On blogging
What happened to all the hype about blogging?There seem to be time when blogging seemed to be the latest craze. Everyone was jumping on the wagon, everyone was starting a blog, posting this and that. How many times have you read a blog with “Hey, this is my first blog.. don’t know what to say…. Blah blah…. I’m just blogging because it’s the latest hype….. etc etc” Then, the post get further and further apart, and then totally no activity, the last post being a year ago…..
It begs the question “What did these people have in mind in the first place?” Why did you start a blog? What are you doing it for? Is it for yourself? Is it for your friends? Or is it because people ask you to? Or maybe you just want to be popular? I ask this because the reason for you to start blogging would determine just how far you go.
Some blog for a very specific reason like educating people on a certain subject, but even that dies down eventually. Others just go on and on forever about their own lives (just like mine) I don’t really know how many active blogs there are out there, but from my own surfing, I do know that there are many defunct blogs, who’s owners have either died or gone away. I know of people who blog on social networking sites like Friendster, Myspace etc…. They go something like “Today very sad… ayoo…. A lot of assignment to do… How come I don’t have girlfriend?........ etc etc etc…” But I ask the question “Are you serious?” Why are you posting such things on your site? Is it some indirect way of crying for attention? Do you really want ALL your friends to know all the intimate things going on in your head?
Maybe its just me. Maybe I’m too private. Maybe people find it perfectly natural to pour out their heart in a site where everyone will surely read what you write. But I don’t. I keep a blog in my friendster site, but it has like 9 post, that’s it, and I don’t even bother maintaining it. To me, my blogging is a very personal matter. I blog alone. When I’m writing in my room, my door is locked. When I go to the internet café, I go alone. I don’t bring anyone with me, I don’t tell anyone im even going. I don’t even access my blog from my friends computer (except on rare occasions where I’m alone) Its personal, its confidential. In a way, it’s a secret chest of letters, pages and pages long, hidden in plain sight. And that to me is the beauty of it all; hidden in plain sight.
Usually, people want to be popular. They want people to know they have a blog. They promote their websites, they tell people of their blog, and when they write, they expect some to read it. They drive on popularity, and when they slowly realise that not that many people pay attention, they just stop. Why do you think myspace is the most popular website on earth? People want to know that others are interested in them. They all check to see how many hits they get on their home pages. They decorate their sites with cool html codes, they put all sorts of pics, mtvs and graphics so that people enjoy visiting them. But if you ask me, its all form over substance. People should not be reading what your write because it looks pretty. People should read and want to read more because they genuinely share a connection with what you say. Its not a popularity contest, its an endurance race; it’s a race of substance.
Contrary from what the rest of the world do, I try to keep my blog as private as I can. Yes, there were occasions when I did give it to people; but you can count those with one hand, and it wasn’t done for sake of popularity. To me, keeping it private gives me the freedom to really express whatever I want. If it were known to people, if it was somewhere I know those around me would read it, I would not have that freedom. I would instead be trying to write for popularity, I would be worried about whether what I write is interesting enough, if what I said would offend people, if what I said would be of relevance to them. Worst of all, I wouldn’t be able to say whatever I wanted, however I wanted to. My purpose of writing would be external driven, not internal. I would be writing for my readers sake, not my own. I would never have written half the things here if they were meant for friends to read.
On the other hand, having someone share your deepest most intimate thoughts is something we all long for at a certain level No man is an island. We all want to feel connected, wanted and needed. Therein lays the beauty of anonymity. We become a faceless voice, a persona without an identity, and we are free to express without inhibition. The only reason I dare write all that I have would be because of anonymity; to anyone who read this, I am no one but a stranger; just another person, with his own boring problems, with his own ranting. 9 in 10 people who stumble upon this page would not give it another read, and just move on.
Which is fine by me. I offer nothing fancy, I offer nothing of interest to you, except my personal struggles. I do not write for popularity, I do not bother with fancy templates. I chose layouts that don’t distract from my words. If you have read something that strikes a chord with you, welcome to the club. If you think my struggles are worth your 10 minutes reading, read on. My life is an open book to all those who read. What I care most about is making a genuine human connection. If you see what I see, hear what I hear, but mostly feel what I feel, then i would say we have made a connection, even if we don’t know each other. And that to me, is the best part of blogging.
posted by Compulsive Blogger @ 2:25 pm
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