Dec 2nd, 2011
Why, hello there!
A friend* recently nudged me to post something new on my blog, so here I am. I know I’ve been neglecting this place lately, but the weird thing is that I think about my blog all the time. I compose posts in my head almost every day, but always when I’m not able to sit down at a computer and write them. And when I do find myself at a computer, well, the inspiration is gone (or at least hiding in the back of my mind, behind all the other-things-I-need-to-take-care-of-when-I’m-at-a-computer).
I’m finding that most of the “quick” things I usually would have posted here are instead finding there way to my Google+ page. I’m still staying far away from Facebook, but I am spending time on Twitter** and Google+***, and of course I still read lots of blogs. Each of these social media outlets has its own function for me: I use Twitter mainly for information gathering and sharing, Google+ for conversations, and blogs for in-depth reading. I like them all, though sometimes I feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information out there. It’s a bit like drinking from a firehose. I’ve discovered that the only way to stay sane (and have a life that isn’t completely tethered to the Internet) is to take occasional sips rather than try to drink all that water.
Some people say that blogs are dying—or even already dead—especially in the wake of the arrival of Google+ on the social media scene. Last summer a number of prominent bloggers publicly announced that they were moving all their content to G+ (none of them were people I read, so I have no idea if they followed through on this). G+ does facilitate conversation much better than Twitter and Facebook do (and so far, I’ve been really impressed by the intelligent discourse and genuine interaction I’m finding on G+, as well as the lack of ads and Farmville updates there). But for longer treatises and for customizing how you want to present yourself, your images, your text, etc., to the world, I think blogs still come out ahead.
Unfortunately, many of the blogs I used to read that were written by friends and acquaintances (either from real life or people I’d met online) have fallen mostly silent over the past few years. People are migrating to different online communities (especially Facebook), getting busy with life, getting bored with their blogs.
Many bloggers, however, show no signs of leaving. One of my favorite bloggers, John Scalzi, tweeted while watched the Lord of the Rings trilogy the other night. I saw the tweets unfold in real time and spent much of the evening laughing my head off. Happily, Scalzi collected all of those tweets into one blog post, which you can read here. Trust me—it’s well worth your time.
After you’ve read through that list, look at this video, which someone created in response to Scalzi’s tweet “Dear world: I am deeply disappointed there is not a dubstep version of the Smeagol Fish Battering Song.”
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRYhLYY_pn4[/youtube] (via)
Some days, I really love the Internet.
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* Said friend is, unfortunately, blogless. I keep trying to convince him to spread his wit beyond the confines of Facebook, but so far he’s not interested.
** On Twitter I am here.
*** On Google+ I am here.