Are we experiencing Blog-Spam? Here's how I survived..

Four years ago, when I opened my Gmail one day, I was taken by surprise. It doesn't look like it anymore. Gmail has added a new tabbed view which categorizes your emails based on the content inside and I was totally lost trying to understand (i) how it works and (ii) why it's needed. After using it for a while, I've understood the benefits I've been reaping from it. It prevented me from wasting my time on the promotional content which is of least interest.

I see the need for something of that sort for the blogs that we get to read today, especially the articles in the learning domain. It's not that somebody forced me to subscribe to their blogs/articles but being connected to many in the domain, I cannot stop myself from reading a few blogs everyday. However, I feel there's too much of reading that's resulting in very little learning at the end. How do we identify a knowledgeable blog from tons of promotional content out there. Here are a few thoughts out of my experience.

1. Titles can be deceitful: Blog titles speak a lot when it comes to identifying if the content is right for you. Blog titles are like learning objectives of a training program. They are supposed to inform you about the knowledge you're going to gain after reading the post. However, the trend seems to be different today. Writers tend to incline towards catchy attention-grabbing titles that either question the readers (causing intrigue) or scare them (fear of not knowing something unless they read it). Remember we are not looking to buy a HDTV with lots of stickers around.

Sometimes, blogs with the simplest titles such as this may contain more useful content than you can imagine.

2. Check for too much of Blue: By blue, I meant hyperlinks. This happens mostly with the blogs that are associated with service based companies. There are two types of blogs that use a lot of hyperlinks. One is a well researched blog post that quotes it's sources for your reference and additional learning. The second ones are those that try to redirect you to either the services of a company or some sort of promotional content. Some sites bother you with subscription requests all over (There's a good reason I called it spam). A good blog is one where you start searching for subscription button after reading through but not one that forces you click the button even before the page has completely loaded.

3. Prefer individuals to companies: I usually follow blogs written by individuals that are experts in the domain I would like to read on. There's nothing majorly wrong in the ones written through a company's website except for the fact that the promotional content deviates your attention from the core. Blogs run by individuals such as Cathy Moore, Karl Kapp, and Christy Tucker lets you grab it all at your own pace with no crazy pop-ups or sign-up requests. One good reason to prefer individuals is that you don't get any biased opinions. All you get is a true perspective and real content that's come as a results of years of experience.

4. Experts do not blog very often: Experts are full of content. That doesn't mean they can scribble a couple of blogs every hour. It's like how the SMEs do their homework before taking a classroom session. It takes time putting down all that's in their mind and then the actual editing work begins where they try to make it clear and concise. This is time taking. So if you appear to see a blog coming up from same individual every now and then, it may not be well researched unless they have been storing them all to post at once.

Those were some thoughts on surviving the blog-spamming pool. These are a result of my own experiences alone and do not intend to offend anyone. There's tons of content coming out every hour and it's important that we spend time on the right ones. Hope this is useful.