Morning Must-Read: Barry Ritholtz: After 30,000 Posts…

Barry Ritholtz: After 30,000 posts, Big Picture blogger has figured a few things out: “After more than a decade of getting up before the crack of dawn…

…to write a daily journal about all things financial, here is what I’ve learned: (1) Writing is a good way to figure out what you think…. (2) Writing is a good way to become a better writer…. (3) Mainstream media ignored blogs, occasionally stole from, then adopted the format wholesale…. (4) Content: creativity, criticism and curation. Content is king. When you are asking people to read you several times a day, you better have some fine content. Mixing original content, intelligent criticism and curation (a.k.a. reading linkfests) has been a successful formula for me…. I would describe it [as]… ‘First, here is something I CREATED which I think is worthwhile; second, THAT OVER THERE is wrong and not especially compelling and here’s why; and third, you should see ALL OF THESE. They are excellent.’ I am oversimplifying, but that’s the basic three-part content structure of a good blog…. Reader comments have become useless…. This is a shame. At one time, commenters had tremendous value within given communities….

(5) Advertising is a terrible business model (unless you are Google)…. (6) Authors vs. publishers. People read publications less than they do authors…. There is a caveat…. Any powerful platform will potentially expose a writer to a wider audience. That has been my experience here at The Washington Post as well as on Bloomberg View. (7) People lie to themselves…. For a data guy like me, this is both utterly fascinating and somewhat disturbing…. Whenever I encounter someone who refuses to accept reality, all I can do is shrug and remind myself that someone has to be on the losing side of the trade. It might as well be him. (8) It can be difficult for readers to distinguish between good information and distracting nonsense. Despite a tremendous amount of information online, readers are still mired in lots of bad thinking and disproven memes.