Brian Gorrell’s Advice to Bloggers

Controversial Australian blogger Brian Gorrell, famous for his exposes on Philippine high society, offers five bits of advice to his Filipino counterparts at iBlog4. Here they are summarized with my personal annotations.

1) Maintain your personal, emotional, and physical health. Otherwise, you’ll end up like those stressed-to-death bloggers featured in the New York Times. This is actually one of the reasons I go to the gym.

2) The blog is always hungry. Decide how often you’ll feed it depending on why you need it.

3) Not everyone’s gonna like you. Longtime readers of my blog know this. ;)

4) Don’t edit yourself. Brian emphasizes confidence. Personally, I find editing yourself too much makes you sound inauthentic, and people on the Internet have strong bullshit radars.

5) Try not to get swept up in your blog. My first blog was named Information Narcosis, because I blogged whenever I got high on information. I blogged because I was swept up in my blog. When Steve Rubel helped me realize that my blog could help bring about positive change in the world, I renamed my personal blog The Mike Abundo Effect. Don’t get swept up, and you’ll make waves.

Good advice. Brian hasn’t been blogging very long, but his role in Philippine society is making him learn the ropes very quickly.

Tags: , ,

April 26, 2008 | Filed Under Blogging 

Comments

7 Responses to “Brian Gorrell’s Advice to Bloggers”

  1. inghinyero on April 26th, 2008 8:40 pm

    I think you asked a lotta smart questions earlier sa iBlog po! :)
    Wala lang. Just droppd by. :) Ex-links??

  2. Mike Abundo on April 26th, 2008 8:56 pm

    Glad you liked my questions, Rommel. Thanks for dropping by my blog! :)

  3. Janette Toral on April 27th, 2008 2:04 am

    Thanks Mike for sharing! Brian’s lessons learned sharing and advise is very insightful and reflective of his experience. I hope the newbies liked it.

  4. Mike Abundo on April 27th, 2008 10:43 am

    The newbies probably want to hear from an advanced newbie, someone closer to their situation. Brian is exactly that. Good call having him share his experiences at iBlog, Janette. :)

  5. lionel (acid42) on April 29th, 2008 3:22 am

    Nice lessons.

    Maybe part of not being swept up by your own blog is realizing that online relationships via the comments on your entries DO NOT make up for real offline relationships. In short, don’t feel like your life is validated by the comments you get. And also, don’t neglect your family. Hah!

  6. Anonymous on May 4th, 2008 7:42 pm

    Brian crossed the line,he lost a lot of his followers,mostly avid “members” of his group after he continued his tirades against everybody,even people he doesnt know.He post a blog accusing one of our senator’s mother of being a coke addict.Brian post a blog about the the hate site his ex supporters/readers put up,but personally,i dont see any hate in that site,they have valid questions that brian refuses to answer.taken from http://themeanstreak.blogspot.com/

    “What can we say, Brian? We came to our senses. This is not a blog competition. It’s our effort to stop a cheap scandalmonger (you) from profiting off the misfortunes of innocent people. Your victims range from babies to old women with cancer. YOU are sick, Brian.”
    “Brian,your true colors are showing.
    If you think this is a hate site,so be it.Call it whatever you like.But definitely,I can assure you,we are not your GG friends.If you’re smart enough,you know that this is not about popularity.

    You took the time and effort to write a post against us,but you cant even answer our questions?So i’ll post some of the questions again,we’ll never know,maybe you’ll grow a conscience.”

    Blogging is an excellent tool for all of us.Blogging lets us express our self freely,to send across any story or message to a lot of people.Blogging is also a good opportunity to earn money.But with blogging,there should be responsibility,credibility.

    In Brian’s case,he has used blogging as an instrument of destruction and deception.Too bad.

  7. Bakla Ako, May Reklamo? - Bakla Goes to iBlog4! on May 5th, 2008 8:09 am

    [...] Brian Gorrell’s Advice to Bloggers [...]

Post a Comment