In 2003, I was the most hated blogger. The fact that I was using the words "making money" and "blogging" in the same sentence was considered a sin. But it pulled in the traffic, just the same.

I call it The "O Factor" named after conservative commentator Bill O'Reilly.

Why?

Because at the end of each episode he reads his hate mail along with his fan mail. No one turns off the show till they watch that segment. And what does it do? It cements the love of his fans -- and cements the viewing of those that hate him.

Another case in point is this controversy that made it to The Drudge Report this morning. It seems that the listeners of Michael Savage's radio show have been writing into CSPAN with some lively emails.

And what does CSPAN do?

They fall into Michael's trap and discuss the emails live on the air instead of just ignoring them. And of course that just fires up Michael's listeners! They want to know that they are being listened to! They want the attention.

The psychology of cults and crowds in fascinating stuff.

Aloha,

Jason Cain