This article is a slightly updated version of one originally published on 27 October 2008. I’ve removed some links that no longer work, butI think my arguments in favour of blogging still apply.
An article in Wired magazine advocates dropping blogging, or not starting to blog in the first place. What a mess of muddled thinking! The writer, Paul Boutin, seems to be saying that whilst blogging was OK when it first came on the scene, because it allowed anyone to publish their stuff, now it isn't because it's been adopted by professionals and corporations.
In other words, blogging has become mainstream.
There are a number of issues here, I think.
First, if you're going to blog or not blog on the basis of how many other people are doing so, or who is actually doing the blogging, doesn't that make you an incredibly superficial person? I suppose that that is my own prejudices coming through: I have always thought that dedicated followers of fashion are superficial people.
Second, it calls into question why people blog in the first place. For my own part, one of the reasons I like blogging is simply because I like writing. I can't always be writing a magazine article or a book; blogging keeps my writing muscles toned up.
Third, blogging is a way of connecting with one's audience. Boutin recommends switching to microblogging, such as Twitter, but to do that without continuing to blog, or without a transition period, seems to me to be an act of supreme insensitivity to one's audience. If you write for an audience, which is what you do unless you write in a private diary or something, you should respect that audience and not simply leave them in the lurch when something better comes along. Audiences, or, more accurately, readerships are not the same for blogs, microblogs,websites and newsletters, as my highly scientific Venn diagram illustrates:
Venn diagram, by Terry Freedman
Fourth, as suggested by the above diagram, blogging and microblogging are not mutually exclusive anyway, except from the point of view of time available I suppose. They serve, or could serve, different purposes. From an educational point of view, we should encourage students to work out which form of writing is most appropriate for the job in hand, not encouraging them to drop one type of writing all together.
And, fifth, now that we're on the subject of education, there is plenty of evidence that blogging can be highly effective in educational terms. In that case, how fashionable it is, or who else is doing it, are completely irrelevant considerations.
Of course, I have little doubt that the article was written either tongue-in-cheek or merely as a means to fomenting a bit of controversy. And why not? It's all good fun.
See also:
