Don’t have a blog? Don’t bother starting one.
Go Twitter, Facebook or Flickr.
This from Wired Magazine correspondent Paul Boutin in a recent post.
“Writing a weblog today isn’t the bright idea it was four years ago. The blogosphere, once a freshwater oasis of folksy self-expression and clever thought, has been flooded by a tsunami of paid bilge. Cut-rate journalists and underground marketing campaigns now drown out the authentic voices of amateur wordsmiths. It’s almost impossible to get noticed, except by hecklers. And why bother? The time it takes to craft sharp, witty blog prose is better spent expressing yourself on Flickr, Facebook, or Twitter.”
The time-cost factor isn’t his only argument for discouraging blogging. Professional blogging sites, he says, have hurt the singular model of blogs.
“Scroll down Technorati’s list of the top 100 blogs and you’ll find personal sites have been shoved aside by professional ones. Most are essentially online magazines: The Huffington Post. Engadget. TreeHugger. A stand-alone commentator can’t keep up with a team of pro writers cranking out up to 30 posts a day.”
I tend to agree with Mathew Wingram’s view on Boutin’s post:
“Facebook and Twitter are probably enough for many people. Not writing at all is enough for many people. But why does it have to be all or nothing?”
People use blogs, Twitter, Flickr and Facebook for all kinds of reasons. Each of us in MCDM have a blog to post social media-related thoughts and findings. I update my Facebook status like crazy because it keeps me connected to my homies in Kansas and beyond. I Flickr to show my mom what I’m experiencing in Seattle.
For a lot of bloggers, posting is an easy way to publish — the ONLY way we can publish — to be heard, to be seen. Do we all expect — or desire — to be at the top of Google search rankings? Sha, I’ll take it, if it happens. But it’s not my only aspiration. What happened to writing to inspire creativity, for yourself and others reading, even if it is just your classmates?
Also posted on Midwest by Northwest
8 Comments
I hadn’t checked in on FTM for a couple of days and was surprised to see this article right after I was making a similar case in my paper. My point in the paper was that many businesses that are interested in social media take so long to get comfortable with and implement them, that by the time they are done they missed the boat and might as well not have bothered…
One of the comments by a blogger in the article is that the work around creating a good post takes quite a bit of time. Perhaps it’s not as informal as it used to be, or bloggers are maybe a little more careful in crafting their posts…either way, the micro-blogging available via Twitter retains that spontaneity that might be missing from a lot of blog posts in the high Google ratings today.
I find blogging takes a lot of time. I write, rewrite, edit, revise. And in the end I usually have said something in 2000 words that I thought would take 20.
What about the idea of having your blog as your portfolio? I think of it more of hub of my own activity online…
However, these are good points and they make me wonder if social media will go the way of other mediums. Radio started amateur and then went professional (paid). Amateur radio was never able to keep up with the professionalization of radio, and thought there are still amateur radio stations out there they never have the attracted as many people.
Lawrence Lessig and Benkler argue that there is space for both… is there?
I agree with with Jeff and Brook, creating a blog post does take alot of time, even it we have the ability to edit it once it’s published. Becoming a good blogger also takes time. Within in my paper I came across articles that provide details on how to create worthwhile comments, it’s a lot of detail and could keep someone from commenting.
Adri’s absolutely right about blogs as portfolio. I’ve approached my blog, and really all social media, as an exercise in Search Engine Optimization. I have much more control over how I show up in Google because I’ve interlinked my blog, my LinkedIn profile, my Facebook profile, etc. But that just reinforces my treating blog posts as writing assignments instead of conversation.
I agree with the time issue. My take is that blogging is a very individual thing driven by different motivations. It can be personal, just to stay in touch with friends. As Adrianna said, it can be great for a professionals who want to demonstrate their thinking in a public way. Or, for those that already have an established brand, it can be a way to expand an audience and/or enhance brand loyalty. In general, blogging is a great example of a Long Tail play– invariably there is an audience for everyone, but it’s silly to think about success using the “big hit” model. Ironically, Chris Anderson, editor of Wired, wrote The Long Tail.
I had stopped blogging for a long time because Facebook pretty much takes care of my express-myself-while-staying-in-touch-with-friends-using-social-media needs. 🙂 However, I totally agree that the measure of a blog’s success is determined by its intention.