How to Blog
An Interview with Social Media’s Chris Brogan
The web has many celebrities. Chris Brogan is not just one of them, he is one of the pioneers of this new band of celebrities. His insights into the social media world and the web in general has captivated almost everyone. Some argue that he is the most influential blogger out there.
In this interview, he shares with us his take on web developments past, present, and future.
You seem to be everywhere, what is it exactly that you do?
I’m president of an online channel development company, a professional speaker, and a bestselling author.
Take us back to when you were just starting as a blogger, what were the major differences compared to today?
Blogs when they started were much more manual. I used a WYSIWYG website editing software. No comments. No RSS.
What’s the fastest way to build a community on the web?
Care more about them than you do your own stuff. Comment on their posts. Learn what you can about others and share that, too.
How do you find the HungryPeople blog? How can we improve it?
Equip people. As often as possible, equip people with what they need to take on the world. Beyond that, keep posts a mix of brief and occasionally deep.
If you were the inventor of the World Wide Web, what’s a key feature that you would have added?
I’d invent a much more modular web, one that doesn’t use “page” as the main element of reference.
Can you share with us a program or social networking site that you want to see created?
I want to see more mobile networks. You saw the NIN application that lets fans promote proximity-based networking? I want that.
How important is LISTENING today?
It’s everything. Without listening, why bother using the social web?
How did YOU end up writing the book Trust Agents with Julien Smith? What was the original motivation in writing the book?
We’d written an ebook called Trust Economies.
When we were through, we both realized we had much more to talk about.
Who are YOUR personal heroes? Why?
My hero is Dr. Stephen Covey who gave me the tools I used to succeed.
What are YOU hungry for?
I’m hungry to help humans realize that they can drive their own lives.
I want to give everyone keys.
We know that you want to be inclusionary, but we can’t help asking this, who’s your favorite blogger/s? Why?
My favorite blogger is Jon Swanson (http://levite.wordpress.com) . He makes me think on many levels EVERY post.
About Chris Brogan
Chris Brogan is President of New Marketing Labs, a new media marketing agency, and home of the Inbound Marketing Summit conferences and Inbound Marketing Bootcamp educational events. He works with large and mid-sized companies to improve online business communications like marketing and PR through the use of social software, community platforms, and other emerging web and mobile technologies. For more information on this, please contact Chris directly.
Chris is co-author of the book Trust Agents, with Julien Smith.
Chris Brogan is a ten year veteran of using social media and both web and mobile technologies to build digital relationships for businesses, organizations, and individuals. Chris speaks, blogs, writes articles, and makes media of all kinds at [chrisbrogan.com], a blog in the top 10 of the Advertising Age Power150, and in the top 100 on Technorati.
