The Art of Re-Posting

There has been some discussion about re-posting news and information across the blogosphere. It seems that hundreds of bloggers simply re-post information that another site has covered. And what’s the point? There is an art to re-posting news and information and it’s quite easy to do.

Now, re-posting information does have its place on the web. That’s how news travels. Not everyone reads Yahoo News or Matt Cutt’s blog. So, when the news or posts get re-blogged someplace else, usually as a summary, they are helping spread the news. The problem is, quite a bit of re-blogging is really boring and just creating cyber junk.

Now, I’m guilty of this too (see yesterday’s Technorati post) but there is a way to re-post information and not create junk. It’s as easy as putting your own spin or opinions on the topic.

Let’s say that the new Bluetooth iPod comes out, you know that everyone and their brother will blog about it. Most will post quick one or two sentences saying that it came out. Junk. Some with write a few sentences, post a picture and a quote or two from Apple’s site or the press release. Junk. The smart ones will compare features & specs to the current iPods. Not Junk. Some will talk about experiences running to the store to get one or trying it out. Not Junk. Others will talk about how it’s about darn time or how they can’t afford it. With the right amount of opinion, these can be not junk too.

So what it really comes down to is opinions and thoughts. If you don’t put any into your posts, you are just creating junk. Not only do search engines disregard junk, but so will your visitors.