Life, on the Net, is too short
Hugh Macleod at gapingvoid.com has decided that, after 10 years, he will no longer blog his cartoons:
But like a lot of the folk who have been blogging for a long time, I’ve started to feel that over the last few years, that the blogosphere has just gotten too big, noisy and anonymous. I’ve started longing for the days when things were ‘smaller’, ‘clubbier’, intimate and, well, human. When the people I met were truly like-minded.
Like many bloggers, I’ve used Hugh’s cartoons to illustrate my posts and presentations and today’s reflects the zeitgeist, especially amongst my fellow free agents:
Hugh’s decision reminds me of Virginia Yonker’s observations about blogging:
I am feeling that I am coming into the middle of a conversation (or the end of a conversation) that was started somewhere else (such as twitter or facebook). It appears that blogging is the reflective or summary of those conversations. Karyn Romeis still has a very conversational style, but she will refer to other conversations she has had on facebook. Harold Jarche will refer to others at aggregated blog sites where he is collaborating with colleagues. As a result, I don’t feel that there is as much “conversation” on blogs as there used to be. In addition, I have noticed that Michael, Harold, Karyn, and Tony all have easy access to Twitter on their sites. Ken Allan has moved into a different rhelm this year: 2nd life. His posts often include graphics taken from 2nd Life. In fact, some blogs that I have been reading for the last couple of years either took hyatises or have not had posts in months.
It’s amazing that as new as blogging is, it’s already feeling old. These changes in media are only going to speed up and soon we’ll be wishing for the good old days of Facebook and Twitter. I don’t think that the answer is to constantly look for the next big thing, but each person has to find their own rhythm in the digital flow. Life in perpetual Beta is interesting, if nothing else.
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Harold,
I have been blogging for less than a year and after I read your post, I’m feeling like I missed the boat somehow. That make me sad because I really enjoy blogging and I put my heart and soul into it.
Avil Beckford
I believe that there is still a lot of use in blogging, Avil, and I have no intention of quitting at this time. Blogging helps me get my own thoughts in order, so even when the conversation moves to Twitter or other venues, it remains part of my personal knowledge management process.
The rising popularity of the blogazine has been attributed to the factors you describe. It’s an approach to blogging that has increasing appeal to me.
I think developing a regular and rich centered-around-interests-issues-and-one’s-thoughts blogging practice is one of the surest ways available to us to keep learning and growing, if we want to. Not the only one, to be sure … but a reflective, creative and potentially mindful personal learning and growth practice.
The same logic applies to its use as a professional development tool and practice, I think.
Harold (as he knows) was, more than anyone else, the person who inspired me to start my own blog, which had its third anniversary last month.
That inspiration took several forms: his openness, his willingness to think out loud, and his core principle that the blog was at least as much a tool for himself as a potential resource for others.
I’m always happy if other people read my blog, even more so if they comment–but the (mainly) regular practice is what’s been of most value for me.
In a way, I see it as mindfulness: I pay more attention to what’s around me, I see more connections, I ask myself more questions. As a bonus, I get content management, a thought-trail, and practice in correcting my own typos.
[...] Life, on the Net, is too short – Hugh Macleod to no longer blog his cartoons via @hjarche – Are we really seeing the death of blogging? I don't think so. I still have a post title "Conversational Blogging" – Go on Google it!. Hugh reflects on the loss of conversation and the fragmenting of it. I've seen and felt the same. What's happening is our blogging platforms are failing us. They are failing to make it easy enough to bring conversations back to us. Sometimes we want and need a fragmented cloud however for the most part we need tools that enable us to keep our lives simple. I think some of the best examples are the Twitter updaters. I think there is lots of opportunity for blogging. Hugh's another signal that all is not right in blog platform land. More importantly he no longer sees it as rewarding. The word blogging may disappear and the idea of a post will certainly carry on. Here comes the "public post" where no stamps are required and anyone can read. [...]