This morning I’ve had the pleasure of reading a post by Jordon of NotAProBlog. As is his want Jordon precludes the post with a good video on the subject which in this case is Allyn’s extremely funny post, When A-List Turns To A-Hole.  Well it seems that Allyn has removed that particular video because all the f-bombs pissed off some people who withdrew their consulting deals. Let that be a lesson to some of you, there are people who take what you say and do too literally at times and this can bite you in the ass at a later date.

It was obvious to me that Jordon didn’t like the way Allyn handled himself in the video and so he brought all his 13 years as a professional stand up comedian into play to show others the error of his ways. Truth be told it was all rather convincing, on the surface.

Jordan says of the video;

It’s horribly unfunny. It has virtually no wit whatsoever

Now that is obviously his opinion, and he has a right to it. Personally I found it to be bloody hilarious as did the majority of his commentators thus far, including David Risley himself!

Where Jordon lost me was when he took something that Allyn said out of context.

…building a business means building customers. REALIZE THIS: someone who takes time to comment on your “social” blog is giving you what we call a “buying sign” …meaning they are on the verge of making a purchase, all you have to do is add in a feature and a benefit (like replying to a comment on the blog) and then CLOSE!
- Allyn Hane

Naturally the first place to look was at Allyn’s posts. I can just imagine his disappointment to find that Allyn, just as I do, actually interacts with his commentators by replying to comments.

Like a tabloid news hound he’s off trying to dig some dirt on another blogger who was only expressing a personal view. Naturally, if you dig long enough you are bound to find something that you can manipulate to your own personal benefit. Jordan found just what he was looking for by trawling Allyn’s Tweets. He comes up with this;

Nearly 1500 followers @allynpaul has got there. I’m sure it would be highly beneficial to connect with these potential customers, but apparently Allyn has failed to do so. Only one @reply this past month and it’s pretty much based around a hashtag seemingly created to self-promote his beer business. The rest of Allyn’s messages are mostly self-centered in nature – either to push a new piece of content or just to talk about himself.

Thanks for that Jordan, I am now following Allyn. So, let’s talk about Twitter. To compare your Twitter followers to your commentators is pretty far fetched. People come to your blog because they want to read or like what you have to say. The majority of people who follow you on Twitter don’t know who you are and don’t give a shit about what you have to say. Unless it’s someone you know, I reckon it’s pretty safe to say that the only reason they’re following you is in the hope that you follow back.

As to him promoting himself by Tweeting relevant articles, so what, so does the  majority of other Twitterers, which is not at all surprising considering all the blog posts out there telling you how to use Twitter to market yourself and your products. I’ve only got about 300 followers, last I looked, but of those, thanks to Tweetdeck, I only follow Tweets left by those I know. I do however respond to all my commentators as I believe them to be two completely different and unrelated entities.

Now, I’m not saying that the argument Jordan uses in his blog is wrong, as I believe it shows a lot of merit, only that the way he uses it against Allyn is somewhat misplaced.

As we head 0ff into the new year, I think it would be nice if we could all remember that every blogger is different, and rather than finding ways of forcing our own beliefs on how one should behave whilst on their blog, we should accept them for who they are and respect that whatever they do, they have their own audience who they are performing for. If you don’t like the show, leave, no-one is asking you to stay.

In closing, Allyn and Jordan are two entirely different bloggers with their own personalities and it would be unfair to expect either of them to change the way they post on their relevant blogs. Jordan has his followers who admire him for who he is and Allyn has his followers who do the same, and I lay you 10/1 odds that if Allyn changed the way he posts, he would lose many of his followers, as they love him for who he is.

OK, that was a little heavy, I’m off to watch Allyn’s video again so that I can lighten the mood a little.
Read the rest of this entry