The New York Times story of writers "blogging until they drop," is the kind of silly story we worry our parents will read. Don't worry Mom, I'm not going to blog myself to death. But upon closer examination, the story did make me think about my own limited, idealistic perception of this field.
My first reaction, upon reading that people were working nonstop blogging was that this article was just another workaholism piece, about how bloggers are martyrcizing the fact that they like to spend long hours on their computers writing. But the blogging world described by the New York Times is very different from what I picture as I extrapolate my part time experience into what I would imagine a full-time effort would be. The article portrays blogging as a sort of "piece-work" world where hack writers compete to crank out technical and political drivel to feed a 24x7 news market appetite. Has it already come to that?
This seems so wrong, on so many levels. First of all, is immediacy really that important? I have subscribed to some of these high powered blogs and after a few weeks, my Google Reader is overflowing with stuff I have not read. It's just like email all over again. And if you go a few days or weeks and don't check...guess what? Nothing bad happens. When I need to find something, I will just google it and find a blog post from a few months ago and I'm good to go. Nobody needs the type of immediacy that the market seems to create pressure for.
Secondly, these people have a choice of lifestyle. As I wrote about in my Mash-up Life and Going Mobile, I have found the increasing amount of things to do and ways to be connected to be a liberating and empowering experience. I'm not a slave to technology; I find ways to use it to make my life better.
Finally, the big difference in my experience and the experience of the bloggers described in the Times article, is that I don't see blogging as an end unto itself. When you tell me, I could maybe make $70K as a blogger...why would I want to do that? If that's the best you can do as a blogger, you are in the wrong business.
I see blogging and other forms of social media as much more than an information technology. Blogs give us a platform to express our ideas and make connections between the ideas of others. It's a tool to share the ideas and insight that would otherwise remain locked inside, or would only be revealed within the limited scope of your work in a company. Blogging is a tool, not to become your main income source where you hope someday you can earn close to six figures, but to help you develop a brand, image, and reputation among geographically distributed peers. I don't have a master plan for myself, but I think for many, blogging will be one of the ingredients in creating a personal brand that makes them experts in the fields and amplifies their value.
The Internet today is not an information superhighway. It's not about who can find information the fastest or even become the channeler of information. It's really about connections and people. There will always be high pressure markets that generate rewards for those willing to sacrifice themselves for the immediate payoff. But they are missing the larger picture of why this phenomena is so compelling...of what is driving the demand for information. The unmet need is the need to connect with the right people at the right time and avoid the noise of information overload.
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