Content! Content!

(emphasize the first syllable if you're reading silently)

Okay, okay. Enough search string silliness and headline humor. No more National Spotlights on Kansas News. (Who cares about Kansas anyway?) You've had it with caption contests and Don Surber references. You want content! And you won't be content without it.

So. Here I go. Get ready.

Forbes Repents!

That's right. The magazine which otherwise gets it right blew it last month with Attack of the Blogs.

"Bloggers are more of a threat than people realize, and they are only going to get more toxic. This is the new reality," says Peter Blackshaw, chief marketing officer at Intelliseek.

Hmm. Toxic. How about this:

Blogs started a few years ago as a simple way for people to keep online diaries. Suddenly they are the ultimate vehicle for brand-bashing, personal attacks, political extremism and smear campaigns.

So should we all go back to diapers? The article broad-brushed blogs so uncritically that I lost a bit of respect for Forbes. Until this month's issue when Rich Karlgaard wrote about My Life As a Blogger.

Blogging is not overhyped. You may be forgiven for thinking so, as no day goes by without a story on blogs. But blogs are no fad. They are cheap and easy to do. And blogs fulfill that deepest of human needs as defined by psychologist Abraham Maslow: self-actualization. People write blogs because they want to know themselves and want to be known by others and because they want their lives to count.

A bit philosophical, but spot on. This is better:

Are blogs good or bad for business? I recently argued this point with Forbes Managing Editor Dennis Kneale on our television show, Forbes on Fox. Dennis had edited the Forbes Nov. 14 cover story, "Attack of the Blogs," by Daniel Lyons. This story recounted the damage that some nasty bloggers, hiding in the weeds like assassins, had done to businesses and people. Dennis was proud of this story, and properly so. It was well reported and snappily written. But I took issue with it, saying that good companies and honest businesspeople have little to fear from bloggers. When companies and people do the right thing, the majority of bloggers will write good things about them.

That's right. Do good things, get rewarded. Do bad, stupid, or irresponsible things, get punished. Blog capitalism at its finest. If bloggers have solid content and intelligent things to say, people will listen. If not, they'll quickly move on.

Application to Bloggin' Outloud: Continue silly search strings, headline humor, Kansas news highlights, and caption contests. Cut back on the Surber references. Oh, and memo to self, add some content every now and then.

Technorati Tags: Forbes, Attack of the Blogs, Rich Karlgaard (see also Karlgaard's blog, Digital Rules).
Tagging Other Bloggers: Knappster's Attack of the Whiners; Maison Bisson's Attack of the Blogs (Yeah)!; Qumana Blog's Dave has a great point; CGM's Forbes: Attack of the Blogs?; and The Fire Ant Gazette's Big Groups of Stupid People.
Tagging Open Posts: Adam's Carnival of Christmas OTBs; Is It Just Me's Changes in Progress; Don Surber's Christmas Podcast; Stuck on Stupid's ByrdLand & OTBs; Diane's Weekly OTA Fest; third world county's Batting Cleanup & Open Posts; Basil's Breakfast; Conservative Cat's Ping Party.