It may come as a surprise to some that I'm in direct opposition to Rebecca's viewpoint in her post from last week - Hey, I'm Blogging! Pay Attention to Me! She wrote:
...another (obvious) reason for the increasing onslaught of blogs (currently nearly 60 million tracked by Technorati) is because bloggers, quite simply, want attention. Obviously, I'm not providing you with some profound secret you didn't already know, but the comic strip made me think of a good number of blogs written by vapid people who think that everyone wants to read about the minutia of their day-to-day lives, when in reality they're too wrapped up in writing about themselves that they don't have time to read or care about what their family and friends are doing. It's a "Well, I'll just blog about the events in my life instead of picking up the phone, and the people who truly care about me will take the time to read it."
In my opinion, there exists inherent validity and value in a blog, no matter the subject matter. Publishing has never been so easy, so accessible or so inexpensive and these are opportunities we should celebrate, not disparage. Granted, there are those who write details that you or I might prefer be kept secret, but as one of the most transparent and open companies on the web, denouncing the practice surely makes SEOmozzers hypocrites. Even the most minute, boring life deserves the right to tell their story - we are the ones who choose whether to read or ignore; why pass judgement when we would want visitors to approach us with an open mind?
SEOmoz's blogging seems (to me) no more noble nor, necessarily valuable and interesting than Tim the Iowa corn farmer. Vapid or genius, interesting to 2 readers or 20 thousand, publishing on the web builds up a base of dedicated Internet users, potential SEO clients, a savvier public and a greater store of information. Is the world a richer place because we found out that Tim's walk to the barn today took 5 extra minutes because he caught his foot in the fence? I'd argue yes, even if it's only by a very, very tiny amount.
What's your opinion? Is Rebecca right to ward us all off of personal blogs? Should the under-five-reader crowds at Livejournal and MySpace give it up? Or does a blog, no matter the relative significance, carry some fractional value that's worthy of, if not our respect, at least our acceptance?
I'm glad Rand made this post. That first post that he refers to left a rather unpleasant taste in my mouth.
Blogging is supposed to be about giving ordinary people a voice - not about elitism.
"Blogging is supposed to be about giving ordinary people a voice - not about elitism."
So much of me wants to agree with this, but it wouldn't fit with the corporate blogging industry, whose very point is that elitism. Or at least, most CEO's aren't "ordindary people". At first.
Granted, how many corporate blogs do you all know of that just beg to be visited everyday?
For every "should" and "supposed to", there are exceptions, like the one I found by accident written by a father whose little girl died suddenly. To this day, he still writes about her and for her, and each post is poignant. It's likely for his family but strangers like me can read it, and relate or cry along with him.
And I still go back, to see how they're doing.
It can definitely seem as though the attention to self is a motivator for blogging. When I started mine in 2002, blogs were still in the experimental stages, were more like diaries, with no comments, and tended to be "notes to self"-like.
Blogs today are used as marketing tools too, as well as other business oriented goals. The better ones are social places and like bars/pubs, if you have a good blog like this one is, you might be rewarded with the "Cheers Effect", like the TV show and everyone called out "Norm!" whenever he showed up for his beer.
Take it further, and you might get the "Cheers Effect" when you walk outside your house. Some bloggers may dream of that kind of luck. I don't think it's the motivating factor for certain kinds of blogs. Personal blogs, like the stuff aimed at and generated by my teenagers' and their friends, yes. Every single hormone is about them.
For some individuals, the "Hey, look at me" is part of their marketing arsenal, like book authors.
On the flipside of my point, I do note that Rebecca's post got Dugg, got lots of links and lots of attention, while I expect that this post will receive none of those things. I think this may make her the better marketer :)
I don't think that Rebecca's post was meant to leave a bad taste in anyone's mouth and it did have the overtones of being a warning against blogging that could spell trouble for employment/dating/friendship/networking/etc. There have certainly been more than a few examples of this in the recent past.
Rand, as with Rebecca's post, it comes back to the root of it all, why are you posting?
