Blogging/writing, or, how to write a post that’s more links than text

Read this on Will Wheaton’s blog:

Somebody was once asked to define blogs. They refused and said:

I don’t care. There is no need to define “blog.” I doubt there ever was such a call to define “newspaper” or “television” or “radio” or “book” — or, for that matter, “telephone” or “instant messenger.” A blog is merely a tool that lets you do anything from change the world to share your shopping list. People will use it however they wish. And it is way too soon in the invention of uses for this tool to limit it with a set definition. That’s why I resist even calling it a medium; it is a means of sharing information and also of interacting: It’s more about conversation than content… so far. I think it is equally tiresome and useless to argue about whether blogs are journalism, for journalism is not limited by the tool or medium or person used in the act. Blogs are whatever they want to be. Blogs are whatever we make them. Defining “blog” is a fool’s errand.

I wonder where blogs and blogging will be in say, five years from now.

In lieu of anything more interesting to say this morning, here are some links on tips for blogging (and writing generally). I am saving them here so in the interests of not clogging up Bloglines:

10 killer post ideas. First seen on Lifehacker.
Being able to write. A great list from the Free Range Librarian.
How to blog by Tony Pierce.
Privacy of blogging by Wang Jian Shuo. He says: “Blog has to be useful”.
Not on writing as such, but on the social impact of blogging from Library Web Chic.
Two from Micro Persuasion: Ten things Disney can teach us about blogging. Also Blogging isn’t just writing, it’s a dialogue.

Thanks CherryRipe for this link, on Technorati. And finally, if you’ve heard about that article in New York magazine on bloggers and want to take a look, here’s a link to it: Blogs to Riches: The Haves and Have-Nots of the Blogging Boom.

Categories: blogs, blogging, writing