With apologies to Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, and Peter Paul and Mary, I ask with a touch of sadness, "Where have all the Bloggers gone?" I believe I have an answer (again with apologies to 60s folk singers): "Gone to Facebook every one. When will they ever learn? When will they ever learn?"
I published my first blog post at 6:22 P.M. on Saturday, 19 May 2007, and have been blogging faithfully since then. My initial attraction was simply to something fun and new; I wanted to give it a whirl. Through the summer of 2007, I blogged fairly regularly and enjoyed reading family blogs. Blogging became really meaningful when we left for four months in England at the end of August 2007. Being away from family made contact through blogs a real treat. Three years earlier we kept in touch from London by instant messaging. That was fun, but time consuming. Blogging, since it often includes photos, is a very visual means of communication that really works for me.
I believe that one of the best aspects of blogging is that the blog becomes a record or journal of sorts. I have spent some very happy times reliving our life over the last couple of years by going back and reading posts and looking at pictures again. That has been particularly true of the posts from London. I need to find some means of preserving my posts, because I have never been a good journal keeper, and the blog is a great record of life. Katy and our other children are in the process of transferring the London blogs into printed book form. Perhaps that will be the best means of making them permanent.
When we returned from London just over a year ago everyone was going nuts over Facebook. I have considered trying it but felt it was voyeuristic somehow. Millie told me she felt the same way about blogs and she is probably right. That might be encouragement to make the blog only for invited readers. I have yet to create a Facebook account and so for now I have zero friends on Facebook. I have noticed that enthusiasm for blogging has waned as Facebook gained in popularity. The change in enthusiasm may simply be burnout, but I know several former faithful bloggers who are now spending lots of time on Facebook.
This is not a call to repentance by any means. It is just me figuring out why I blog:
• I blog for me - to create a history
• I blog so my children, particularly those who are far afield, can see what we are doing
So I will keep blogging, at least for now, because I still enjoy it, and I reafirm that I still love reading blogs of friends and family. For example, today it was thrillling to read Will's post about their experience at the President Obama's inauguration. Without his blog, I would never have been able to share in that stirring experience (reading it gave me chills). I love checking Jerry and Vern's blog to see the fun things they are doing in Brasil. It was great to see what the Gibbs/Browns were doing in London at Christmas, what the Hastings were up to in Hawaii over the holidays, and to watch the snow pile up in Portland at the Compton's. I love to see pictures of Finn and Harry no matter how mundane. So I hope you all will keep blogging too.
I will end with this very good observation by the Pope that went out over the wires (do we still say that?) today:
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI says social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace can foster friendships and understanding, but warns they also can isolate people and marginalize others.
Benedict urged a culture of online respect in his annual message Friday for the World Day of Communications.
Benedict welcomes as a "gift" new technologies such as social networking sites, saying they respond to the "fundamental desire" of people to communicate.
But he also warns that "obsessive" virtual socializing can isolate people from real interaction and deepen the digital divide by excluding those already marginalized.
That's all for now.
OXO
D.
9 comments:
Oh Dearest Dad! I still prefer my blog to Facebook! I have been a bit busy and then Finn was sick, but, I will be up dating soon. Slowly and surly get Christmas and beyond on the record! I love your blog and wish Em would return to hers!
Good observation Dickie. In the past few months, I have experienced precisely what you are describing: I have moved from blogging to Facebook.
Facebook is incredible as it connects you to long lost friends so quickly (more people have profiles there than are connected to my circle of blogging friends). It has been great getting in touch with mission companions and high school friends from decades ago.
For me, though, possibly the greatest draw to Facebook is how quick and easy it is. I really started blogging for communication, but, as I've blogged about repeatedly, I've been quite frustrated in how little I feel like I do communicate through my blog.
I've often spent many, many hours putting a post together, only to get a handful of one-liners in response. On Facebook, I get many, many more one-liners a day, and all I ever have to contribute are a few one-liners of my own.
Basically, it's a much higher intake for a much lower output. I think that either the internet isn't the best place for lengthy, in depth conversations, or, more likely, I'm just a bit odd and most people don't want to spend hours discussing the things that fascinate me. With Facebook, I function at a frequency much more in tune with everyone else's and find myself much less frustrated.
Still, I like the idea of having a series of essays out there (which is how I see many of my posts), for my own rereading if not for referring others to. I also love the idea of keeping a record of events in the physical world.
I'll keep blogging, but I think a lot of what I was looking for through blogging actually comes to me much more easily through Facebook.
You keep blogging too. I really appreciate it.
(How was that for an essay?)
ok! i will put up my christmas post tonight! it's true... i've spent more time on facebook... but i REALLY do still want to blog! but Will is right. Blogging is time consuming... facebook is fast and instantly rewarding!
I like blogging. I will continue to post disgusting stories about myself and the freaky things that happen to my body (you know, puss in the throat types of instances). Facebook is fun. It's nice to catch up with old friends. But blogging is more connecting. Blogging is something I do with those people that I TRULY care about.
Better? :)
As I said in the post, I didn't intend this to be a call to repentance, I just wanted to clear my head.
Katy showed me around Facebook today and I had a serious twinge of FOMO (fear of missing out). But beyond FOMO, it felt messy, complicated, disorganized, overwhelming, and frankly, in some cases, silly. If I were to reconnect with the oceans of "friends" out there, how would I ever keep up? It could quite possibly require hours each day to follow all their lives. I don't even like talking on the phone all that much, so what would I do once I reconnect with hundreds of people?
I am pleased when people leave a comment on the blog, but at the end of the day, the greatest pleasure I get from blogging is going back and looking at old posts. I may not understand fully how it works, but I see nothing comparable in Facebook; it's just too messy and disjointed. In addition, I love the graphic and literary quality of blogging. Will's masthead with the photo of Timp made my heart sing. I just don't get any of that from Facebook. So y'all have fun and I'll be here on Blogger for now.
OXO
D.
I am so glad you are an enthusiastic blogger. I do love reading your posts. I know my family does too. I have been accused of being a blog lurker though (reading and not commenting). I do find it an effort to think of what to write on my own or other people's blogs. Facebook isn't really that different for me. Online communications are a thing I am still warming to.
I like them both, but I find blogging much more satisfying. I like SEEing what my friend and family are doing. Facebook seems shallow and I love it for shallow reconnecting. A quick hi to long lost friends is fun, but I prefer blogging.
In my case Facebook is a nice way to keep track of more casual friendships or acquaintances, and reconnect with people from the distant past. I have close friends and family on Facebook as well, but I keep in touch with them mostly through other means, (read: not over the internet tubes).
I see the blog as more of a journal or record, similar to you, or at the very least a place where I can be long-winded if I want.
I agree. It took me a long time to get on Facebook only because it seemed like such a lot of chatter and I felt like I really didn't want to have one more thing that would be an easy way to waste time. But, it has been fun to have reconnected with people from the past (even if only superficially). However, your description is right on: it can be messy and silly and mostly inefficient in how I want to filter the news of people I'm interested in.
I agree that I like keeping up on people's blogs much better....but they are time consuming to keep up. I get so behind too, even though I'm so much more satisfied by the record I keep there when I actually take the time to do it.
Well..I'm rambling.. I'm glad you got me thinking about it.
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