This is a very sharp, double-edged sword. Blogs are tools, both personal and business. I would never share anything on my blog that was not consistent with what I would be willing to share with a stranger (because that is what I would be doing). In the same respect, I wouldn't share anything in a business setting that isn't appropriate.
I believe you posted a few months back about professionalism in social environments (namely around shows and expos), there is a line that should not be crossed and that is the same with blogging.
The difference with your post here and Rebecca's: I believe that your post is timeless, Rebecca's was timely. This is not to say that either are more important, rather, they market to different people, and reaching your audience is the second thing to achieve (after deciding who you want to reach)!
Definitely there are bloggers out there who want attention etc. Personally though, our blog doesn't get much traffic and we don't have much link bait type stuff on there which doesn't really worry me.
The blog acts more like a knowledge base for me and my co-author, which is handy in itself. But its also handy to point to for prospective employers and show, if nothing else, that I can communicate in English :).
I tend to think of blogging like homeownership.
As I told a client who was a real estate agent, the person buying their first home for 125K is just as excited as the person buying the million dollar home. We may see a commission difference, but the pride of ownership in the eyes of the owner is important at every level.
So should blogging be. If you love the blog you have, readership is a by product.
Bloggings greatest power is that it gives everyone a voice. You can read on any subject you want. If a person's subject is totally uninterseting they won't get many readers. It is still good that they are getting their thoughts out there.
all blogs carry some value... they all deserve a certain degree of respect and, for sure, they deserve acceptance.
I think if you don't want to read little personal details about someone's life, then don't. Easy as that.
It all depends on WHO is blogging. Take a look at this industry (SEO / SEM). If an unknown marketer writes an article about his financials ... he might get 1 link from another blogger who somehow found this guy's blog.
Now look at SEOMoz. You guys wrote about your financials and got a lot of buzz because of it.
I see some big name marketers write a post that could be written by a marketing intern (no offence to anyone) ... and the buzz and links they get is mind-bugling.
Bottom line is ... it all depends on who is blogging and not how personal or not the post is.
Rebecca has a right to her opinion, and to be fair, I think she was just trying to be funny, but the framing of her ideas couldn't have been much worse. She talks about eating sushi with SEOmozzers and being treated like celebs: "Wow, just like that we were minor celebrities..." And in the same breath, writes: "blogs penned by people who lead excruciatingly insignificant lives." It's one thing to be proud of people you work with, but it's another thing to use your company's reputation as an excuse to look down on other people.
If Rebecca wants to link bait via the attack hook, she may want to consider advancing a defensible position instead of easily debunkable generalities like "all bloggers blog for attention." A post like that doesn't help build her credibility and more importantly, bad karma doesn't do SEOmoz any favors.
I wasn't trying to be hypocritical. I was just pointing out that we were surprised and pleased by the attention we got when we were recognized outside of our SEO world, and that this attention segued into my point (and opinion) that all bloggers crave attention.
I am a tad late to comment, but why does it mean that bloggers want attention, if SEOmoz got popular?
Some sites want attention, maybe. But not everyone demands it (that Tim the farmer, for example).
Blogs aren't only meant to be about efficiency, the big driving force of Blogs as originally started out was - people interested in people, and what people do or think.
The PR value of BLOGS and the use of it in terms of finance (the wonders of the capitalistic mind at work) came after.
On a personal note, professional Blogs (seo related specifically) that discuss personal details bore me to tears (though I think the recent complaints on how time consuming blogging is and how inefficient it is in terms of revenue has been recently echoed on the blog-sem/seo scene which don’t help).
However personal Blogs in general will always be the primary focus of Blogging and social media, as that is what social media is really all about.
Most generalizations about Blogs don't hold, as each blog is a representation of an opinion or an individual - and those generalizations rarely hold as well.
