4) The Blogosphere
If you’ve kept attentive through the top 3 resources, you’d already know what “the blogosphere” is: It’s the world of blogs. Blogs, as I’m sure you’ve heard, is short for ‘weblogs.’ It’s an on-line journal or diary. Old-school geeks like me grew up on similar Bulletin Board Systems (BBS).
Ideally, a blog is collaborative–featuring posts from its members (like my favorite, led by humorist Dave Barry). Most of the time, unfortunately, a blog is simply a soapbox. Thus, not all blogs are credible and often– like bathroom stalls–merely display rants from the perverted and insipid.
Yet more than any media trend in history, blogs have democratized insight. They offer access to a wealth of expertise, popular opinion and intuition. Like resource #3, the blogosphere represents buzz from the underground, the grassroots, by the people and for the people. Blogs are popular platforms for industry insiders and personal brands.
Keeping current on your slice of the blogosphere can be even more overwhelming than keeping up with the first three resources. Subscribe to the most trendy and authoritative blogs within your trade, profession, and/or interest. Better yet, websites like Technorati.com will tell you who’s the most popular.
Wonder how websites like MySpace, YouTube, Craigslist and even Google became mega-players? They built their grassroots business movements through blogs and e-zines like TechCrunch.com and BuzzShout.com. Even if you’re not a geek, you should know what’s going on with Web 2.0. Carpe diem.
5) High-Traffic Websites
Again, this resource is related to the one above. High-traffic websites become–as Seth Godin puts it–“hives.” These websites are usually doing something useful, clever, hot and cool. Moreover, they become the community center. Like blockbuster movies, high-traffic websites influence the way we speak and exchange knowledge: Google has become a verb.
The most popular websites – in the world and within your industry – are worth keeping note in your Idea Journal. Websites like Alexa.com tell you who they are. Enter a website address, and it’ll tell you how many people visit that website (if it’s over 100,000 in returning traffic). Alexa.com shows their numbers on a graph, offers comparisons, and gives the URL an overall Internet popularity ranking.
You can also discover the hottest sites in specific categories and industries. It’ll give you insight into what makes your competitors compelling. You may not know how much people spend with them, but you can count how many people walk in, and who’s linking to them.
The rise and fall of sub-cultures define zeitgeist currents more accurately; they’re just harder to detect and track. The last three resources can give you a leg up. You could even add a fourth resource – yourself, because friends don’t keep friends out of the cultural loop.
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