Hey, it turns out blogs are
not dead after all:
Blogs, by their nature, offer a point of view and have a voice, and that’s the way that journalism and media are heading. The advantage of the blog over the publication or media outlet is fundamental here: It’s less complicated for an individual to form and express an opinion than for an institution to express one. Bloggers, unlike old-fashioned journalists, don’t follow the convention of attempting to pretend not to have any opinions about the news they are covering. They also are freer to express idiosyncratic, outsider views than newspaper columnists, even the best of whom are constrained by their institutions and their audiences.
I don't know if that is the way journalism is heading. I suspect journalism has been at that destination for a very long time now and is still hesitant to admit as much.
And while the ability to produce opinion quickly can be abused, blogs provide the kind of connection and curation that is necessary to understand a world with so much news and information. Successful blogs use hyperlinks to send us out into the web; the blog is guide and greeter. A great blogger can be a personal information concierge, and is likely offering that service for free. Blogs are often bargains.
Yep. I don't even have a tip jar, because I'm not looking to make a living at this. But let's drop the "curation" nonsense, as it overblows the significance of what a blog really does. Most people get into blogging because it sounds like fun. If you like to write and aren't intimidated by a blank screen, it can be. It is work, though, especially if you try to have something new every day. I'm less worried about that now than I was a few years back, but I still end up writing most days, and I'll probably keep doing that, because the blank screen is a challenge.
2 comments:
i got into blogging for the interaction.
i can say it was worth it. had a lot of fun and made some great friends along the way, and the experience still pays dividends.
i'd still be doing it if the community was there, but its hard to interact with nobody.
It can be hard work, no doubt. For awhile I was building up a bit of audience at my lousy poetry blog, but it was just too hard to learn how to be a pastor, husband, and father while trying to write a poem every day. I think I set it aside for Lent and have never since been consistent.
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