Blogger of the Month?

Thoughts on blogging…

I read a good article on blogs the other day. The story detailed the rise of Mr. Robert Scoble. This, from the Economist of 2/10/05, tells you a little about him.

ROBERT SCOBLE, known in the blogosphere as "the Scobleizer", is a phenomenon not just because he has had an unusually strange career of late, but because his example might mark the beginning of the end of "corporate communications" as we know it. Mr Scoble is, first, a blogger--ie, somebody who keeps an online journal (called a "web log" or "blog") to which he posts thoughts and web links several times a day. But Mr Scoble is also an employee of Microsoft, the world's largest software company, where he holds the official title of "technical evangelist". Those two roles are intertwined. It was his blogging prowess that led to his job, and much of the job consists of blogging.

The article goes to say that blogs could eventually replace the normal PR channels for corporate promotion. But there was a warning from a lawyer type.

"people blogging get taken in by the immediacy and the hotness of the medium and say things they later regret," …and I can certainly relate to that. No, I don’t fear being sued, but I do know that it is very easy for me to become emotionally charged by some subjects that I choose to write about.

So I decided to think some more about blogging and why I do it is the first question for me…and my first response is (predictably) because I can. But beyond the obvious is something more complicated. In real life, you probably wouldn’t expect me to blog. In social settings, I am the one that is listening and not speaking. Get me in a group with some extroverts and I will clam up, keeping all of my thoughts to myself. Unless those extroverts speak ill of something I value, and then the chances are 50/50 that I will simply leave and say nothing; removing the possibility of embarrassing myself with poorly chosen words of rebuttal. But in a secure setting, such as with my family, I am quite vocal and express myself without hesitation. Typical INFP behavior…Sorry, family!

That said, I suppose I see my blog as a secure place. I’m here…you’re there. And I can say what I wish about whatever I want. And if you don’t like what I say…get your own blog! I like that.

Also, it’s the kind of stuff I used to do while reading the newspaper, early in the morning. I would comment on the news, making snap decisions on what I had just read and expressing myself. And that brings me back to the warning from the lawyer types, about saying things I might later regret…

OK, enough wandering around my psyche for today…I did read Mr. Scoble’s blog and I enjoyed it. And I learned from it. What else should be expected? Isn’t that enough? Of course it is. After all, it’s only a blog…a simple conversation with myself.