Comments on: Be Interesting

By: 5 Very Official Tips for Building an Online Presence | 4 entrepreneur

5 Very Official Tips for Building an Online Presence | 4 entrepreneur — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 06:16:40 +0000

[...] from the song Flagpole Sitta, “If you’re bored then you’re boring”. To be interesting you need to be interested. Phoning in content or conversations online is a waste of time. [...]

By: pwrnewmedia

pwrnewmedia — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 15:12:54 +0000

Interesting read. :) It reminds me of an old quote I once had on a sticky on my computer: There is no such thing as an uninteresting subject, only uninterested people. (Okay, that’s rough and I don’t recall who said it but you get the drift).

By: Ken Burbary

Ken Burbary — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 19:29:54 +0000

@shannonpaul

I agree with the previous comment re: forcing login to leave comments. I originally required it on my blog as well, but then opened up commenting. I’ve not had any problems with SPAM. Akismet takes care of those problems for you. You’ll receive more comments as a result.

Interesting first post. Keep em coming!

By: shannonpaul

shannonpaul — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 19:09:03 +0000

You make some great points :) I’ll give it a try. Now visitors can leave comments without logging in. It’s official!

By: mrboffo

mrboffo — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 18:19:48 +0000

@ Shannon – I’ll give it a shot!

Here’s a good example of why logging in isn’t the best thing. I have a couple of different blogs, neither of them on wordpress.com. My wordpress.com profile points to one – my gaming hobby blog. That blog is pretty irrelevant to what you’re doing here.

Without the login, I could have entered my other blog’s address (www.writing-journey.com) – which is relevant.

I also know folks who won’t just comment if they’re required to log in. I don’t know that you’ll lose readers, but you’ll have fewer comments.

If you’re worried about spam, I think wordpress.com has some spam filter (akismet, I think) available.

In my mind, there needs to be a compelling reason to require a login. You want people to comment, and so you want to reduce barriers any way you can.

By: shannonpaul

shannonpaul — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 18:01:40 +0000

My mind is hardly set in stone regarding anything on this blog. I am in the earliest stages of beta testing. Is logging in that bad? Convince me.

By: mrboffo

mrboffo — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 17:56:35 +0000

Great post, Shannon! Thanks to Jamie Grove for pointing me to you.

Now, if I can just convince you to drop the login requirement for comments…

By: chrisbrogan

chrisbrogan — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 10:46:34 +0000

I quite agree. There’s a little phrase inside Flagpole Sitta by Harvey Danger (want to watch a great lip sync video for that? http://www.vimeo.com/173714 ) that I often think about: “Well if you’re bored, then you’re boring.” This relates. I believe it’s a matter of being all that you are.

Sometimes, I think about it like movies. I want to be just as vibrant as I human can be while “on stage,” even if that’s still just a reflection of who I am.

Don’t be fake. Be interesting. They’re two different things.

You, Shannon, are most certainly interesting. (One of my favorite words, you know).

By: charliecurve

charliecurve — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 00:56:02 +0000

I’m interested in what Shannon Paul is blogging about.

By: SuperDave

SuperDave — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 21:59:02 +0000

“The best way I have found since then to be interesting is to be interested. Being interested in other people and the world around me not only provides others with the motivation to be interested in me, it gives me a sense of what interests them; thus ensuring a cycle of mutual interest.”

I couldn’t agree more. Especially in my industry, I think we are often really misguided in our understanding what people really are interested in hearing about. And I hope that the mission of some of the real PR and marketing folks out there is to educate any industry on how to listen to their customers more. Collaborative messaging works best when driven by customer and prospect needs… and not just their needs, but their REAL drivers and desires- THEIR wants, not just what we as “experts” THINK they want.

It’s ok to educate, but only effective as it fits into a framework of what drives our audience.

In the first train the trainer class, one of the things that has stuck with me the most is the acronym WIIFM, or What’s In It For Me? Personal relevance, whether it’s meeting a want or a need, is the only real way to effectively reach anyone.

What am I doing to stay interesting? I think you already said it – staying interested.

Congratulations on your real live blog, and your “first real live blog post”.