So John Edwards joins the race to become President, and hires Scoble to Blog for him?
Great, you say? Well, wait a second. Scoble is a geek - he worked for Microsoft and was good at apologizing for the many shortcomings of the monolithic software giant. He was really good at dropping names, connecting with people etc. But, and that is a big “but”, he did it all for a software firm. Can he pull that off for a politician? I guess not, and here’s why:
Scoble is not really behind blogging tools, the technology and the stuff that goes with it. For one, his blog is hosted at wordpress.com, a service provided by wordpress. So you hire him, and you still need to hire a technologist - someone who can keep your blog running in the face of heavy traffic, and optimize and design it so it pulls readers by virtue of its looks and functionality. So why not hire someone who can do both things, or can at least advise on the technology behind it all?
Scoble is old, let’s face it - he’s got family. Passion is what pulls readers. Give me a twenty-something with fire in his guts for what he’s bloggin about, anytime. I hope you get where I am going with this train, ’cause its one of those freight-train like trains of thought - I don’t really know where it is going, but I’ve hopped on now 
Lastly, Scoble’s skills covering technology are admirable, to say the least, and it is difficult to imagine he will put the rest of his blogging on hold, or even slow down temporarily, which means the Edwards campaign won’t get 100% from their blogger.
Call me a skeptic, but I can’t think of one good reason why a technology blogger will help you win a presidential election. Oh well.
5 responses so far ↓
Too old for video blogging? » Make You Go Hmm // Jan 2, 2007 at 5:47 pm
[…] Too old for video blogging? politics, health and lifestyle, Hmmcast — by TDavid @ 7:20 pm Watch Now: Too old for videoblogging? [0:52m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download document.getElementById(’podPressPlayerSpace_4098_label_videoPlayer_4098_0′).innerHTML=’Hide Player’; document.getElementById(’podPressPlayerSpace_4098′).title = ‘videoPlayer_4098_0′;Following a trackback on a post here earlier today I happened upon Routine Order pondering if Robert Scoble is the right choice for covering John Edward’s 2008 Presidential campaign (emphasis mine): So why not hire someone who can do both things, or can at least advise on the technology behind it all? Scoble is old, let’s face it - he’s got family. Passion is what pulls readers. Give me a twenty-something with fire in his guts for what he’s bloggin about, anytime. […]
Robert Scoble // Jan 2, 2007 at 7:22 pm
Too old, huh?
Name one guy who has posted more video in the past three months than me. No, not Ze Frank. No, not Rocketboom. I beat both of those by a mile.
Michael Markman // Jan 2, 2007 at 8:14 pm
It’s hard to resist answering: Maybe when you’re older, you’ll be able to think of a reason. But that would be snarky. So let me explain it.
Scoble has readers who don’t follow politics closely. That’s the key asset. It’s not the fire in the belly or his knowledge or whether he has the ability (or interest) to maintain his blog without help.
It’s mainly the fact that Scoble has an audience.
Having Scoble on board for the campaign launch ensured that many in his audience would be exposed to Edwards right out of the chute… it generates interest and comments on Scobleizer and on the blogs of folks who read scoble.
If Edwards can appeal to the folks that Scoble brings to the party, then it will help in the election.
Orderer // Jan 3, 2007 at 2:54 am
I wrote the post before Robert posted clarifying the issue - essentially saying that he was just covering the announcement upon invitation and that it was not an arrangement where he would be Edwards’ main campaign blogger - the sort that Dean had for the last campaign.
So much confusion, and so much umbrage caused by a stupid post.
I’m sorry if I hurt any sensibilities, and I hope you’ll understand what I was getting at when you see that I was thinking that Robert was going to be the Edwards campaign blogger - from now till the elections.
And Robert, as an aside, what does it matter who (video)blogs most? How does that answer any of the issues I raised? Tangentially maybe, but really, that was such a red herring. The popularity and effectiveness of videoblogs are questionable too, at the moment, though with folks like you driving it, it might become successful and as common as weblogs someday. Good luck with that.
Robert Scoble // Jan 5, 2007 at 2:37 am
It matters because you hinted that only young people could produce the kind of video that would get watched. By the way, all my video is now up at scobleshow.com. Would love to know what you think.
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