Quote: blogging is ...
April 14th 2009 22:52
Blogging is the new poetry
The consumption of blogs is often avid and occasionally obsessive. But more commonly, it is utterly natural, as if turning to them were no stranger than ... picking one's way through the morning's newspapers. The daily reading of virtually everyone under 40 — and a fair few folk over that age — now includes a blog or two, and this reflects as much the quality of today's bloggers as it does a techno-psychological revolution among readers of news and opinion.
A blog is a personal diary. A daily pulpit. A collaborative space. A political soapbox. A breaking-news outlet. A collection of links. Your own private thoughts. Memos to the world.
I think the pleasure of completed work is what makes blogging so popular. You have to believe most bloggers have few if any actual readers. The writers are in it for other reasons. Blogging is like work, but without coworkers thwarting you at every turn. All you get is the pleasure of a completed task.
The Internet destroyed most of the barriers to publication. The cost of being a publisher dropped to almost zero with two interesting immediate results: anybody can publish, and more importantly, you can publish whatever you want.
Just as we don’t spend a lot of time worrying about how all those poets out there are going to monetize their poetry, the same is true for most bloggers.
The casual conversational tone of a blog is what makes it particularly dangerous.
For me, the future of journalism is blogging.
Blogs can help bring humanity back into the workplace. We have become so concerned with communicating numbers and processes that employees have forgotten how to build relationships. How can companies ask employees to provide superior service and innovative thinking when everything they see and hear flies in the face of that? Blogs help create a culture that supports those behaviors.
In truth, the real opportunities for building authority and buzz through social media have only just begun. You simply have to look and see where things are going instead of where they’ve been.
Game changing innovations are few and far between. They are usually simple concepts to describe but when they arrive it takes time to fully realize their importance and impact. Television was a game-changer, mobile phones were a game-changer, and blogging is also one.
I believe the term 'blog' means more than an online journal. I believe a blog is a conversation. People go to blogs to read AND write.
So forget about blogs and bloggers and blogging and focus on this — the cost and difficulty of publishing absolutely anything, by anyone, into a global medium just got a whole lot lower. And the effects of that increased pool of potential producers is going to be vast.
Breathe. Know that the internet has no eraser.
I read blogs every day, for all sorts of reasons, but I turn to blogs especially when I want to hear alternative viewpoints — for example, information on a particular medical treatment from the viewpoint of patients receiving it, rather than doctors administering it; reports from the battlefield seen through the eyes of soldiers rather than politicians; thoughts on a particular technology from the standpoint of engineers rather than executives.
A blog is merely a tool that lets you do anything from change the world to share your shopping list.
There is no such thing as blogging. There is no such thing as a blogger. Blogging is just writing — writing using a particularly efficient type of publishing technology.
One company I work with showed me how the traffic on his company’s site doubled since they started blogging. In fact, the blog (inexpensive) has more visitors and views than the corporate website (expensive). Well, there’s some measurable ROI in that case.
As I have repeatedly written in one form or other, blogging is not about writing posts. Heck, that’s the least of your challenges. No, blogging is about cultivating a mutually beneficial relationships with an ever-growing online readership, and that’s hard work.
Don't write anything in a blog that you wouldn't say face-to-face.
One of the true beauties and powers of blogs is that they can give voice to people who are not heard.
Blogs, social networks, newspapers, any other form of publication — all have social aspects to them. It is a spectrum really, with social networks at one extreme and a 19th century novel at the other.
The bottom line is that blogging is like sex. You can’t fake it. You can’t fake passion. You can’t fake wanting to engage with the public. If you do, it will ultimately be an unsatisfying experience for both the blogger and their readers.
Blogs are already moving upmarket and improving. The term 'professional blogger' is no longer an oxymoron.
Your blog is your unedited version of yourself.
Your blog is what you say when there is nobody standing over your shoulder telling you what to do.
Yes, blogging is entertainment. It is performance. Each blog post a show, sometimes an opera, sometimes a 30 second commercial. Like a show, it may start with a bang, lead you along from song to song, have a great climatic moment, then leave the audience wanting more.
Blogs are whatever we make them. Defining 'blog' is a fool's errand.
I’ve developed some deep relationships over the past couple of years blogging and I realize that those relationships manifest themselves in the links I find when I do my 28x a daily ego search over at Technorati.
The more popular a person thinks he is in the blogosphere, the thinner his skin and the thicker his hypocrisy. This should be exactly the opposite.
When I look out on the blogosphere, I don't see lots of inconsequential blogs. I see lots of possibility.
