Because his Ideas are Good

A new e-book from Seth Godin at: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2005/09/whos_there_the_.html

The ideas are good for anyone interested in having their blog read (translation: all of us) but it is worth noting that none of his ideas are anything new under the sun. As early as 1996, a communications researcher (Nancy Baym, see http://www.people.ku.edu/~nbaym/) did studies of online communities in soap opera fan newsgroups (sounds cheesy, but read on). It seems those newsgroups had prolific and popular "posters" whose ideas would spread amoung the entire readership. These posters got popular by posting messages that were fun, relevant, and informative. Once they became known as authorities in their online communities, they could post almost anything, and would still maintain a large readership (relating to the: it matters what you post, no, it matters who you are, first two sections in Seth's e-book.

It just goes to show. In human communication nothing is really new - only the character of the challenge has changed (read below for further thoughts on the timelessness of human communication and technology.

But Seth's e-book is actually really good. Old news told in a new way. Recommended reading for every blogger.