Blog Memes...Breaking Away

I have been tagged by Ann Bares of Compensation Force with a new blog meme.  I love Ann's blog and if you have any input on compensation within your organization it is a resource you should be aware of.

For those of you new to the concept a blog "meme" is sort of like a chain letter for bloggers.  Typically, they ask a question, ask for your answer and then ask you to "tag" or forward the meme on to other bloggers you know or wish to know.

I've participated in these and even tagged Ann a few times.  But the last couple of times I participated in them I felt a bit off-putting to those that I tagged.

I'm torn on this one guys/gals.  From a blogging perspective it is one way to get your blog connected to others that may or may not be aware of your blog... and helps with your Technorati Rating since part of the process is to link back to the blog that sent you the meme - therefore, it has a way of multiplying your rating on Technorati.

But I'm thinking the "meme" of memes has kind of gotten old.  When blogs were somewhat "new" to the world - and they were more casual and personal - it might have made sense to have this sort of "telephone" game.  But I'm wondering if it has moved past the point of "fun" to the point of a pain?

Now I feel a bit reluctant to forward on these exercises to other blogs.  Mostly because the blogs I read are connected to business issues and are predominately there to further a company or business purpose.   Not too many blogs I subscribe to are the "online journals" that birthed today's blogosphere.  I get that blogs are more casual and should communicate the personality of the company (blogger) but I almost feel like I'm forwarding a chain letter on to potential clients, partners, advisors, etc. 

I don't think I would do that in the atom-based world.

Influence Lesson

Here's where I turn my rant into a post that connects back to the purpose of this blog.

For those of you who read regularly you've seen me write about the concept of "social proof" or "consensus" as a way of influencing behavior.  In short - people do what other people do - 95% of the world looks to the other 5% to know what is appropriate behavior.  Until someone sees another person exhibiting a behavior there is no way that individual knows if it is acceptable and will default to previous behaviors.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and be one of the 5%.  I am hoping others follow my lead and we build consensus on these blog memes and change some behavior.

Here's where this 5% stands.

I'm creating my own meme... one of not tagging.

I'll answer any meme that comes my way (as I will this one - see end of post) and link back to the one who tagged me, but I will not be forwarding on the meme - or tagging - any additional bloggers.  I will ask folks to play along and link to the meme if they want to play and if they think the meme is worthy of input.  But I'm going organic on this one - no active solicitation - if you read this blog and have a blog and want to play - come on down!

Now... on to answering Ann's meme...

The rules:

1. Provide a list of the books you’re currently reading
2. Pick up the nearest book
3. Open to page 123
4. Find the fifth sentence
5. Post the next three sentences
6. Tag five more people

Here goes:

Books I'm reading:

Groundswell - Li & Bernoff
Peak - Chip Conley
Laws of Simplicity - Maeda
The Myths of Innovation - Berkun
Obsession - Kellerman (I know - not business - I got it at an airport)

Nearest book - The Laws of Simplicity

Open to page 123 - oops - only has 100 pages (go figure with a book on simplicity)

Repeat steps 2 and 3 with new book -The Myths of Innovation

Count to the fifth sentence on page 123... Post the next three sentences...

But those "better" ideas were demanding in ways that would have raised barriers to adoption in 1991.  At best, they would have cost more to build and taken more time to engineer.  We can't know whether those additional barriers would have prevented the Web from succeeding, or merely have changed its ascension.

Tag  five more people - Nope.  See body of post.

There ya go folks - a new meme is born - and it looks just like its Daddy!

Comments

[Ann Bares]

Paul:

Thanks for such a classy response to the growing issue that I think these blog memes are becoming for those of us trying (at least in our more cogent moments) to run serious discussion forums on our blogs - while working to build and maintain good relationships with our fellow bloggers.

Sign me up for the Paul Hebert meme approach. No more tags from this blogger.

[Paul Hebert]

Thanks for the comment Ann. See - Consensus works. Now there are two of us.

Do I hear a third?