I have been following Hugh Macleod who writes the blog The Gaping Void for a few years now, his little sketches are filled with humorous truth and cynical insights. I also recommend reading his book “Ignore Everybody: And 39 Other Ways to Creativity”. Anyway he just wrote a blog about why he is quitting Facebook and Twitter, something I did this past year due to numerous reasons outlined here. Recently I joined back up primarily to keep up with friends lives and I felt as if good opportunity & connections were being missed but his posting has left me second guessing this decision again. Primarily I like keeping Facebook Page because it seems to be the quickest and most powerful way to connect with people like you that I have never actually met but take interest in my photos and this blog (thank you), but what do you think?
“Earlier today I told everybody on Twitter and Facebook, that I’m leaving Twitter and Facebook.
Why?
Because Facebook and Twitter are too easy. Keeping up a decent blog that people actually want to take the time to read, that’s much harder. And it’s the hard stuff that pays off in the end.
Besides, even if they’re very good at hiding the fact, over on Twitter and Facebook, it’s not your content, it’s their content.
The content on your blog, however, belongs to you, and you alone. People come to your online home, to hear what you have to say, not to hear what everybody else has to say. This sense of personal sovereignty is important.
And as I’ve said many times over the years, Web 2.0 IS ALL ABOUT personal sovereignty. About using media to do something meaningful, WITHOUT someone else giving you permission first, without having to rely on anyone else’s resources, authority and money. Self-sufficiency. Exactly.
i.e. not waiting for the green light. In the blogosphere, the only light IS the green light.
And I think a lot of people have lost that idea. Instead or writing about something that’s ACTUALLY important to them, they’re telling al their zillions of Foursquare friends what food trucks they just visited.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course, but…
Recently I had (non-online) conversations with two seminal, veteran bloggers, Doc Searls and Anil Dash.
On both occasions, we were reminiscing about the early days of blogging (I started gapingvoid in 2001, btw. Doc and Anil, a couple of years before that).
A decade ago, blogging seemed more powerful, more revolutionary, more disruptive… more like the way we wanted the web to be, as opposed to how the corporations wanted it to be.
But like I said, it was hard work. You had to write a lot, every day. And you had to be a good writer with something to say. Or else it would wither on the vine.
In other words, the barriers to entry were high, in terms of both talent and energy required.
So clever, talented people everywhere started inventing tools that made Web 2.0 much easier for ordinary people: Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare etc. That was a good thing.
But I think something was lost in the process. Suddenly it got a lot easier for the bloggers to be lazy.
And so people DID become lazy. In HUGE numbers.
Not that there aren’t any good blogs still out there- of course they are- but in the last five years or so, something magical was lost, or at least, diluted.
I think now is a good time to remind people why we all got into blogging in the first place, all those years ago. I think now is a great time to “reclaim” blogging, so that is exactly what I’m doing. Here and now. Rock on.
So from now on, if you want to talk to me, do it in the comments below or send me an email, Thanks.
Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare et al… it’s not my content. It’s not your content, either.
Decide.”
For me personally the reason that Facebook has become a bit of a drain is for the “look at me” braggadocio syndrome. I enjoy reconnecting with people but have got so tired of the constant me, me, me, me syndrom and I’ve noticed it in myself even. Granted putting stuff on the web in general is by definition a bit narcissistic to begin with but there can be a balance to it and I’ve felt a bit out of kilter and off balance on Facebook lately. So I’ve stepped it back, toned it down. I’ve kept up photographing, flickering and blogging still so I’ve got plenty of me to go around, but I am back to trying to do it more for some of my initial primary motivations : the sharing, the documentarian and living memory aspects of it. A bit more balance. I say keep FB and twitter if you want (I’ve never understood twitter) but keep a balance. Deleting all together seems a bit like sticking your head in the sand, the internet is here and I think its better to participate properly than not at all.
True, many just want to show off their latest lover, toys, trips, etc. but the few people who I truly care about only use web 2.0 to share a small sliver of their lives. The only thing that matters to me are the moments where I can connect with these people and feel like I’m already filled in (more-or-less).
Yes, your online home shelters your content and provides “personal sovereignty.” However, fb & twitter are entirely different – they’re tools with distinct purposes. Perhaps you can accomplish the same thing at your own site, but not to the same magnitude as what social networking can provide. You can take it or leave it but it’s gonna be a lot harder to “reclaim” blogging from afar. Besides: I probably wouldn’t have found your site if it hadn’t been for your original fb page.
There is some real validity to this. I think the G+ launch highlighted this. It felt like a real estate grab more than something real. People racked up 1,000 of fans by posting nonsense and all and all it felt real boring. As someone who has created thoughtful web content, more and more I find myself thinking…there’s less content out there than there was three years ago. There is decidedly more noise.
to take what fitz wrote above a bit further, i find it hard to hear any music through the ubiquitous presence of the white noise. this is coupled, in me, with a real desire for distilled content. when i do happen upon the worthwhile i almost want to keep it hid, you know? ….limiting the voices in the conversation. is that just another root of closed-mindedness in me? an excuse to not hear what i don’t want to hear? where is the intersection of open minds and discernment?
Thanks all for the comments they all have tons of validity. Mark I agree I left facebook and such because I was tired of participating in the bravado bull s*$@. But I cam back because of the connections and sharing of life with others (even though it is virtual).
Fitz I think it is pretty funny because we basically were introduced and initially connected through Facebook and now look where we are
we hang out in person and have had some great trips. But the noise is all over, completely agree. I try my best to put up original thought, photos and content and just share things that I see as being completely worthwhile and thought provoking. I still don’t even know or understand G+….
Earl I think you should share more of what you find and what your think because a lot of it is original.