Last week’s post about the Millennials taught me a lesson.
The last 15 days were lookin' up.
The post shattered records for single-day traffic five times. I’m flattered by the attention, but I know it’s probably a one-time thing.
I don’t do posts outside my realm. I just stumbled onto a hot topic. Lots of folks liked it, I guess, and the conversation continues.
Of the 100+ comments on the Millennial post, two revealed the basic flaw in trying to categorizing people by generation. My good friend Blair Boone correctly asserts that Millennials hardly invented whining and entitlement. Both have been around for generations. My pal Sean Williams confirms the same idea by invoking Bye-Bye Birdie to remind us that “What’s the matter with kids today?” is NOT a new question.
The lesson to me? Stay on topic. This blog isn’t about traffic, it’s about PR. And I got a little off topic. This week or next, I get back to public relations. But some things will be changing.
The tagline: Sometime in the next 2 weeks I’ll replace that silly “Bill Sledzik on public relations and how it affects our lives” line with something a little more edgy. (Sorry, I ain’t tellin’.) I’m not ready to part with the Darth Blogger portrait though. He’s too much a part of the brand.
The URL: In the next 30 days I (finally) make the move to WordPress.org and my own URL. Thanks to the bad economy (or so I assume), the financial planning firm that once owned “ToughSledding.com” let it go. Ironic, huh? Anyway, I grabbed it. But the main reason for the switch to .org is the improved analytics. I’ve decided it’s time to pay attention to the numbers, and maybe even the SEO. Sigh.
Recycling posts. Conventional wisdom, if there is such a thing in the blogosphere, tells me it’s bad medicine to recycle posts. But I’m gonna do it anyway. A lot of readers weren’t exposed to the lunacy of my early years, so “Flashback Friday” begins May 14. I’ll repost the fun stuff from 2006-07.
For newcomers, I should share my blogging philosophy, too.
This homemade bumper stick grew from a post I wrote last year — a post spoofing Facebook’s “25 Things About Me.” That meme was so dumb I just had to mock it, and I had blast doing it.
But it’s pretty much true. I have no good reason for doing this.
There was a time when I blogged to spark conversation. Not so much any more. I just write what I think. The conversation ain’t what it used to be, and fewer people are paying close attention to it? Most of the 2.0 crowd is content with the navel contemplation of Twitter. Blog convo is fading, but tweets are easy. You have to be pithy is all. And in PR, we know how to pith.
Blogging has a way of skewing your priorities and messing with your head.
So I’m gonna shut up now and watch the end of the hockey game. Go Pens!
ToughSledding 
It is pretty sad-ass to blog during the Pens game–but in light of how they were playing last night, it could be forgiven if you were doing it during the first 2.5 periods of the game.
Breeze: Judging by the updated stats, a good many others were watching hockey on Saturday. Then, come Sunday morning, it’s the biggest day yet. And it’s only half over!
You know what this means: The Millennials are heathens. They’re reading my blog when they should be in church. Or maybe they’re reading it in church via iPhone — a device of Satan if there ever was one.
I’m goin’ to hell for this. I just know it.
Proving once again how late I am to parties, I just read this post on my Google Reader (sadly, Google did not offer to pay me to mention Reader in this comment.) One more bit about the youngsters — Socrates complained (http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/20946.html) “Children today are tyrants. They contradict their parents, gobble their food, and tyrannize their teachers.”
It seems like our JOBS are to endure this outrage and complain about those darn kids. Get off my lawn!