This post is part of the series describing the results of the study of blogger networking practices. Please take into account a couple of things:

• This is a draft. Healthy scepticism and comments are very welcome.
• Statements are linked to the names of people who talked about particular issue, those might be true or not true for others.

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Next to an opportunity to learn about others from a distance, weblogs support interaction that may grow into a relation between bloggers over time. When Ton describes how interactions that start from comments help a relation to grow and strengthen, he talks about his weblog as a “gravity pull”: “it’s like they are entering your gravity field, falling towards you”.

Luis emphasises the importance of reacting to comments in his weblog as a starting point for an interaction (“last thing you can do is to ignore your comments”) telling that others appreciate the feedback. While Shawn also believes that interaction in the comments is important, he admits that he is not good in it as he uses his weblog mainly to organise his thinking rather than “as a network building or communication device if you like”. He tells that he is “not much of the typer” and leaves comments only if he “can add to a conversation in a constructive way” and then starts wondering what other people “read” into this behaviour. He also gives an example of Johnnie Moore, saying that his blogging style “seem to have the interaction going”.

Nancy echoes this point emphasising that engaging in personal connections (as opposed to “information relations” described in the section 1.5.1) depends a lot on personalities of people, as some as more likely to initiate contact and to “reach out”. Brett provides an example of others “reaching out”:

I’ve had people I’ve left comments on their blog and by doing that they discover mine and they initiated contact with me. [...] they commented on the weblog and followed it more closely [...] I guess [they were] more involved, did more steps for a relation than I did. I just commented once and they came to my site and commented frequently. To some extend it makes you feel an obligation almost to go back to theirs to read it more, to comment more. [...] I feel that I should look at their stuff more closely to see if I want to reciprocate.

Although initial contacts often happen in comments to a weblog post, at the later stage cross-linking between weblogs and trackbacks that notify bloggers about it becomes more important. For Luis linking conversations between blogs helps to “corroborate what someone else said” while also adding own experiences and sharing with others. For Euan permalinks that allow others to link directly to a weblog post “is another big thing” as “each of those little ideas could be linked to and that allows to distribute sense-making networks.” Martin describes conversations that “travelled around weblogs” as “collective intelligence” (“if we talk about questions long enough the idea would emerge somewhere”). In discussing how blogging helps to develop trust Dave talks about it as “fragmented frequent conversation” and draws parallels between blogging and the way human brains work:”We don’t tell stories to each other, we swap anecdotes and blogs are very similar to that”.

When I ask Ton about the differences between comments and conversations across weblogs he refers to the differences in format and length, as well as different types of conversations they enable:

…the comments are usually short-lived, [...] they are immediate responses to the blog post. And a blog conversation spread between weblogs goes on longer. And you can connect it to more things since if you would add links to six different blog posts in your comment it would probably be classified as a spam.

However, he thinks that those different weblog conversations are part of the same process, talking about difficulties of reconstructing paths one follows between comments, people, what they write.

Interaction via weblogs often serves as a starting point for getting in touch via other channels. Shawn suggests that “if someone got the weblog, they are inviting people to contact them” and adds that this is usually the case when he attempts to contact other bloggers by email. He adds that when contacting another blogger, the fact of both blogging creates a commonality, even if content is very different – “I am a blogger, you are a blogger, we should catch up”. Brett calls it “an instant credibility”:

Even if I don’t know someone just the fact that I saw something on their blog, posted a comment, asked a question and they see that I have one. It establishes almost an instant credibility: that this person is worth the time to respond, to read, as to say.

Gabriela explains that having weblogs that provide the context and the history of previous interactions makes contact easier: she feels she can “tap into knowledge of fellow bloggers without [providing] any details”.

Many participants talk about connecting with fellow bloggers via multiple channels. Gabriela gives an example of Jack Vinson, KM blogger she’s never met in person, and says they are mutually connected on different channels. Shawn is not constantly interacting with other bloggers via the blogosphere, saying that if it happens it’s often an email, phone or meeting in person. Luis talks about enhancing his connection with KM bloggers by knowing about their day to day life from Twitter.

For Martin other, more personal channels are needed to get to know others really well “to have a more secure exchange which is not public, to be vulnerable”, which is difficult to do in a weblog “once you become an A-lister”. Ton adds that for those relationships that are established via weblog, most of more personal communication happens via other channels (email, Skype, sharing photos and videos).

Meeting in person is often an important part of the process of building a relation: bloggers tell stories about making an effort to meet other bloggers or synergies of connecting in person after discovering that those they knew via blogging were actually in close physical proximity.

When bloggers meet the history of their interactions comes into play. Luis talks about meeting Bill Ives for the first time, while knowing him via weblog for several years:

It was amazing. [...] It was like two old pals talking about KM and picking it up where we have left it in the blogs.

Euan gives similar example:

First time I met Doc [Searls] there were hugs and smiles and really energetic enthusiastic conversation in a restaurant. And we said at that time that others in the restaurant had known that we’ve never met each other they would think we were mad.

Ton explains that meeting in person brings a relation at a new level. He gives an example of meeting Chris Corrigan and how walking in the forest having “the same conversations” they would have online, created a deeper level of understanding:

Rereading his postings I now hear his voice, but I also know in what kind of context he wrote it, and this additional information helps me interpret what he means on a deeper level.

Martin has similar experiences: “[realising] that they actually have a body helped to appreciate their writing more and use their writing more effectively”.

However, Dave is not sure meeting in person is good or bad after getting to know each other online, as some people “create a different persona in their blog” and meeting in person might results in “identity structure shifts”. When I refer to other bloggers who are eager to meet in person, he tells it depends on a scale: “I can’t afford the time to meet everybody I track or listen to”.

Interacting via multiple channels over time does not only help the connections grow and strengthen, it also contributes to the development of shared understanding and a sense of community. “And then you are talking not about silos [...], but interconnected complex network of blogs”, where bloggers know whom to go to for help or an advice (Luis). Gabriela talks about other bloggers as “permanent support network”, “a sort of fraternity” that she can rely on.

While first interactions between bloggers often happen via weblogs, as relations between bloggers grow they engage with each other via multiple channels. In that respect conversations created by linking between weblogs play a special role: those “fragmented frequent conversations” support both collective development of ideas and strengthening the bonds between bloggers. Over time meeting in person and other channels are added to the mix to continue blogging conversations, to interact in more private and secure settings and to get to know others better. Over time those interactions create a foundation that might enable bloggers to collaborate to get things done together.

• Weblog conversations revisited: conversations with self vs. conversations with others
• Networked identity
• Cross-cultural reading

This interview is part of the study of blogger networking practices: links to other interviews and some background, links to the results.

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Shawn is the founder of Anecdote, a consulting company of three that focuses on change management, learning and storytelling. He lives in Australia and used to work in IBM prior to his current work. When he started blogging, his professional network was primarily in KM and primarily Australian (with many people local to his city).

He first started blogging on KM topic about in 2002, while working at IBM. However, it did not work that time. Later he created another blog and wrote for about a year, gaining experiences of regular blogging and learning about the medium. When Anecdote was founded in 2004, a weblog became a centre of the company’s web-site; Today Shawn blogs there together with two other colleagues. Their blog is often in the top 100 most visited weblogs in Australia.

Changes in a network after starting blogging

Shawn gives an example of getting into an interaction with David, who is consulting on how to run consulting companies and “one of the big players in this field”. When David started blogging, Shawn commented on his blog and they’ve “got a bit of interaction going”. In a half a year Shawn and his colleagues decide to contact David for advice. In the conversation that follows Shawn finds out that “his daily rate was far greater than [they] could afford”. When he admits that David says “we are friends now, so I’m happy to do it for nothing”.

“And it was at that point I realised that this whole blogging thing is extremely powerful way of building relationships. People you’ve never met face-to-face and they are willing to do important things for you.”

On difference in types of relations developed as a result of blogging

Shawn says that the main difference with the relationships developed after starting blogging is geographic spread. He also talks about an asymmetry in those relations: “There is also this weaving thing that I’m sure you’ve experienced too when going to a conference when people come up to you and they know you through your blog, but you have never met them before. It’s a kind of a disarming experience… You feel it’s quite an asymmetrical relationship; they have a really good sense of who you are, what you do, what interests you, and you don’t even know their name. I think that’s kind of peculiar to people who blog and have some sort of readership I suppose.”

What do you think creates this friendship and knowing, how does it happen?

He says that interaction in the comments is important, but admits that he is not good in that.
“But I’m not good in comments on blogs, I use my weblog primarily to get my thoughts out and to get ideas clear in my own head and for a sort of a source material for future things I might want to do. I use it more for that than as a network building or communication device if you like.” At a later moment he tells that he is “not much of the typer” and leaves comments only if he “can add to a conversation in a constructive way”, also wondering what people “read” into his behaviour as he is not very active in that.

He also says that it’s difficult to delineate what weblogs do in that respect, since there are often multiple tools involved. He gives an example of getting to know Nancy White through her blog and other online activities and inviting her to stay in their house when he found out she was coming to Australia, and their collaboration that followed.

He suggests that weblogs provide “some level of reputation”, exposing people and their interests. It is “not explicit, you intuitively get a feel for type of the person they are and whether that [...] is your type of person. It’s almost like a pre-dating.”

“Photos seem to give your more than just the text. You also get a sense of the people in terms of links and depth of their post”. He tells that he mainly reads weblogs through RSS feeds, so “it’s not that much the design and appearance of it”.

We talk about weblogs he reads and what kind of relations are those

He subscribes to about 300 weblogs. “I tend to gravitate to weblogs to the people I know (I met personally and know quite well) and bloggers who write in different field [...] most KM blogs not very interesting at all… The majority are weak ties or not ties, 5% strong ties…”

“For the people I know I read to find out how they are going, people I don’t know I read for their content.” For people he knows weblogs provide an “additional way to see how they are going”, to find out “if there is something important to ring them up”. He says that it often prompts “some other way of communicating with the person”.

He says that “weblog is pretty accurate but incomplete reflection of the person”, giving an example of a wrong assumptions about events in another blogger’s life given her content.

Role weblogs play in the different stages of developing relation with others

“If someone got the weblog, they are inviting people to contact them”. He says that this is usually the case when he attempts to contact them by email. He adds that when contacting another blogger, the fact of both blogging creates a commonality, even if content is very different – “I am a blogger, you are a blogger, we should catch up”.

Shawn talks about finding other weblogs “through serendipitous encounters”, following links and recommendations of others. However, he says that with many of those weblogs he tends “not to engage except of reading” and just skims through.

In tells that his weblog is mainly a business blog, so the relations that come out of it are mainly business-related. He gives an example of people contacting him because of weblog and asking for a meeting. “It might turn into business or may not, it’s a beginning point”.

We also discuss the differences between bloggers in respect to the networking and interaction. Shawn gives an example of Johnnie Moore, whos blogging style “seem to have the interaction going”, but tells that he is not constantly interacting with other bloggers via the blogosphere (if it happens it’s often an email, phone or f2f meeting).

We also talk about the ratios between personal and business content in weblogs, and Shawn notes that “the best mix is somewhere in between”. He talks then about the blurring lines between business and personal in knowledge-related fields and notes that “people hire you based on trust, which doesn’t come from how clever you are, but what type of person they think you are”.

• Blog networking study: establishing and maintaining relations via blogging
• Blog networking study: an overview
• Something unspeakably alien