Last April, Seth Godin spoke at a marketing conference in Montreal.  (which, by the way, was interesting, clever and certainly colorful – thanks Seth). The main idea revolved around the concepts of his most recent book Tribes, which I have yet to read.

A brief Q&A period followed his presentation, during which someone asked him why he didn’t have comments on his blog, which was “blogging 101“, said the person asking the question.

Seth briefly explained why, as he often has before. Then he asked if anyone had a relevant question. Man, the bloggers in the house looked pissed…

Often, bloggers admire Seth Godin, because he has one of the most popular blogs in the world. They use him as an example and sometimes as a role model. Which is fine, but perhaps a little bit self-serving.

Seth Godin is a writer who uses the blog as a tool. Not a blogger per se. He writes about marketing and marketing related topics and ideas. He does this with books, and supplements it using a blog.

The blog is a tool. A very flexible, powerful tool. Nothing more, nothing less.

You don’t see Microsoft trying to show off which writers use Word to write novels, so if a marketing expert uses blogging to spread his ideas, don’t hate him if he doesn’t follow all the rules of blogging 101.

The same is true of any social media app/community/site/network. These are all tools, which can be instrumental in acheiving your goal. And that’s where it has to start; with your goal.