Social Internet
Dear Reader
I’m a little stressed. I’m stressed about this responsibility that comes with being a blogger.
Being a blogger was hot once. Now, it is a chore. It started as something I did for myself and my friends, then it morphed into a more serious, professional persona and now everytime I log into type in here, I’m afraid it’s just another voice in the cacophony out there.
Bloggers I meet have ’strategies’ for their blogs, particular reasons why they start blogs and massive, drawn out plans for their blogs.
Clients I meet are wondering about these blogs - they want to wine and dine the bloggers and get them to create, “positive conversations” about blogs.
In another universe, one-time bloggers who are now quasi-famous, are taking potshots at each other, judging and criticizing the very outlets that supposedly started out ‘just out of interest,” and were meant to be subjective, not objective.
The web, the news, the conversations are rife with bitterness and a constantly shifting status-quo.
I come from the world of magazines - it was my first home and I get it. I understand the power of a voice, the power of influence. And I see it coming a full circle, when blogs aren’t just ‘blogs’ but blown-out, magazines that are edited and curated with a singular voice at the helm, becoming full-on media properties. They now have to have a facelift, better features, fancy photography and whatnot. Er, excuse me - are you still a blog? Oh wait a minute, you’ve even got contributing writers. Woah.
Excuse my rant, dear reader.
It’s just 1am on a Thursday morning and I’ve just realized that being a blogger holds no merit for me any longer. Yes, it got me my jobs but it’s not relevant to me in the context that it was before.
Discussion
5 comments for “Dear Reader”
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I suppose you have reached the point where blogging doesn’t seem to hold any personal value for you anymore. I started blogging personally and still enjoy it today. However, I keep it separate from the blogs I write for. When the day comes that I feel exhausted from blogging, I can always retire but still keep my personal one running. Because that’s the blog where I don’t have to worry about writing as much or gathering as many readers.
Actually, blogs have seprated into the professionally edited (mag-type) blogs and the still personal blogs.
The key advantage blogging still has is that you can always decide not to blog for a while (example: moi) and then get back to it later and still be subscribed in your friends’ feedreader.
Imagine a magazine trying to stop publishing for a few months/weeks and still expecting the same readership after the hiatus!
Also, with blog search engines, your blog isn’t just a list of the newest article, but a log of what you’ve said over the years!
So go ahead, stop blogging today, people will still find your old posts and still get the information they want!
Julie - I think so. I think there was a point when blogs added value, now they are adding noise.
Vinit - It’s not about stopping to blog. It’s about questioning the value, the quality of conversation that blogs are adding.
Nice post. It makes me think. Not so much about blogging. I’m crap at that and none too bothered. More about output. What should my output be? Should the output just be ‘conversations’? Should the output be links to things? Connections? Tools?
There’s a nice quote by E.M. Forrester:
“How do I know what I think until I see what I say?”
Problem is, the conversational imperative of the web quickly turns the above into:
“How do WE know what WE think until WE see what WE say?”
And it becomes a horrible echo chamber of noise and nuisance with all the necessary scratching and biting to be heard above the din.
I have no answer for this. Well, maybe one. Tumblr or any microblogging tool that doesn’t oblige you to accept comments or respond to them. I think that’s a great non-feature. Some alone time. Just for me or an undefined ‘us’.
Adam - I love that quote. I have been in a confused state of mind lately just trying to figure out my role in social media and social media’s role in my life. Does that make sense?