Guest Blogger - DJ of
OOLER.COM
After reading
Sam Sabori's post regarding the blogosphere, I felt compelled to give my take on the state of the blogosphere. Sadly, I had no where to go to give my opinion. So I ended up here.
Retiring my blog has been incredibly difficult for me. Every time I see a computer I want to sit down and start writing. I wake up in the middle of the night wanting to share ideas and stories from my day. My life feels boring without the daily
documenation. I've lost the urge to take pictures. I recently went on a trip with my brother to
Las Vegas and snapped about 10 pictures - without a blog, what was I gonna do with the pictures? Quitting blogging has been hard. The
internet seems boring without a depository to post what I find. I blogged for such a long time. Now it seems like it was all a waste. I remember trying to get my friends to start blogs in 2002. Everyone said that I was weird for putting my personal thoughts online. Now, it seems everyone has a blog... except for me.
Initially, blogging served as a way for me to understand what was going on around me. It was primarily a personal outlet for me to share what I was thinking or feeling. In most cases, it was trite and mundane. It was full of angst. Looking back, it was embarrassing. Subsequently, it is not online. Still, it is nice to be able to look back and see what I was thinking. I like to think that it helped others in some way. I started blogging after being inspired by others who put their personal thoughts online. Of course the blogs of 2001 are very different than the blogs that can be read today. Blogs were not videos, pictures and links. Instead, they were online journals, filled with genuine, personal experience. Blogging was new. People were not afraid of the media, future employers or friends finding their blog. Blogs were personal.
I think blogging as a whole has lost its impact. Blogs are no longer personal. Everyone is posting drivel. In regards to the "S.O.B." posts are infrequent and in most cases, only a couple words or a link. Links are good, in moderation. If I wanted links, I would go to
digg - your blog should be about the things you are interested in - make those things interesting for others to read. If you are not interested in what you are writing about, no one else will be. No one needs to keep a blog - it shouldn't be work. Good blogs have readers. Great blogs create dialogue. Having readers is far different than having an active readership. An active readership comes only after you create something worth commenting on. Blogging is about sharing your ideas or thoughts and letting people respond with their own thoughts and ideas. If you are not sharing any meaningful ideas, why should anyone share their ideas with you?
Connecting, communicating, creating, and sharing the things that matter should be a meaningful. Most of the time, we are just posting crap. I don't want to read crap and neither does anyone else. Post something that is going to make me think. If you post a link, comment on it - what did you get out of it? Was it meaningful to you? Don't post something because you need to update. Fresh content is not content unless it has some value.
Give me REAL content - don't force it. Make it meaningful.
