Michael Arrington is a big mouth. So is Aaron Wall. And ShoeMoney. In fact, one of my all-time favorite big mouths is Darren Rowse (someone who I have collaborated/worked with for a long time on my journey here at Chitika). To make it perfectly clear – I’m referring to the term “big mouth” as a web-influencer, and I believe being one is a good thing.
A long time ago, before I worked in the online sphere, I’m pretty sure that I saw the term “big mouth” in a negative light. Like – something you would call someone who really liked to hear the sound of their own voice. That all went right out the window when I entered the internet industry. Online, having a big mouth means that you have a certain amount of influence over others. It means that you have a lot of people who watch/listen to/read what you have to say. It means that your fans/readers/followers (Twitter anyone?) respect you enough to take action based solely on your opinion. And in this industry, the big mouths are the most respected (and valued) individuals of all.
I can speak to this personally – at Chitika, we’ve seen the impact of big mouths first-hand (what I like to refer to as “The Big Mouth Effect” – trademark pending). Like when Darren Rowse writes about us on ProBlogger, or Aaron Wall does a piece on SEOBook, or Patrick O’Keefe speaks highly of us in his newest ebook.. each one of these holds tremendous value to our company. And I don’t mean just emotional value (although we definitely do love those guys!).. I mean value as in dollars – specific addition to our company’s bottom line.
The value of a big mouth is unquantifiable, and it is what every company strives for (online and offline). This blog post actually spurs from an email that I mistakenly sent to a big mouth, where I referred to him as such, and he (understandably) took offense to this. But I’ll tell you what – not only do I have tremendous respect for him professionally, but I’ve met him and hung out with him before, and he’s just an awesome guy. And the bottom line is – without big mouths like him, it is very likely that our company would not be where it is today. So – for all you aspiring bloggers and internet rock-stars out there – if someone calls you a big mouth in the future, be proud! You are most certainly on the right track.
-Posted by Ryan Travis, Chitika Director of Client Services