I have to side mostly with Rebecca here. I have always hated the voyueristic culture that started with MTVs Real World series back when I was in college ("See what happens when we put 10 people in a house who are self absorbed and hate each other. Gee, they can't get along, really?) I personally don't care what Tom did yesterday, or Mary's problems with her boyfriend, and I can't comprehend why anyone would want to put out excruciatingly personal information where everyone can see.
Another huge downside I see to opening your life for all to see is that the web never forgets. Imagine, you are in your 40s, applying for a job, or worse yet, trying to get bonded or security clearance for a government job. Some savvy web researcher working for a background checking company pulls up the fact that you were promiscuous in college, or tried to commit suicide, or had a drinking problem, whatever. No one seems to give much thought to that consequence.
No, I do have to agree with Rand a little. Personal blogs can be useful, like finding out the girl you almost married a decade ago has turned into a basket case, and make you doubly glad you married the right one. : ) (Yes, I did just put out some personal information, but it'll get me brownie points with the wife!)
The kind of information people spew forth really astounds me. A girl I know once posted a story on her blog about cheating in college; another wrote about her attraction to certain recreational drugs and their associated parties. They then link to these blogs on every other social media site they're into, including the easily-accessible MySpace. Putting too much personal information online seems like a bad idea, even if it's more innocuous than the above examples.
No, it doesn't "clog up the blogosphere" or get in anyone's way, but personal five-person-readership blogs easily turn into very bad ideas. I mean, hell... if SEOmoz had read a blog about me while I was interviewing, do you think I'd be sitting here right now?!
/joke
But seriously, there are some things that don't need to be public, even if the public has a right not to view them.
Not always, though I've seen one college girl delete her entire blog because she published self-incriminating evidence.
A girl with a One Track Mind (Wikipedia link), for example, is an extremely personal blog about a woman's sexual "escapades", far less innocuous than your examples, yet it's got wings.
According to Wikipedia, "The blog has won praise for its keen psychological insights into male and female sexuality, as well as for the author's earthy humour. It claims over 100,000 readers a month, and won the "Best British or Irish Blog" award at the 2006 Bloggies."
The writer, Zoe Margolis, worked on films like Batman Begins, Lara Croft: the Cradle of Life, and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
I agree completely. Perhaps the biggest downside to personal blogging is that many people don't seem to realize that web content is not ephemeral, it persists.
While you may think it's amusing to tell the world about your drug-binge, psychotic ex, less than honorable academic schemes, etc. one needs to remember that what you blog about will be visible to future employers, admissions directors, creditors and romantic interests. Since you put it out there yourself for everyone to see, you won't have much in the way of plausible deniability.
I could link to her posts about cheating and the posts about drugs from this comment if I so chose. It's that easy, people! You also have to be careful of the "lost in translation" phenomenon where something you write can be taken the wrong way, and unlike in a real conversation, you have no way to rectify the misunderstandings of friends, parents, dates, potential employers etc.
What many people seem to miss about blogs, is that most blogs are not produced solely for vanity and getting attention, but are created for the benefit inherent in the process of communicating one's thoughts and experiences in a meaningful way. Blogging no matter how mundane with help your writing skills, your ability to communicate your thoughts and allow for self-reflection.
It doesn't matter if very few people actually read your blog or not, so the next question becomes; why put it online? Without any type of audience it's hard to judge / reflect and therefore more difficult to improve and grow. We learn by doing!
Today's personal bloggers are tomorrow's business executives, entrepreneurs, speech writers, and world changers. Write, reflect, write, publish! I say the more blogs the better!!!
Even if bloggers seek attention, I don't think there is anything wrong in it. Attention means exposure and after all, SEO is all about the right exposure, the right kind of attention.
Every person whose passion involves others' involvement needs attention, may it be writers, artists, and even bloggers.
If you don't like personal blogs, then just don't read them. Does it really clog up the blogosphere? No.
I think even if no one is reading a blog, it can still be quite fulfilling to the writer. Before blogging, journaling or writing in a diary was a popular means of expression. It's healthy to get your thoughts and feelings out.
Plus, I prefer blogs to mass emails from my friends.