Can blogs rebuild America
Originally published on 10/28/98.
To my old school blogging colleagues: this is a stream of consciousness, written as I thinking about it. So take it as you will.
Back in the early 2000s, we started blogs, and started talking to each other, and became friends. REAL friends. We had no idea our individual, independent contributions would link up to create a movement that revolutionized media, marketing, and the national conversation (in my case, about parenting, but on other topics, too). [Shoutout to all the conference/summit organizers who created the in person space to cement these friendships.]
Remember what the media landscape was like back then Traditional publishing and media was closed to most, so very few people had access coque de samsung galaxie s8 to an audience. We were part of changing that. It wasn or branding back then, it began as community.
Friends, our voices and the gathering spaces they created changed our world. I think we in a moment when we can do that again.
I not talking about all of us launching political blogs. I talking about reigniting our independent spaces once again. coque samsung s8 Turning up the volume on our individual voices and real life stories, sharing our values an alternative to the mass media (now social media) messages and memes that keep floating to the top.
You know how Humans of New York is this tapestry of different peoples stories that somehow shines a light on what connects us Our blogs could once again be that, writ large, distributed across geographical, political, racial, religious, ethnic and gender lines. No silos, no algorithms. Just real coque samsung a70 people sharing real stories so other people can read and comment and feel a part of those stories and be reminded about what connects us. Incubating community without a specific agenda beyond sharing of ourselves and connecting people.
We could use the years long network of trust we built with each other to amplify those conversations. I talking old school blogrolls and comments again, not for building influence or traffic, but for re energizing community. Between us as friends and colleagues. Between us and our readers. We all miss that, but there nothing stopping us from doing that again. The currency wouldn be dollars or page views or virality. It would be the connections between us, once again. Not going back this isn nostalgia. I suggesting the 2018 version of blogging and real online community.
I don think it unrealistic to say that if coque samsung s8 wonderland we did coque iphone 4s simson this, with the influence we have now, it could light a spark that could eventually coque dbz samsung s9 make a difference in the state of our country. Idealistic Yes. coque samsung s8 uag Naive I don think so. Actually, I don care. America is fractured, and I willing to throw ideas at the wall for fixing it. coque samsung a5 2017 chic Let bring an experimental mindset to this. Ask ourselves,what if No coque samsung j5 one would have believed what our blogs would grow into had they told us then. Look at us now.
The connections between us are already built, and they powerful. We can use them to rebuild this coque samsung s6 country. I serious.
I better at ideas than implementation, so I have no plans beyond coque samsung s10 evetane starting this conversation (and re starting my blog). Let this get us thinking and talking to each other and hopefully acting.
some of my dearest friends are definitely old school bloggers and i resisted joining that world since it freaked me out that folks would have friends they may not recognize if they shared the same sidewalk, blah blah judgy blah, and now i get it, and now it’s desperate, and now dear asha, do coque iphone 4s hunger games i ever think you’re on to something.
we need our micro stories more than ever. we need to stay deep in our humanity and have something coque samsung a5 2015 noire to cling to as these waves of hate feel stronger. thank you for this spark. i don’t have the experience of blogging but i sure do have experiences to share, and hear, and learn from. also i truly trust you. xo
I felt like blogging died through monetization. When people became focused not only on writing, but also on pitching brands, negotiating edits with brands, promoting branded posts across numerous social networks, etc., they didn have time to read and comment anymore.
I don think my writing was better in 2009 than it is now, but the community and engagement was definitely higher.
I remember one November, instead of doing NaBloPoMo, I committed to commenting on a certain number of blogs each day (3 or 5 maybe) and then once a week (I think), I shared an excerpt from a couple of those blog posts on my blog along with some of my own thoughts on the issue.
I not feeling particularly samsung s9 plus coque incassable motivated to write about anything right now. But I think committing to reading and commenting and possibly sharing is something I could do again.
I addressed coque iphone 5 led this post to my old school blogging colleagues. But really, this is an invitation to everyone to start or restart their blogs. Every single one of us started with an audience of 0 and we just wrote for ourselves and each other. That what I suggesting again, that organic gathering of people and telling of stories. We found each other simply by talking to each other and linking to each other. Of course there is a place for social media in this ecosystem, but the metrics has to do with community in conversation, not numbers or dollars. We have to unlearn some current behaviors. We don need to worry about size or traffic. We just need to engage with each other stories. Commit some time and trust the community that is forming as a result.
I really like this idea and I think I like it even more if we could coque samsung s8 dessin figure out a way coque samsung s10 rouge to circumvent the traditional distribution channels we let gigantic, greedy companies make for us and find new ways for us to create real madrid coque samsung s7 our own signal in the noise.
First thought: could we use the fact that we largely retreated to private spaces (see: FB Groups, Slack, etc.) as a way to create coque samsung s8 avec lumiere signal around new ideas Amplifying ideas to the people that matter to us, and inviting dialogue Could be like a semi public group of democratically inclined pen pals.
Oh, YES to this, Asha! I still believe so much in blogging. The reasons I started reading blogs in the first place, being curious about how others are living and finding community in ways I wasn in my in person communities, are still as true as ever. Even though I don have a very big audience I still love writing new posts and have been so heartened to see that my readers do seem to continue to value my sharing. I have felt sad as daily/weekly blogs that I have loved have shifted over to Instagram posts only. There a depth and vulnerability lacking there and that what we need more of. I do think blogs are a platform for that.
I so glad you wrote this. I started blogging again in April, and it has felt great to reclaim a non coque iphone 5 rap FB part of the web.
It must be something in the air a shared longing. Less than two weeks ago I wrote this on FB:
you want to make the web a more robust, less FB dependent place, there are some things you can do.
a blog. Write the things there that you would write as Facebook status updates. Create a non FB digital presence. Share from there to FB so your friends know where to find you outside of FB walled garden.
out how to use an RSS reader (I use and love Feedly). Share from there to FB. Your friends will find it more interesting than alarming news from dubious sources.
to reputable news media. Pay for good writing, writing that exists outside of FB. Don depend on your FB feed to supply you with news highlights. There too much going on; all of us need to pay attention and share what we notice in social spaces.
is what we make of it. coque samsung j3 The web is what we make of it. Technology is powerful, and we need to make the best use of all our power sources these days. comment >..