The Economics of Blogging

Life is full of choices. Some are simple, some are not. It is a simple decision for me to drive my car to work, as opposed to break into my neighbor’s vehicle and drive it to work. The reason, as every economic textbook will scream at you, is opportunity cost. By taking my neighbor’s car, I may avoid for one more day refilling my own fuel tank. By taking my own car, I may avoid grand theft auto being permanently linked to my name and Social Security Number. Advantage: Condon’s Accord.

An example of a difficult decision is whether or not to allow YAB drop its blog deficit. As you’ve probably noticed by now, I’ve been backdating posts for a little while. Four days behind happened as a result of a particularly taxing year-end at work, the monkeywrench of having three-day weekends, and one fierce case of blogger’s block. This leaves us with an economic decision to make here. And as a private company, You’re a Blog Incorporated sees this decision as internal.

Before we get to that decision and the evaluation of the different options, let’s put one reader in his place. To the one who claims to be one of several shareholders in the financial stake of YAB Inc. (He would spell it “steak”, if you needed a clue.): let’s get one thing straight. The only stakeholder in the financial well-being of the blog is Chris Condon, Editor-in-Chief and Chief Awesome Officer. In order for there to be shareholders in this company, shares must have been issued at some point between 7/27/04 and now. If you can produce the documentation, then please come forth, good sir whistleblower. We do have legal council, and he’s a black belt, so if you would like to pick a fight, be our guest. Until then, the Board makes all executive decisions, as per the Condon Rules. (And he sure does.)

Ok, back to the topic at hand. In order to combat this blog deficit, our crack team of economists has developed three solutions to pull YAB out of this whole back dating issue. Yes, it has been a little unsettling to recap the NFC Championship game before kickoff, or countdown the best Super Bowl Commercials even before they were aired. For archival purposes, it’s thrown the blog for a loop. An ultimatum must be, uhh…ultimated. Rock.

Solution Number 1 – Just like a disposed asset, write off the missing blogs as growing pains, and move forward with proper dating techniques. But at what cost? There is no salvage value of a blog that was never written, much like an airline seat that was never filled before takeoff. However, this method would allow the proverbial plan to take off at the right time from this departure forward. Seems like a viable option. Except for the fact that Condon can no longer pride himself on the fact that he writes a daily. And that, dear readers, is something we are just not ready to do. Executive decision: REJECTED.

Solution Number 2 - Rather than allow the four days to drop to the bottom line, post four times in succession without any constrictions to length or quality. Consider posting interesting articles and/or shortened musings and count as a day's worht of post. Benefits of this solution is that, just like Solution Number 1, it wipes the slate clean, allowing Condon to once again not feel guilty about writing about time-lapsed topics. (Ex. Would have seemed silly to publish my 1 on 1 tell-all interview with Groundhog Phil on February 6.) However, readers of YAB would not and should not stand for subpar efforts from their daily visit to the blog, and this owuld negate some of the marketing slogans we've been developing. Just imagin the revisions... "YAB - Where we bring the funny, at least most of the time." or "YAB. Bringing Mediocrity to the Internet!" Face it, I'm my own toughest critic. Executive Decision: REJECTED.

Solution Number 3 - Continue the current course. Strive to get those 4 delinquent horses into the stable. Produce four high-quality blogs, that do not decline in value, even though they will enjoy top billing on the site for a matter of hours, instead of a full day. Pros - I may do it for my own sense of self-satisfaction, but at least quality doesn't decrease. Also, once caught up, can again fully claim to be a daily that brings the funny. As a result of extra hard work, be perceived asthe Cal Ripken Jtr. of the blogging world. Executive Decision: ACCEPTED.

And just like that, 1 down, 3 to go.