Unknown
The consumption of blogs is often avid and occasionally obsessive. But more commonly, it is utterly natural, as if turning to them were no stranger than ... picking one's way through the morning's newspapers. The daily reading of virtually everyone under 40 — and a fair few folk over that age — now includes a blog or two, and this reflects as much the quality of today's bloggers as it does a techno-psychological revolution among readers of news and opinion.
Tunku Varadarajan, Wall Street Journal
Anonymous
I think the pleasure of completed work is what makes blogging so popular. You have to believe most bloggers have few if any actual readers. The writers are in it for other reasons. Blogging is like work, but without coworkers thwarting you at every turn. All you get is the pleasure of a completed task.
Scott Adams
The Internet destroyed most of the barriers to publication. The cost of being a publisher dropped to almost zero with two interesting immediate results: anybody can publish, and more importantly, you can publish whatever you want.
Dick Costolo
Just as we don’t spend a lot of time worrying about how all those poets out there are going to monetize their poetry, the same is true for most bloggers.
Seth Godin
Daniel B. Beaulieu
For me, the future of journalism is blogging.
Mary Jo Foley, All About Microsoft
Blogs can help bring humanity back into the workplace. We have become so concerned with communicating numbers and processes that employees have forgotten how to build relationships. How can companies ask employees to provide superior service and innovative thinking when everything they see and hear flies in the face of that? Blogs help create a culture that supports those behaviors.
Michael Wiley, Edelman
In truth, the real opportunities for building authority and buzz through social media have only just begun. You simply have to look and see where things are going instead of where they’ve been.
Brian Clark, founder, copyblogger.com
Game changing innovations are few and far between. They are usually simple concepts to describe but when they arrive it takes time to fully realize their importance and impact. Television was a game-changer, mobile phones were a game-changer, and blogging is also one.
Collis Ta’eed, co-founder, FlashDen.net
I believe the term 'blog' means more than an online journal. I believe a blog is a conversation. People go to blogs to read AND write.
Michael Arrington, techcrunch.com
So forget about blogs and bloggers and blogging and focus on this — the cost and difficulty of publishing absolutely anything, by anyone, into a global medium just got a whole lot lower. And the effects of that increased pool of potential producers is going to be vast.
Clay Shirky, shirky.com
Breathe. Know that the internet has no eraser.
Liz Strauss, successful-blog.com
I read blogs every day, for all sorts of reasons, but I turn to blogs especially when I want to hear alternative viewpoints — for example, information on a particular medical treatment from the viewpoint of patients receiving it, rather than doctors administering it; reports from the battlefield seen through the eyes of soldiers rather than politicians; thoughts on a particular technology from the standpoint of engineers rather than executives.
Jim Buckmaster, chief executive, Craigslist
A blog is merely a tool that lets you do anything from change the world to share your shopping list.
Unknown
There is no such thing as blogging. There is no such thing as a blogger. Blogging is just writing — writing using a particularly efficient type of publishing technology.
Simon Dumenco, US columnist
One company I work with showed me how the traffic on his company’s site doubled since they started blogging. In fact, the blog (inexpensive) has more visitors and views than the corporate website (expensive). Well, there’s some measurable ROI in that case.
Mike Sansone, converstations.com
As I have repeatedly written in one form or other, blogging is not about writing posts. Heck, that’s the least of your challenges. No, blogging is about cultivating a mutually beneficial relationships with an ever-growing online readership, and that’s hard work.
Alister Cameron, alistercameron.com
Don't write anything in a blog that you wouldn't say face-to-face.
Scott McNulty, The Unoffical Apple Weblog
One of the true beauties and powers of blogs is that they can give voice to people who are not heard.
Frank Warren, PostSecret
Blogs, social networks, newspapers, any other form of publication — all have social aspects to them. It is a spectrum really, with social networks at one extreme and a 19th century novel at the other.
Richard MacManus, readwriteweb.com
The bottom line is that blogging is like sex. You can’t fake it. You can’t fake passion. You can’t fake wanting to engage with the public. If you do, it will ultimately be an unsatisfying experience for both the blogger and their readers.
Kevin Anderson, corante.com
Blogs are already moving upmarket and improving. The term 'professional blogger' is no longer an oxymoron.
Luke Langford
Your blog is your unedited version of yourself.
Lorelle Van Fossen
Your blog is what you say when there is nobody standing over your shoulder telling you what to do.
Lorelle Van Fossen
Yes, blogging is entertainment. It is performance. Each blog post a show, sometimes an opera, sometimes a 30 second commercial. Like a show, it may start with a bang, lead you along from song to song, have a great climatic moment, then leave the audience wanting more.
