I’ve been collecting pro and anti-blogging statements over the past few months. Some are quite amusing:
…a web site belonging to some average but opinionated Joe or Josie… a collection of clippings, musings and other things like journal entries that strike one’s fancy or titillate one’s curiosity… on the Internet.1
A puerile self-importance that smacks of desperation.2
…a fluid, dynamic medium, more akin to a ‘conversation’ than to a library — which is how the Web has often been described in the past.3
…[the word blog] sounds like something you would find stuck in a drain… Given the quality of the writing in the blogs I have seen, I doubt that many of the Blog People are in the habit of sustained reading of complex texts. It is entirely possible that their intellectual needs are met by an accumulation of random facts and paragraphs.4
And just recently, a comment on a character trait supposedly common to bloggers:
… like crabgrass, [this character trait] may be spreading to touch and cover everything. It’s called disinhibition. Briefly, disinhibition is what the world would look like if everyone behaved like Jerry Lewis or Paris Hilton or we all lived in South Park.
Example: The Web site currently famous for enabling and aggregating millions of personal blogs is called MySpace.com. If you opened its “blogs” page this week, the first thing you saw was a blogger’s video of a guy swilling beer and sticking his middle finger through a car window. Right below that were two blogs by women in their underwear.
In our time, it has generally been thought bad and unhealthy to “repress” inhibitions. Spend a few days inside the new world of personal blogs, however, and one might want to revisit the repression issue.
(From This blog sits at the: intersection of anthropology and economics, a comment quoting a Wall Street Journal article)
So bloggers are writing about matters that would better be left unwritten, sharing images that should better be left unshared – some things are less worthy of reading or notice – a waste of time. This whole “waste of time” view of blogging seems quite prevalent among some people, who I think are always going to see certain forms of expression as a waste of time. I’d argue that almost every blog I read has some “value” – even if it is an intensely personal blog it offers an insight into another person, which to me is “valuable”. Other bloggers provide sheer entertainment or make me laugh. Some make me think. I might agree strongly. Or they make my blood boil. It’s good.
I guess I would be careful about putting up pictures of myself making rude gestures, in my underwear, on the Web, and I think many of today’s teenagers writing about their drug experiences may find their blogs come back to haunt them in future years (“I didn’t inhale!”), but to say we should all repress ourselves…
From the Boston Globe, a very positive article, Blogs ‘essential’ to a good career, because:
1. Blogging creates a network. [CW: I couldn’t agree more!]
A blogger puts himself out in the world as someone who is interesting and engaging — just the type of person everyone wants to meet. ”A blog increases your network because a blog is about introducing yourself and sharing information,” says Kaputa.
2. Blogging can get you a job.
Dervala Hanley writes a quirky literary blog that got her a job is at Stone Yamashita Partners, a consulting firm that ”tries to bring humanity to business.” Hanley says the firm was attracted to her ability to put her business experience into personal terms on the blog.
3. Blogging is great training. [CW: Did anyone say good writing practice? Good for reflection, also.]
To really get attention for your blog, you’re going to have to have daily entries for a while. At least a few months to get rolling, and then three or four times a week after that. So you will really get to know your topic well.
4. Blogging helps you move up quickly.
To escape the entry-level grind, you can either pay your dues, working up a ladder forever, or you can establish yourself as an expert in the world by launching a blog. High-level jobs are for people who specialize, and hiring managers look for specialists online. ”Decision-makers respect Google-karma,” writes Tim Bray, director of Web technologies for Sun Microsystems — on his own blog, of course.
5. Blogging makes self-employment easier.
You can’t make it on your own unless you’re good at selling yourself. One of the most cost-effective and efficient ways of marketing yourself is with a blog. When someone searches for your product or service, make sure your blog comes up first.
Curt Rosengren, a career coach, periodically Googles ”career passion” — words he thinks are most important to his business — just to make sure his blog comes up high on the list. He estimates that his blog generates at least half of his coaching business.
6. Blogging provides more opportunities.
Building brands, changing careers, launching a business — these endeavors are much easier once you’ve established yourself online.
”My blog is a foundation,” says Rosengren. ”I’m building an awareness that I can leverage to do other fun things with my future, such as product development, or public speaking.”
A blog gives you a leg up when you meet someone new. Dylan Tweney, a freelance writer, says a blog gives him instant legitimacy with clients.
7. Blogging could be your big break.
Visually creative types can blog beyond just text. Mark Fearing has a cartoon blog. ”Cartooning and illustration are very crowded fields,” he says.
”My blog has gotten me more notice than any other publicity tool I’ve used. Plus, the blog gives me a way to have a new conversation with potential clients about other work.”
8. Blogging makes the world a better place. [CW: I like this one; I am trying to contribute something!]
”Blogging is about giving stuff away to a community,” says Day. ”For years, as a junior developer, I would go to the Internet for solutions and I would always take, take, take. Now I am happy to be a contributor and give something back.”
And, hot off the press, Jill in Norway adds that blogs are safe spaces. Hear, hear!
1 Healy, D 2005, ‘Just blog off!’ in Australian Anthill, p. 5, April/May.
2 Safire, W 2002, ‘Blog’, New York Times, 28 July. Retrieved 4 November 2005, from http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/28/magazine/28ONLANGUAGE.html
3 Technorati, About Technorati. Retrieved 18 April 2006, from http://www.technorati.com/about/
4Gorman, M 2005, ‘Revenge of the Blog People’. Retrieved 26 April 2006 from Library Journal.