The Introduction

The first post on a new blog is always going to be the most difficult to create. You have to make sure you get your point across, but do it in a way that doesn't make it sound like you're trying to coax people into doing something they don't want to do, which for online personalities is just gaining a "follower".

Come to think of it, starting up a blog is kind of like creating a brand new product for a company. In both cases there is time and effort spent trying to make it perfect to roll out so that anyone who sees what you've created is not completely dissatisfied and never wants to deal with your ideas (or products) again.

Creating ideas online that people will actually be interested in can be extremely difficult and some people give up because they start to think it's impossible to get a spot in people's main network of sites/blogs/youtube accounts/twitter profiles that they follow. I've personally noticed that I have specific people I follow on twitter, youtube, twitch, or Facebook and going out and searching for more profiles to follow is just a hassle now. I've gotten so used to these people pumping out content for my own enjoyment that at times I've forgotten that these people have their own lives to deal with. Although there are times when I've got nothing better to do with my time and get annoyed because the people I follow aren't posting anything.

But being a lazy consumer, the effort it takes to go back and watch a new individual's videos is just too much sometimes and I end up dealing with the wait by watching old content. That way when they come back online with new stuff it makes me super excited to watch all of it.

My experience with the more "classic" products is about the same. And the idea of consumer behaviour is evident in both product cases. As I sit here typing this on my MacBook Pro, sending the odd message out on my iPhone, listening to music with my Skull Candy headphones it's just a perfect example about how products and brands surround people's lives. It seems like no matter what you do now there is a brand you're supporting. Buying brands now can be an ordeal if you don't know what you're doing. Purchasing a new phone can have three paths before you actually swipe, insert or tap your card (Is it Visa? MasterCard? Amex? Interact? Or "old-fashioned" cash?). First, you can be lazy like me, and get the brand you know... for example "I'll take an iPhone 6"...Or you can change it up because of a bad experience and get the new Samsung Galaxy Alpha, because bigger is always better..even if the phone doesn't fit into normal pants pockets. Then there is the other way to buy a phone, which is a being a new entrant into the market. In the case of mobile phone markets now this individual would be about 80 years old or somewhere close to 12. Hopefully there would be some research to find out what kind of phone is the best, but with something as popular as a cell phone taking a friend or family member's word for what's the best is the most likely path of information gathering.

There's a process to go through to buy a phone. There's a process to buy anything now. And comparing back to my original topic of online personalities, as a brand you have to grab the attention of people and make sure you don't screw it up too much, or insult people so they keep coming back. Seems fairly simple of a task...mind you there's a lot of people out there you've got to impress, and no matter who you are, or what company you are (see Apple, Microsoft) there's always going to be "haters", that no matter how good your stuff is, will say it's terrible.

Overall, we're all consumers, and we each try to make sure the choices we make are our own, and not forced on us. But buying a brand, just because it's that brand, is not always an individual choice, and is just the result of being a "lazy" consumer.