Lorelle Van Fossen
Blogs are whatever we make them. Defining 'blog' is a fool's errand.
Michael Conniff
I’ve developed some deep relationships over the past couple of years blogging and I realize that those relationships manifest themselves in the links I find when I do my 28x a daily ego search over at Technorati.
Jason Calacanis
The more popular a person thinks he is in the blogosphere, the thinner his skin and the thicker his hypocrisy. This should be exactly the opposite.
Guy Kawasaki
When I look out on the blogosphere, I don't see lots of inconsequential blogs. I see lots of possibility.
Gina Trapani, Lifehacker
www.finestquotes.com, www.dailyblogtips.com, mikebanks.blogspot.com
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Comment by SpikeTheLobster
Wordophilia
Qwerk
Peanut Butter
Two thoughts: 1) Interesting bunch of views on blogging there and 2) most of those should probably be on demotivational posters!
Comment by Damo
They seem so tasty at first but quickly lose flavor.
Then just as spit out the bland remnants we are tempted to consume another one.
Comment by Chris Champion
LettersToNorm
moneywhither
Vyoos
Zoomies
Bloggercises
The Blog of Lists
Newly Old
Yes, Bloggercises has been a neglected baby of late, starved of attention and sustenance while its sole parent works his arse off. Good to see Wordophilia so capably holding the reins.
Yes, some of these quotes are offputting while others are positive. Here's a motivational one for anyone getting going in the Australian corporate blogging world:
Now if only a few of them would listen
Comment by Chris Champion
LettersToNorm
moneywhither
Vyoos
Zoomies
Bloggercises
The Blog of Lists
Newly Old
Good to see you in a cheery, positive mood as usual.
I disagree with you, as does pretty much all the evidence of personal and corporate blog growth from the US and Europe. Far from losing flavour, it's now a mainstream industry, with resources, manpower and marketing budgets being switched at a rapid rate out of PR and advertising into blogging.
I note that your blog had 452 individual readers yesterday. You put a lot of work into your blog, and it is fair to say that it is valuable reading for those interested in the issues it covers. Plenty of people clearly think so. They're not coming for cultural chewing gum.
Comment by Norm
Consumption Malfunction
Equal and Opposite
Arses and Elbows
Footy Power
I'll go with Kawasaki. Until such time as I reach the top.
If only Oscar Wilde were alive today. He wouldn't have been sent to jail.
Looks like Conniff is laying down a challenge. I'm up for it, Conniff!
Comment by Chris Champion
LettersToNorm
moneywhither
Vyoos
Zoomies
Bloggercises
The Blog of Lists
Newly Old
Good to see you in a cheery, confusing mood as usual.
I disagree with you. I think.
I note that your blog had 355 visitors yesterday. I don't know what that proves.
Comment by Chris Champion
LettersToNorm
moneywhither
Vyoos
Zoomies
Bloggercises
The Blog of Lists
Newly Old
Comment by Norm
Consumption Malfunction
Equal and Opposite
Arses and Elbows
Footy Power
Comment by Morgan Bell
Science News
Deep Pencil
Business News
Movie Train
Artist Quirk
although maybe thats what people are crying out for, more conversational, interactive news . . . something that a telecaster in a box cant provide
Comment by Morgan Bell
Science News
Deep Pencil
Business News
Movie Train
Artist Quirk
good one
Comment by Norm
Consumption Malfunction
Equal and Opposite
Arses and Elbows
Footy Power
Comment by Chris Champion
LettersToNorm
moneywhither
Vyoos
Zoomies
Bloggercises
The Blog of Lists
Newly Old
Good point Morgan - so good that my response became so long that it turned into a new post.
Comment by Damo
You do me a kindness.
I normally write for me.
I would not know if 400 odd reads is good or bad. Some of those are robots looking for spam addresses.
Some posts people write are worth reading and reading well. Sometimes the comments you receive can humble the proudest man.
Yet I don't take it seriously at all.
I think television is chewing gum for the eyes;
Talk back chewing gum for ears;
Gilbert and Sullivan my worst nightmare chewing gum.
Comment by SpikeTheLobster
Wordophilia
Qwerk
Peanut Butter
Quote of the day!
Comment by Janet Collins
Acceptable Etiquette
The Social Critic
Janet Collins Blog
That's about it because a blog can be anything you want it to be because we all self-publish.
Comment by Lady Henrietta Muddling
Potter in a Harry