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posts about #scottrosenberg more → 
Was Blogging Just a Fad?
Of Mogul Hookups and Yoga Farts
New York, 11:38 AM
Sat Nov 28
15 posts in the last 24 hours
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07/21/09
07/20/09
07/20/09
As for those with vulnerable egos who blog for "larger entities" -- we're talking about a very small number of people here, yes? If one is lucky enough to have a job writing/blogging for a "large entity" I guess I'd say, one should be able to take the sniping of trolls and anonymous cowards. They're the people who have nothing better to do than waste time writing abusive comments, while the blogger is actually a writer with a paycheck. That should help soothe the ego. When I have been in that situation, for instance as a writer at Salon, I'd try to learn from the criticisms of substance and just ignore the idiots.
Also, we do keep getting better at moderation and tools that make it easier. This conversation here would be very different without Gawker's new system, for instance...
07/20/09
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07/20/09
I never used my blog to message things to my friends, and I never saw it as some revolutionary new form of media either. I use it now the same way as I always did - as a way to express myself, about various things, when I feel like it. I'm actually amazed when I check my stats and see that I have a few regular readers at this point, because my stuff is so random (but hopefully more in-depth than the "bad hair day today!" stuff that some people used to blog about but have now taken to twitter or facebook).
I do use the social networking sites for BS stuff that I don't feel has any permanence. That's what they're good for. I don't feel like this is replacing blogs in any way, though. Blogs were never very good at that kind of thing, or at least I always considered it kind of a misuse of the platform to have all these permanent pages out there just talking a bunch of nonsense.
07/20/09
Your description -- "as a way to express myself about various things when I feel like it" -- is exactly what I wrote SAY EVERYTHING about. For so many of us it's just not about getting thousands of readers or pumping up revenue.
07/20/09
Doesn't anyone remember that MySpace was THE FUTURE OF THE INTERNET AND THE UNIVERSE just two (three?) years back? Content technologies mature and continue to serve audiences large and small. The race to Twitter has more to do with gold rush mentality. Many (most?) people who started a blog weren't worried about getting an invite to TED or founders equity.
The fallacy of 'blogging' is that most people could write as well as professional journalists. Twitter has certainly solved that problem, but I'm not sure that's a problem I wanted solved. I like a higher barrier to entry. Minimizes chaff.
Also: I like this feature.
07/20/09
07/20/09
Does blogging simply enable the obsessive personality to express itself, or does it actually help drive people mad?
07/20/09
07/20/09
If you're already on the edge, it could send you over. Fortunately for me, I'm one of those obsessives who picks battles instead of jumping into every little controversy.
This is why my blog collects dust for weeks at a time; I would rather reach people as a commenter on a well-known blog than to post something brilliant where no one will read it.
07/20/09
That said, I've definitely noticed that the more time I spend on Gawker and Wordsmoker, the less I spend on my own blog, and yes, it probably is because I enjoy the instant gratification of A) knowing my thoughts are actually being read and B) getting instant responses, rather than constantly looking at the lame "1 comment" on each of my personal blog posts. But getting to write about subjects you want to write about is a luxury of a poster, and not a commenter, and as I abandon being the former for the latter, I can't help but notice an increasing inclination to disregard subjects of personal interest.
07/20/09
I disagree with you that choosing your subject is a luxury only posters have; as a commenter, I jump into 1 percent of the threads I look at. The ones I do join are almost always of some personal interest; otherwise, why would I have looked at the thread in the first place?
07/20/09
And yes, of course one's inclination is to only follow threads in which they have interest, but my point is, what about the things you'd like to discuss in a Gawker-esque forum which will never be discussed on this site? Yes, the 1% of threads is great for those interests of yours which it captures, but to be able to discuss anything you want and get the feedback and opinions of numerous strangers is only something you can do as a poster. Unfortunately, without the readership of a site like Gawker, your blog about your passion for knitting yarmulkes for kittens will only achieve the effect of a tree falling in the forest.
07/20/09
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Twitter's capable of killing many blogs, but as noted elsewhere, some discussions just don't work at 140 characters. Come back in three years and we'll see what happened.
The problem for me is that I've been through so many so-called "communication revolutions" that I've lost count. I look at IM and see CompuServe CB chat, at Facebook and see Yahoo! profiles, at Twitter and see IM, and so on. I'm beginning to think that amnesia might be an effective cure for skepticism.
07/20/09
07/20/09
I didn't write about the gossip blogs for two reasons: (1) philosophically, I wanted to focus on how blogs enable personal voices and bring new threads into the media environment, and the gossip blogs really don't fit either of those criteria. (2) Personally, I'm just not that interested in them, and the book, for better or worse, was shaped by my interests, along with my sense of what was significant.
07/20/09
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It has distorted not only the slow decline of the earlier one, but it also distorts where money is spent, because in search of the "next big thing", VCs (and advertising) tends to get thrown too hard at the next "new thing".
The old technologies actually threw off good money in their heydays. The new ones (pace Google and only very few others) do not - is there a reason why? Do you see that changing or is the Internet too competitive?
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Is having a personal blog the equivalent of having an album that's made independently but ultimately goes nowhere without the proper distribution?
Calling a blog "a little First Amendment machine," is brilliant.
07/20/09
"First amendment machine" line is Jay Rosen's, and it is indeed memorable.
07/20/09
07/20/09
The rest of the spectrum is: people who are using blogs to tell stories that couldn't be told in public before; or to discover how writing in public helps them figure out what they think; or to leave some more substantial record of their lives in their own words in a form that FB/Twitter doesn't allow.
07/20/09
I'm thinking of the bloggers who never expect to make money or achieve fame but are motivated by one or more of: (1) test out their ideas in public; (2) learn what they actually think about stuff by writing about it; (3) leaving a record of their own stories more substantial than FB/Twitter allows.
I do think these were common motivations in the early days of blogging, along with the (certainly also widespread) dreams of A-list fame etc.
07/20/09
07/20/09
FB/Twitter are great, but you don't have that chance for your own voice to predominate. Everything's embedded in the network. Also the postings are more ephemeral -- Twitter seems to have no past. Tweets have URLs but no way to find them once they're old.
07/20/09
07/20/09
I think tumblr provides that blogging platform that fits exactly into what you're looking for. It's more viral than traditional blogging and allows you to be as pithy or expansive in how much you want to publish. It works really well for one off images, thoughts and ideas and provides instant feedback from the community.
07/20/09
Thanks!
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