A Team Blogging Environment for Multi-Author Blogs
By Ronald Huereca on Apr 14, 2008.
I was in a local restaurant this week when I made a small observation. My Diet Coke was going on empty, and a person who wasn’t my waiter came up and asked, “What are you having, Sir?”
“A Diet Coke, please.”
“Sure. I’ll be right back.”
The guy brought a new Diet Coke back, and my waiter also returned and exclaimed, “Oh, you already got your Diet Coke. Wow.”
Working Individually Harms the Customer
The waiter that I had at the restaurant was relatively new. And unfortunately my drink went past the empty mark, and a fellow team-member came to assist.
However, what if nobody came to help? I, as a customer, would have been dissatisfied with the service.
What if the staff was okay with my dissatisfaction? After all, I wouldn’t be leaving the other waiter the tip.
The individual mentality only works in the short-term. Long-term, I’m a customer of that particular establishment. If I receive one bad experience, it doesn’t reflect badly upon that particular waiter — it reflects badly upon the establishment as a whole.
So if a waiter interjects and helps out another waiter, the customer will be satisfied. The customer’s chances of returning are high (long-term). And quite possibly, that first waiter could have the returning customer, who can now leave that valuable tip.
The Team Environment in the Blogosphere
Multi-author blogs are not so different when it comes to the restaurant mentality. Authors are in charge of their own section, and in charge of their own readers (customers).
If readers want to leave a tip, it’s through comments, ad-clicks, and links.
With a team environment, however, an author sees the entire blog’s readers as their readers. A reader who comments on one post might as well be commenting on their post. A reader who is dissatisfied with one author might as well be dissatisfied with all authors. And a reader who expresses love for the site, also expresses love for the individual authors.
I’ve been apart of multi-author blogs where each author worked in his or her own sandbox. I didn’t like it.
Now I’m apart of a few blogs were the authors are in constant contact. We make decisions together. We coordinate posts and schedules. And we answer the reader questions, even when they aren’t on our own post.
We work as a team. And I’m grateful to be apart of something like that.
Conclusion
With multi-author blogs, it’s easy for each author to work in his or her sandbox. However, a team environment is much more beneficial for both the authors and the readers.
An author’s article and comments represent the site as a whole. And if other authors jump in to assist, the reader and the site are the beneficiaries.
It certainly brings variety and depth to the blog.
Comment by Terry Finley — April 17, 2008 @ 7:57 pm
@Terry,
Yes, it sure does. I’ve noticed on many multi-author blogs that each author claims their own section. It’s not good for the reader, and it’s very noticeable.
Thanks for weighing in.
Comment by Ronald Huereca — April 17, 2008 @ 10:18 pm
I suppose there is good in the bad
and bad in the good.
Comment by Terry Finley — April 17, 2008 @ 10:29 pm
[...] Several weeks ago I wrote about my thoughts on a team environment for multi-author blogs. [...]
Pingback by A Team Blogging Environment - Part 2 | The Reader Appreciation Project — May 9, 2008 @ 5:12 am
[...] A Team Blogging Environment for Multi-Author Blogs is excellent article on team blogging, using the restaurant metaphor, from The Reader Appreciation Project. Here’s an excerpt: [...]
Pingback by Team Blogging and Multi-Author Blog Etiquette — May 15, 2008 @ 5:45 pm
Very nice blog design, Ronald. Great use of the mimbo theme!
Don’t you ever though – sort of feel like expressing the gravitas of the importance in a multi-author blog by way of the proverbial bad restaurant analogy is just a momumental waste of your cognitive creativity?
I mean – really – I hate to be unfriendly – but is the fact that your diet coke was past the empty mark really reason to extrapolate some applied wisdom to the blogosphere? People constantly stretching to make these sorts of posts is sort of like watching paint dry badly on a wall that was sort of unneccessary in the first place.
Just food for thought.
Keep up the great work otherwise.
Comment by ian — May 19, 2008 @ 1:46 am
Ian,
Firstly, thank you for your honesty. I do appreciate well-intentioned feedback. It wasn’t fun to hear (err, read), but it was enlightening nonetheless.
Secondly, I did (do) feel like it was a worthwhile analogy, but perhaps I didn’t convey it well enough. Or, perhaps, I need to go back to the drawing board and reflect on what I write about on the project. I will admit I have been struggling as of late to come up with topics, and typically the only thing I have to write about is what I’ve experienced in my daily struggles. I suppose the topic you mentioned would have been better suited as a personal blog post rather than a post related to blogging. On a related note, perhaps to your dismay, is that I wrote a part two to this article.
Once again, thank you for your honesty. I hope I can write more creative and thought-provoking articles for you and for the other readers who share your opinion.
If there’s anything you would like addressed on raproject, please let me know through a comment or through our contact form.
Comment by Ronald Huereca — May 19, 2008 @ 11:15 pm