This post may not make some people very happy, so I’ll try to be as gentle as possible. First, let me get a few things out of the way.
1. Not every blog post is a masterpiece. I have written more than my fair share of duds.
2. Just because a post may not be great doesn’t mean you are a bad writer or should give up.
3. You are judged by the content you share almost as much (if not moreso) as by the content you create yourself.
Over the past few days, I have gone to links that people I respect have shared via Twitter or Facebook or even their blogs. In some cases, I have been happy and impressed, as per usual. But lately, seemingly more and more often, I click on a link and I think, “Really?”Maybe the build-up in promoting the link sets me up for what could only be disappointment. Maybe the person’s reputation for sharing great information has set me up with the idea that everything that person shares will be excellent. Whatever the case may be, I have read the post per a recommendation and have left with a feeling best described as “Hmm.”
This begs the question, and I don’t have any particular answer in mind, “When should your promotion of content have more to do with the content than your relationship with the content creator?”
I know that sometimes I want to help someone out who has been helping me out, but that particular day’s post for that person just doesn’t ring my chimes. I may comment on it, but I only share content that I really and truly believe is top notch. If you have tons of spelling or grammatical errors, I don’t feel like I can pass that on to my community. If your blog post is mostly ranting and raving, I’m probably not going to share that post.
I know that there’s a lot of pressure to promote other people. I know that tweeting out a person’s blog post is a great way to build a relationship or get on their radar. Does that mean you should randomly tweet out posts that you normally wouldn’t give any thought to?
What do you think?