Sometimes I am not sure that I think the same as most people - not better or worse, just different. It comes down to what Yaro called meta-thinking - looking beyond the obvious for the reasons behind the thoughts. I was thinking through the weekend about communities of communities, and forums about forums - and this in turn got me thinking about how I use meta as a reframer.
A couple of definitions:
- If the thing is the thing, and the whole of the thing, then “meta” is used for information that describes the thing. It is a much abused prefix, a bit like e-this and e-that and the suffix 2.0 (and I’ve been guilty of this one myself).
- Reframing is about looking at a thing through a different set of eyes.
Using “meta” as a reframer means being self referential (where ’self’ is the topic rather than yourself).
What does this mean for bloggers? It’s probably easiest to talk about examples that use meta as a reframer. Think about:
- blogs on blogging (and there are a lot of those already)
- forums that discuss forums (a few around)
- a collection of blogs on collectibles (or a blog about collectibles that contains lists of collectibles)
- A list of blog lists
Can you think of other examples?
Here’s how this might work for you. Let’s say your blog is about personal finance - managing the household budget and looking after your superannuation/retirement fund. Is there a market opportunity (i.e. a niche) available for a blog that reviews personal finance blogs? Perhaps even grades their advice and tracks it over a length of time?
And metablogging - blogging on blogging - could this be reframed as blogging about metablogs? Reviewing the advice given by experts on blogging? The answer to this one is a resounding yes - meta metablogging is something I’ve done often here - comparing advice from Zern Liew to that of John Chow, and talking about what I’ve learnt from Yaro Starak and Darren Rowse, and lots besides.
Consider thinking outside the box - going to the ‘metabox’ is a fun mental exercise. Best of all, it works well for generating content ideas.
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