons.

First: it’s hard to be objective about a book that mentions your own blog. The reviewer’s natural inclination is to voice respect for the author’s obvious good judgment in including the reviewer’s blog in the book. I am no different.

Second: I already know about the blogosphere. The book appears to be aimed primarily at an audience that is largely ignorant of blogs. Hugh’s goal is to touch them about blogs’ importance.

For such people, I think the book will be a valuable introduction. I’ll probably give it to my dad, who reads my blog, but (as far as I know) reads few others, if any. People like my dad will no doubt be interested in Hugh’s accounts of various blogging success stories, such as the Trent Lott affair, the CBS forged documents scandal, and the success of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. For most blogging veterans, these are familiar stories. Hugh retells them well and accurately, with his familiar partisan zeal.

Hugh also does a good job of explaining why the blogging phenomenon is a revolution in the way we spread information. For those who want more detail, Dan Gillmor’s We, the Media explains it more thoroughly — but Hugh’s explanation is punchier and perhaps better suited to those who have less time to learn about the blogging phenomenon. (Gillmor also shows excellent judgment in his selection of blogs to discuss — meaning my blog is mentioned there too.)

Hugh’s book is somewhat less convincing when he advocates blogging in the corporate context. He appropriately warns the corporate types of The First Rule of Blogging: always assume that anything you write could be read by anyone, and that — despite your best efforts to remain anonymous — they will learn who you are. But in light of this rule, it’s hard to imagine conservative corporate types deciding that blogging about the company is worth the risk. For most people, as with me, blogging and work just don’t mix.

That quibble aside, I recommend the book to anyone who knows little or nothing about blogs, and wants to know what the fuss is about. For those of us who are familiar with the blogosphere, you may not learn much. Still, it’s a quick and fun read, and you may still want to read the book to find out whether Hugh had the good judgment to mention your blog. The book has no index of blogs mentioned, so you’ll have to read the whole thing to find out.

4 Responses to “Hugh Hewitt’s Book “Blog””

  1. I disagree with you on the corporate blogging. Just look at what Scoble has done for Microsoft’s reputation. Or the kind of communication Jonathan Scwartz (President & Chief Operating Officer of Sun Microsystems) can give to customers of Sun. Corporate blogging, at least for the tech industry (for now, the rest in the future) is an important part of marketing.

    Stephen Duncan Jr (921e27)

  2. I haven’t read it, but my non-blogging wife has. Her take was that it was initially quite interesting but got repetitive after a while.

    Kevin Murphy (9982dd)

  3. I’ve read it twice, and have been wanting to comment on it for some time over at DOUBLE TOOTHPICKS. But the truth is, hard as I try, other than the complimenting his effort in conveying the meaning of the word “blog” to the world at large, I just can’t think of anything really nice to say about the book.

    I like Hugh a lot, and listen to him frequently, but unlike his others, this book wasn’t really my cup of tea. To me, it seemed boosterish, self-important, and at times, pedantic. I thought his “Reformation” metaphor was stretched way, way too far, perhaps to the point of metamorphosing into the flogging of a deceased equine. His attention-calling to the role of bloggers in the RatherGate scandal is useful, but even that is too heavily clad in the gaudy robes of triumphalism.

    It could be because I’m a blogger myself, but I think even non-bloggers might be turned off by the “inside blogball” name-dropping that fills the first few chapters. I know you didn’t do this, Patterico, but if I had a more cynical outlook, I’d think some Blogads got swapped behind the scenes to compensate for the “product placement” in the first chapter alone.

    And I’m with you on the corporate blogging. I would think it could only be done by P.R. types, taught to ponder every nuance of every word like diplomats, with focus-grouping and vetting for every post. And then, every post would have to be examined by a legal team for potential damage to the company’s reputation and/or bottom line, before the “Submit” button could be pressed. It sounds like a legal nightmare to me.

    Oh, I’m sure a “folky” CEO (say, like the late Dave Thomas of Wendy’s) could blog on something that wasn’t directly related to the product line (like say, Dave’s interest in adoption). But would that really be corporate blogging? Or would it be the use of a brand name to hype a cause? I dunno. But in my company, we keep secrets like the Department of Defense, and I simply couldn’t imaging someone blabbing our product plans on a blog.

    Whew! Okay, maybe I already have my Blog review after all–I just typed it!

    Steve Bragg (6d5f21)

  4. Whoops–two typos:
    s/”folky”/”folksy”
    s/imaging/imagine

    Steve Bragg (6d5f21)


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