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AdRantsPosted by leah.jones
In a team training last week, I found myself grasping for a metaphor. I pride myself on being a great de-geeker. A teacher who can find a way to turn Internet jargon into something that anyone can understand.
Yes, I'm the person that has compared different search engines to different strainers you might find at a fantastic kitchen store. I'm also the person that needed a new way to talk about blogs and forums. The team didn't want technical jargon. They didn't need to know about PHP and CSS. They needed something tangible, something concrete.
"Well," I finally said, "a forum is like a quilting bee and a blog is like a sermon."
I wasn't sure that it was exactly the right way to compare them, but I suddently had a room of staff nodding their heads. Now that I've had a week, I've decided that this is indeed an apt comparison.
In a forum, for the most part, members are at the same level. While there are moderators, everyone can chime in and everyone is responsible for the conversation. At a quilting bee, there is the host who has opened her house, but everyone is responsible for quilting her (or his) portion of the quilt.
On the other hand, a sermon begins as one way communication. Clergy stands in front of the congregation and talks to them. After the sermon, during the meet and greet, the clergy might receive comments and feedback from the congregation. On a blog it works the same way. I write my post and after I've published it you, the reader, can give me comments.
Like the clergy will take a congregations feedback into consideration for the next sermon, a blogger might take those comments into consideration for my next post. In a forum, as in a quilting bee, the conversation is much more immediate.
What do you think? Does blog:forum::sermon:quilting bee work for you? If not, how would you teach these differences in a concrete way?
posted by leah.jones
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Comments
I could have used that a week ago at a client meeting. I said "blog" and confusion broke out. I tried to remedy the situation by comparing it to a content management system with an RSS feed and things got worse.
By the end of the meeting I believe we were all on the same page. But I'm going to remember the sermon analogy.
I may need to come up with something besides a quilting bee, though. People might just start wondering about me in a whole other way with that analogy. lol.
Posted by: John Fitzsimmons at April 25, 2007 4:15 PM
An extremely apt simile, one that I will use, footnoting you! I also REALLY love the old SAT-style this:that::something else:a fourth thing format. I'm sure it has a fancy name from Logic 101 that I am forgetting, but that won't stop me from using it in a Powerpoint soon.
Posted by: Jay Porter at April 25, 2007 7:45 PM
I like the comparisons. But sermon sounds, er, preachy. By that I just mean very one way. Most sermons I sit through are not asking for responses and comments.
Awhile ago I called blogs the dias of the Internet, but you have kinda the same issue.
Either way I do think it helps in showing how a blog helps demonstrate your passion (sermon) and intelligence (dias) on a topic.
Posted by: Kevin Dugan at April 25, 2007 9:04 PM
John-I think you might want to read Make it Stick (review coming.) Just finished the chapter on making the abstract into concrete. This analogy works because people KNOW what a sermon is and KNOW what a quilting bee is.
Jay-glad this works and always happy to be footnoted. :)
Kevin-that's the challenge with the word sermon, I agree that it is loaded. What it offers is a concrete example of primarily one way communication with the option of comments and more discussion.
Posted by: Leah at April 25, 2007 10:11 PM
Great analogy! I work with Tom Ciesielka at TC Public Relations and it's always a challenge explaining blogging to a client. When I was trying to explain the difference between a blog and a website, I always tell them a website is like your "office," while a blog is like your "living room." I think your sermon/quilting bee analogy is perfect for the blog/forum distinction. Good stuff!
Posted by: DrewS at April 27, 2007 2:23 PM
A forum is like a collective drawing, which usually ends up looking like a graffiti. After a while it is hard to see what the shape of it actually is.
A blog is like a painting. Everybody can stand around and comment on in it but no moustaches are allowed and the painting remains intact for all to see.
The point is a certain hierarchy in interactivity - forum has little of it, a blog has plenty. My blog is my place and I have control over its content and its shape. That is why a blog is more suitable for companies than a forum (see many complaints about how much time and effort it takes to maintain i.e. police, a forum).
Posted by: Adriana at May 14, 2007 4:18 AM
TalkShop is a blog about word-of-mouth and the Me2 Revolution, published by Edelman and hosted by Phil Gomes, the company's Senior Counsel, Online Communications. This blog pulls in thoughts and opinions from members of the worldwide Edelman network.
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Get your own chart!