Gardens by Kelly Productions

READ BEFORE READING:

{My recent interview with Ken Druse jostled my thoughts again relative to the topic of “the future” as it relates to communication and this passion of ours called gardening.  I don’t pretend for a minute to have all or any of the answers, and you know what they say about free “advice”.  I promise the next post will be something plant-related.  We need some relief from the doldrums, right?}

I just heard Craig Ferguson on his CBS late night TV show say this in reference to newspapers.  He’s implying of course that blogs basically substitute for newspapers.  But do they?  Now I’m not a likely defender of a business as lamely stifling as newspapers, but Craig’s caper of sorts deserves exploration.

As bloggers, we must really have the world duped.  Do blogs really suffice for the kind of journalism relied on and expected for generations in a format like newspapers?  Not hardly.  But is the point of a blog to really transmit news?  Some blogs do of course, particularly those kept by prominent columnists or newspaper writers.  They become subsidiaries of the larger publishing machine, transmitting early leads or insights that later formulate into full-blown stories.  But most blogs really are idea platforms, and only that, existing as the result of passive, fragmented consumption.  They give some writers 15-minutes of fame, offer popular authors a chance to keep in touch with audience members in a more personal way, and still offer more a chance to push agendas to the masses–even the 10 or so who choose to listen.  And while bloggers enjoy support en masse (that whole community idea), their demise comes from an overcrowded room.  Right now, particularly in the gardening realm, little oxygen remains in that room.  When a form of content delivery continues to fragment the market, it’s time for reconciliation.  A new mall only needs so many shoe stores before someone has to give.

So what next?  How does an oversaturated market correct itself?  In the world of real, tangible products and stuff, things start to disappear.  In the iris world for example, almost 50,000 cultivars have entered the marketplace in the last 100 years.  How many are left in existence?  Probably 10-15% or less.  How many are left and really popular, frequently sold, or grown in more than five gardens?  Probably 3-5%.  So let’s replace irises with gardening blogs in that analogy.  Nobody is mandating that bad, inactive, infrequently updated, or poorly written blogs disappear for the sake of others.  Anyone is entitled to share their opinions.  But who listens?

That’s where this whole mess runs astray.  Who listens and reads?  Who cares?  And more importantly, why do those people listen, read, and care?  Does a blog entertain?  Does it stimulate thought?  Does it deliver content that more than five readers want to read?  While blogs and other online media have unlocked the gates of publishing to all, they’ve also systematically unraveled standards of excellence.  No venture (whether market, business, hobby, etc.) has ever operated successfully in the absence of governing standards of excellence–they’re natural products of human-mediated enterprises that result when poor-quality products are perceived the same way as good-quality products.  My prediction, crystal ball firmly in tow, is that blogs will eventually become major powerhouses of content because the few that will remain post-excellence apocalypse will maintain tribal followings of people who demand and expect content produced and delivered in superior ways.  How do you think newspapers like the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post still exist, even in this turmoil that publishing is in?

So how do those blogs exist pre-excellence apocalypse?  They impose those standards of excellence on themselves, rise above current expectations,  bond with their followers, and teach them to dream.  When people enter the business of teaching people to dream, the market drives itself.  Look at the success of Apple, for example.  One company has effectively inspired its clients (and those that aren’t yet) to dream of the possibilities.  If newspapers, blogs, and books inspired their readers to dream of the possibilities of their product (not just how it’s delivered), we wouldn’t even be having this discussion.

Really, all this is just a mantra for how to do business in this day and age…..any business.