The real reason to blog: connection
I have to thank Anne for writing Do You Have to Define a Niche for Your Blog? Anne has put into words the problem I’ve had with this blog, and its previous incarnations. I had always subscribed to the “define your niche and then stick with” paradigm, and it was a mistake.The problem is that I’ve had success with this paradigm before - it does have its place. For a while I ran a popular technology blog on the awesome Spring Framework. And having focus on such a blog is a good thing. The problem was how to translate that to my own blog, and the essence of where I went wrong was thinking of myself as a product. I didn’t do that explicitly, but I suspect that was behind all my other faulty reasoning. Anne puts it nicely: “It’s okay to be a person online.”I’ve been thinking about this same issue as I start to explore social networks like Facebook. Do I expose “me” on Facebook, or a subset of “me”. I really dislike the “subset” aspect - it’s dishonest - so I’ve taken to going the whole hog in my little experiment. But there’s this nagging doubt because of what folk deem Facebook is “for.” Well, tough.So thank you Anne - you’ve given new impetus to my reboot.
August 8th, 2007 at 8:03 am
And thank you, Jon, for continuing the conversation. The niche blog works well for some people, but it’s not the only way to gain from blogging.
August 8th, 2007 at 9:25 am
I too thought that you had to pick a vein and mine it until a logical conclusion was reached. My first couple blogs were about one aspect of my life. I found that it was enough to get me started. I think that people need a reason to start and a focus is good at the beginning. But once to are in the groove is it only natural to let the mind wander. Eventually you will find an idea worth sharing and before you know it your blogging about all kinds of random stuff. I’m interested in reading all kinds of crazy ideas from you. I think that throwing the reader some curve balls keeps us engaged. Now blog some more about something else.