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I manage the facebook page for Man in the Mirror, and I've started to post a message every morning called Your Morning Read. I look around for interesting blog posts or articles that I think the constituency of MIM would find helpful or interesting and give them a link.
As I have been looking for stuff to post, I realized that I have a reasonably simple set of criteria that I have been using to recommend a link. It's the same criteria I use to determine if I want to read something myself:
Relevance - This is the most obvious one. I read stuff that matters to me.
Writing - Poor writing quickly loses my interest.
Challenge - I love reading something that challenges me to think differently, be better, confront my own hypocrisy.
Length - Esoteric? Maybe. But this has become one of my crucial criteria. Do you have a lot of time to read blogs? People that talk just because they like the sound of their own voice bug me. I'm beginning to notice that about some bloggers as well, especially those who post daily. When a blog post goes on and on, I get the sense that it's just train of thought. Maybe there's some pressure to "meet deadline", and not enough editing time to put out a concise insight.
Self-contained - If I have to read too many previous postings to understand what this one is talking about, I lose interest.
Story - Take me somewhere. I will read previous postings if there is a narrative that is compelling. The best example I can give of this is the Wrestling with an Angel blog.
I could add other things as well: humor, a unique perspective, sarcasm (sometimes), humility.
So, I'll start posting some of these blogs here. Why say something that someone else can say better? Look for those postings under, Your Daily Read. Enjoy!
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Woops, hope I'm not one of those that likes to "hear his own voice!" =) Thanks for the insight, though, I will probably refer back to this post often.
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