and i get it, in theory, that in writing there is a particular tone that one could read into a blog post, an article, a report, ect

and that’s nice, but where i come in conflict with some

it is when i say it doesnt matter.

when i was at the Times, i tried to convince as many desks as i could that they should consider group blogs as opposed to individual ones.

i explained that tonypierce.com was pretty successful at a point, for a one man show, but i never really understood the power of a group blog until i was at LAist.

there you could get lots of different points of view and

OMG lots of different voices

and that diversity is what brought in a larger audience.

any time someone brought up a blog or a site that had a detectable voice, i brought up two that were rollicking group blogs with no unified voice.

it wasn’t until two of our group blogs, the local news LA Now, and the Fabulous Forum sports blog, broke out once they started writing a bunch of stories a day.

those successes allowed me to say with confidence that IF you believe in voice,

then you should also encourage a chorus, which, when it is in tune, can create a more powerful emotion.

but me – i don’t believe the audience is loyal. and i believe that they are clicking clicking clicking hundreds of times in between visits to your incredible web destination.

and during those clicks they are hearing one different voice after another – and they love it. how do i know? because they keep clicking.

what will keep them clicking within your web site / instagram feed / blog, isn’t a tone or a style similar to the one they just read

but kickass posts, one after another, with interesting information that they can’t get anywhere else,

with fascinating photos or graphics or charts.

internet users are bombarded with conflicting, contradicting, ugly beautiful images and messages. the fact that you have 9 pink pictures in a row with some lilting sentences

is not why someone will return.

you impressing their friends will.

and what impresses their friends is learning something shareable before you do.