Keep It Original

harrisj@nimblecode.com (Jacob Harris) — Thu, 16 Feb 2006 12:18:00 -0800

I am aware there is something so deeply ironic about this, but I wanted to share a great link about the practice of blogging titled A Great CD Is Not A Failed Radio Station. If you’re a blogger, you should read it. You can go there now, I’ll wait.

Most blogs suck. They don’t really say anything new. This is largely because search engines, aggregators, and advertising models all encourage quantity over quality – many short and quick observations over long analysis. Search engines love freshness in content, and fresh posts mean more clicks means more advertising revenue. And so, many people labor strenuously to post daily to their blogs, even if this makes their writing suffer.

The problem is that like any writing, blogging takes time and mental energy, and if you find yourself having to write daily or more, your blog postings will usually become little more than “me too” or “check this out” declarations – filler content with no real additional thought or analysis. This reductive trend is accelerated by the desire to want to be the first post to comment or link to something new on the web. This leads to initial kneejerk appraisals on big stories instead of more thoughtful analysis days later when the story is “old.” And so, the reckless pursuit of freshness in blog content only encourages staleness in the ideas on those pages. And the Internet begins to resemble Sunday political talk shows with their empty talking-points and flip-reactions.

As you can see from my posting schedule, I’m hardly a victim of this syndrome (I’ll call it Premature Blogification). But if you find yourself on a never-ending race to keep up posting to your blog, maybe you should try a change. Get the Blogging Monkey off your back and embrace quality and sanity again. Your readers will love it. And so will you.

Why Am I Doing This?

harrisj — Thu, 07 Apr 2005 22:17:00 -0700

Okay, blogging has been around for a while to be sure. During all these years, I have been steadfast in my disdain and apathy towards blogging, deeming it little more than a way for overly extroverted people to drone on about their lives to what they imagine is a vast and enthralled audience. Which is probably still true, but why am I blogging?

Good question. In my haste to sneer at the writing crowd, I forgot that the appeal of blogging is that it is a simple and democratic communication mechanism, and this is the kicker: communication is both essential for any career and it is often the one thing most holding back software developers like myself from succeeding. Tim Bray of course says it better than me in his post Blogging Is Good (a response to the many Blogging Will Get You Fired stories recently). Most relevant in his top 10 list to me are

No matter how great you are, your career depends on communicating. The way to get better at anything, including communication, is by practicing. Blogging is good practice.

and

Networking is good for your career. Blogging is a good way to meet people.

Well put. Having recently understood the importance of networking and communication for career success (as important if not more so than technical skill), I feel it is time for me to recant my ways and give this a shot. Who knows, I may actually enjoy it...

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Keep It Original

Why Am I Doing This?