garyshort.org

Heheh! Posts like these get me to smile.

Anyway, if I'm only famous cause I'm famous, how did I get famous?

To Robert - err...because you happen to work for one of the most closely followed businesses on the planet - followed that is by those who have an interestin computing. Outside that, 99.9% of people I know will know Bill G but when I mention RS they look blank - so it's a small world of blogocircular referencing perhaps?

There's about 60,000 other Microsoft people.

So why aren't they all as famous as Scoble?

There are about 2,000 Microsft bloggers.

Why aren't any of them as famous as Scoble?

Scoble is a technical evangelist for the Tablet PC.

Why aren't any of the other Microsoft Technical evangelists as famous as Scoble?

Scoble, as an example of the phenomenon he now represents, 'came from nowhere'.

He was not given a job which looked exceptionally high profile.

He is paid an unimpressive wage for a particularly junior position

His son goes to a school whose academic acheivements unequivocally reflect something other than either fame of fortune.

Despite this, he has taken serious risks with his job and was genuinely scared of losing it when he did so.

When Scoble says something that he doesn't believe, something that he has said because he believes it's his job to say it, it's not long before he's telling you how bad saying it made him feel, and why he can't say it any more, and why saying it isn't helping Microsoft.

A lot of people trust Scoble's judgement.

Not because they believe he doesn't make any mistakes (he often makes them in public and tells us about them) but because they know his feedback network is fast, powerful and accessible.

When you buy Scoble's judgement, you buy his prodigious-to-the-point-of-insanity blog news-reading habits, his direct exposure to Microsoft's internal politics, his irresistable need to tell us as much as he can, his often scathingly critical public feedback network and his conscientious commitment to self-correction as a Scoble-Gestalt.

Whereas Scoble may only be famous for being famous, the Scoble-Gestalt is famous for being.

>you can only boogle at the man’s ego

I think you mean "boggle".

You're right, WillC2, but I actually like "boogle" better for some reason.

I'd like to add a vote for boogle as well, just has that nice, easier to google, kinda sound to it.

I think part of the problem is Robert's writing style doesn't do him, the human, justice. If you spend time with him, watch the channel 9 videos, or any such, you tend to 'hear' him vs. reading which makes some of this harsh stuff seem, well, not so harsh. He's a good guy, with a good heart, fighting the good fight, so to speak, and as one who lived and breathed on the campus, I can tell you Robert's ego doesn't get beyond a 2.5 when measured against the redmond masses, yowsa, the man is just not even close. Not sure that says much of a positive thing, but he's not a bad fella. Robert should podcast more so you could here it vs. reading. That "I've mentioned it before" stuff wouldn't be as bad as the naked text makes it out to be.

On the whole, tho, the more famous anybody gets, the more important it becomes to get more humble. If it's broken, a quiet email to somebody probably has the same effect. Ah, the changing world we live in.

That's rather odd, even the defenders of Scoble in these comments display a very short-sighted view of blogging history.

Scoble has been blogging for closing in on 5 years now. Guess what people? He hasn't worked for Microsoft for three years yet! But to listen to everyone here, you'd think his blog was completely unknown until he did.

Scoble worked for Userland with Dave Winer. Had a fantastic blog when he did - and THAT is where he became known for his blogging. Oh, and there's that "other" place he worked even before that - Fawcett, writing for VBPJ.

I'm just hoping to add some needed background here. Scoble's blog HAS changed - and IMHO not for the better - since coming to Microsoft. His obvious bias for Microsoft products, along with his paying job, make it unavoidable that this happens more than one would like.

Ego? Well, considering he worked with the people who developed one of the earliest blogging tools, considering he really DOES have some knowledge of the market and what works, I think one needs to give him some kudos. Yes, from time to time he definitely goes over the top - yes Robert, I'm _still_ using your words about the PDC '03 - but ego and/or arrogance are words even his critics can't easily defend.

As Dave says, most people fail to recognize what it takes to become famous. You can look at any one who is good at what they do, and you will see that they have spent years of effort to master their craft.

I am also willing to bet that Robert has been working on his writing skills before he started to blog! Further he works very hard at keeping poeple informed and build relationships.

People go to read Scoble becuase they know they can get a snap shot of the events in our industry and that is certainly valuable.

If a person can influence a company than the problem is with the company and not person, don't you think? If you can't filter your environment and stay focused on your task you should not run a business!