I was quite surprised when I learned last week that I was the winner of the 2011 version of Blogging Idol.  I was certainly not expecting it…..other blog postings and musings were certainly as interesting and as thought provoking as mine (in my opinion).  Nevertheless, I am grateful for the recognition and can certainly use the reward (my consulting business is fairly slow at the moment!!).

So, thanks to everyone – fellow bloggers who provided the incentive to keep going, organizers who made it all happen, judges who somehow made choices about the results, and the readers (whoever they may be).

At the Pauper’s wrap party, we discussed a bit what the future could be for Blogging Idol, especially in-between contests.  Should it stop, should it continue, should it change?  And, perhaps more importantly, what makes Blogging Idol different from any other blog site?  We left with the consensus that we would continue to explore these and other “issues” to see if there’s some synergy (and energy) that can be harnessed, both for next year’s contest and perhaps as a year round thing.

So, I thought I might start it off with a few thoughts………take them as being from a blogging “novice”, since I am not a wide reader of other blogs.

Here’s what I like about the BlogIdol format:

-  it provides both separate steams of thought as well as “community” bundling, which allowed each person to not feel pressured to post all the time, since readers would see other people’s posts

-  it was not single-minded (only one topic) and not random (post on absolutely anything), and there was a happy medium with the topics being suggested as well as the freedom to comment on the latest news

-  it wasn’t really just about the contest, it was also about interesting debate and people highlighting things for the others  - the whole is greater then the sum of the parts!

-  it doesn’t require us to be experts in fancy presentation and to spend a lot of time on pretty pictures, or on generating google traffic

-  it got some publicity through the Computerworld website and print editions, so there was an expectation that others would at least sample the dialogue and an audience might form

I am sure there are more things to like, but they aren’t coming to mind at the moment.

I would like to think that Blog Idol, in between seasons, could turn into something that would be both interesting and also worth reading.  One thought of mine is to make it into a “sounding board” – a new topic each week possibly derived from Computerworld/Networkworld hot topics.  Another thought is to provide a “re-posting” portal for other people’s blogs (such as Kevin’s) thereby providing an opportunity for “cross-blog collaboration”.

Let’s get the group thinking going!!