I was reviewing my Feedburner stats recently and saw something interesting.  I’ve kept the same Feedburner feed URL for both of my attempts at blogging (the first time, during college, which ended sometime in 2007; and now this second effort at getting a personal blog going!)  The slope of the subscribers line at the start of both of these time periods is interesting.  Back in 2006, it was a very gradual climb in subscriber growth.  This time around, growth has spiked much more quickly.

I’m attributing much of this to the importance of social media - blog posts are broadcast and retweeted so much more in today’s world.  Before, sharing and broadcast options were more limited.

I think this is an interesting comparison between the time periods, with my own little sample set, and clearly shows the importance of using social media to drive readers to your posts.

joeconyers:

caterpillarcowboy:

mikehudack:

gbattle:

@cdixon aka Chris Dixon challenging VC’s and entrepreneurs who don’t blog.

I think the supply/demand balance has changed in the last 3 years. Startups are now choosing VCs for the small amounts they need, not the other way around, and a lot of judgments about how “entrepreneur-friendly” a VC is is made via their public online presence.

Build a brand, folks. It’s part of your job now.

Caterpillar Cowboy’s last sentence is important - already just weeks after starting to blog again in earnest, I’ve already seen the power of using blogs and Twitter to get in touch with people who share my views.  People who I wouldn’t otherwise have any way of getting in touch with.  It’s all about building a personal brand for yourself.