May 22, 2005
joi feels the strain
(A cartoon I drew last year, inspired by Joi’s hectic life.)
Joi Ito is feeling the strain of maintaining a well known and highly-regarded blog:
Of course, this is just a rehash of an old discussion of collapsing contexts, but I find myself struggling with this bloggers block more and more these days. I find myself hanging out on the IRC channel chatting about things that in the past I would be blogging about. I definitely feel like my blog is going [from] edgy to broad and boring.
My two cents:
1. Every blogger who’s been doing it for a while will have the same conversation eventually. Like I said recently, sometimes real life takes over etc. Joi’s just being brave by bringing it up in public.
2. The good news is, “Blog Burnout” is relatively easy to fix, because it’s usually not a symptom of blogging per se, but of blogging too often. So the cure is very simple: Blog less. Take your time, post less often, and put more thought in between postings. Your readers will adjust to the new pace eventually, and if they don’t, who cares? Readers who are hostile to natural change are probably not the kind of readers you want to hold on to, anyway.
I don’t understand the dilemma really.
A blog is a communications tool. A blog has an audience. A longtime blogger generally has a good idea who that audience is. Thus, the blogger should know what needs and interests the audience has.
Joi is concerned that he is slipping into trivial mundane personal trivia.
Well, this is the #1 Problem with All Blogs, from my research.
Narcissism without any redeeming virtue. Not funny. Not unique. Not bizarre. Not instructive. Not Valuable to Anybody.
Blogs will die from this disease. Watch.
Everything dies, Steven
As someone getting ready to start his first real blog, I’ve been thinking about this a bit lately too.
The downside of just blogging less is that people people will (maybe) drop by less often. That might or might not be a problem, depending on what you’re trying to accomplish with the blog.
Gaping Void is my favorite blog at the moment, and I check it at least once every day I’m online, but it’s sometimes disappointing to find no new posts or something like “Gone to London.” But I know it’s not Hugh’s only gig, and it’s his show, and I come back later. Sort of like dropping by your favorite pub and finding it empty.
Political blogs probably suffer less from this, since there’s always something to write/rant about every day, and if that’s your thing it’s easy to get worked up about it.
Since I’m not planning a political blog, I’m working on strategies to keep a steady stream of interesting posts without making it into a chore. As with all strategies requiring self-discipline, this is risky…
“Blogging about blogging about blogging about blogging about blogging about bogging about.…”
» Narcissism without any redeeming virtue. Not funny. Not unique. Not bizarre. Not instructive. Not Valuable to Anybody.
Blogs will die from this disease. Watch. <
I thought narcissism was the precise cause of blogging’s popularity?!
daniel: narcissistic self-disclosure is fun for friends and family to read. Period. Unless it’s weird, high literary talent (Kafka, Proust, Hemingway, Dickens, etc.), very funny, or contains actual insight that can benefit others.
Personal trivia drivel is ruining many of the pioneer and formerly innovative blogs, esp. business blogs.
“I went to XYZ Conference!”
“My vacation plans” etc. have no real value in a biz or mktg. blog.
Would you answer the phone if every time it rang it was the same boring person, freind or family member even, who rattled on and on and on about himself, never letting you get a word in edgewise?
I don’t know why Joi feels like his blog may be boring his audience, but I like Joi and I applaud him for having the guts to address this issue.
I hope he figures out what to do. “Blog what you know, Joi” I told him.
Blog less? Yes, this could alienate readers who think you’re not as devoted to your blog, you’re running out of steam, etc.
Very interesting topic here.
I think the tyranny of daily blogg entries should die, unless you’re an SEO maniac or are one of the very few creative and prolific minds.
My motto is blog when you’ve got something you want to say. Don’t blog when you haven’t.
The beauty of RSS feeds means that even if you have a blogging hiatus, readers will know when something new pops out of your brain onto the electronic page.
I agree with Alex. I think sticking to a daily quota “because the readers demand it” is silly.
A lot of good bloggers don’t post very often.
[NOTE TO SELF: If you try to keep up with Scoble or Jarvis, you will lose]
If you have a personal blog — and not a blog on a special topic — then the main thing this blog is about is — surprise — you.
And if you have the feeling as if you can’t be yourself on your blog, then there is something wrong with you. Or you just have to admit that you are afraid of loosing audience.
It is a blog about you and not everything should be public? Okay, but then there is no problem why you would not blog everything.
Because otherwise it would be a fake blog. If you want to be clever, smart whatever on your blog, and it is not the real you, then it will be hard work to maintain your character blog.
As for the commenters, he is talking about: You can’t have a cake and eat it. If someone does not like the fact that Joi is posting about his travelling but still wants to read because he could miss something — sorry. His problem, not Joi’s.
Perhaps Joi should turn of comments for a while? Everybody has a blog today so if they really would care about something, they can talk about it in their blogs & comments.
Turning off comments in most cases is idiotic.
Some blogs have disabled comments due to comment spam or other legitimate reasons.
But to turn off comments because you don’t like what your readers are saying, because you disagree with them? Idiotic and dishonest.
No offense Nicole, I’m not attacking you, but think about what makes a blog different and far better than a regular web site.
Blogs are about (are capable of) fast and timely interaction with an audience.
Joi is asking if he should more carefully craft his posts. I say Yes, we all should be more careful, more competent, more relevant, more useful to our audiences.
We must look very closely at exactly what Joi is asking.
Most are just brushing his concerns aside and blabbering mindlessly about “be yourself, do your own thing, screw the readers”…which is childish and counter-productive.
Joi isn’t wondering if he should abandon authenticity. He’s wondering if he should do better research, include less mundane trivia, and provide more value to his readers.
I say “Go for it.”
Yet I have never criticized or complained about Joi Ito’s blog.
Der Langweiler. Der Angeber.
Mit meinen Sorgen um mein Blog bin ich nicht ganz alleine: Joi Ito’s Web: Becoming boring. Sorgen? Ja. Der Grund, warum ich hier seit Monaten so wenig blogge, ist nicht…