Monday, February 15, 2010
The Lonliness of a long Distance Blogger
I was interested in Melissa's thoughts on blogs vs. wikis in education., and I agree that a wiki allows more options. I hope that in the new version of Blackboard (or whatever LMS might be chosen to replace it) that there will be wiki-like option as in my experience it is far superior to the discussion tool that we currently have. Her comments also prompted me to think about how very lonely blogging actually is. I mean really, I could write for hours (presuming I had anything to say) and my words could just continue to hang in mid-air with no one grabbing onto a few to have a conversation with me. I wonder if I need to value narcissism over the relational in order to be a bona fide blogger?
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I agree blogging is a lonely journey. Is anyone really reading? Like I said tonight, maybe it would be good to have a counter to see how many people viewed your page (although if the counter remained at 0, maybe it would seem even more lonley!). And even if they viewed it, did they actually read what you had to say? Either way, I am getting the hang of being a blogger and quite enjoying it. So I say, carry on blogging!! It was gret to see you tonight, hope you had fun at Code Blue!
ReplyDeleteJudy,
ReplyDeleteYou raise a good point about blogging... Why do “bloggers” do it? I’ve seen both the rise and (arguably) fall of blogging. I’ve blogged in the past, and I’ve had friends that have blogged (none of whom are still blogging BTW).
The story of one of these friends might be particularly interesting. This friend ran a fairly popular blog. It had a general theme (mine never do, lol) which was a “single mother making, and in the business world”. Once facebook came around – many of her “followers” just became friends, and many of her blogs just became “micro blogs” to be found within her facebook status. The blog entries dropped off, the “followers” moved on, and this blog (and many others) died a slow death.
I’ve found that for many bloggers “the why” of blogging... is to use blogging as a means to engage in dialogue with other like minded people, to other bloggers it’s just another avenue of expression – satisfying in its own right independent of any followers (I’m sure not all of these people are narcissists, lol). But over the past couple of years, I've witnesses a considerable shift in the content of the average blog. A few years ago, many blogs consisted of "little stories" that offered Internet users a peak into a person’s life – much like reality TV. It seemed to hit a voyeuristic chord with many followers. Most of these blogs have simply moved onto facebook and now twitter (or Myspace before that)... and will undoubtedly migrate further to things like Google buzz and others (we are witnessing an evolving means of expression – don’t expect it to stand still for too long). Other blogs where about more substantial issues – and in these cases, many blogs survive because this dialog they generate is separate from a more “personal” dialog... these blogs live on because of the need to delineate online persona’s. For instance ... There is “Academic Judy” – making super insightful comments related to her field, There is “Personal Judy” - broadcasting to her closed group of friends about some interesting event in her life, and there is “Teacher Judy” engaging with students on some particular topic. We need different “personas” in the online world... and Blogging was at one time a catch all for these... but things like Facebook, Twitter, Linked-In are allowing us to create our own “closed communities” – and delineate between “personal”, “professional”, “hobby”, etc. Blogs still play a role in this mix, but it would seem to be diminishing.
Yup, another high caffeine morning, lol
Wow... it didn't seem like my comment was that long until after I posted it... I think I need to work on brevity.
ReplyDeletePS Melissa, you may want to check out www.sitemeter.com. By posting a small link in your blog template, you can view a report summarizing the users who have viewed your site (where they were from, what they looked at, etc).