This week Tanya over at Salted Caramel asks:
How would you describe blogging to someone who has never heard of it before?
It is a form of social media, just a form where posts tend to be that much longer. You’re not expected to limit yourself to 3 characters, you’re expected to maybe string a few more together. So, for that reason, more patience is required.
For me, perversely, the act of blogging, rather that writing, is 90% reading. But I don’t think others agree. I read a post the other day, along the lines “I haven’t been on here much as I couldn’t think of anything to say”. A one-way street, talk, talk, talk. Not a “listen” anywhere.
I’m not sure that there is an awful lot else that is different to other social media platforms. This community in particular is more polite, at least, but peel off the veneer and there is still the same hatred and intolerance that exists in the big, wide world. I read another post last week which started off “Trump should be hanged”. If that isn’t an incitement to violence, the very thing Trump syands accused of, I’m not sure what is.
Mister Bump 
You make very good points, Pete.
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If it wasn’t for the reading part and seeing what everyone else has to say day to day I’d have given up blogging a long time ago – over the last 7 years I’ve deleted three entire blogs lock, stock and barrel once they’d reached the end of the road for me, but somehow I’ve always come back for more under a brand new blog name when I’ve felt the time is right 🙂
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I’ve tried a couple of blogs before but they never got off the ground. It’s only really the interaction I get from this one that makes me enthusiastic. And a lot of that interaction comes from reading and ommenting. It is really cold down here this morning so I hope you’re staying warm up there.
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Nope, it’s really cold here too! 🙂
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A very thoughtful post Pete. I’ve only been blogging a few months, so not seen much sign of that intolerance you speak of, although I am sure it’s always there, lurking beneath the surface.
I see our blogs as an opportunity to communicate, have a laugh and occasionally confront some difficult issues. We should be articulate enough to be able to do this without upsetting our fellow bloggers.🙂
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This commentwas in the particular context of the changeover, so perhaps at a time when feelings are heightened, but I thought it did show that the civilised side of people that we see is, as I say, a veneer.
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I was an early adopter of the social media sites, and Facebook from virtually day one. But as the masses came on board it changed into something I didn’t enjoy, especially Twitter, so a couple of years ago I came away.
At school I talked about the animals and took photos for the children, a colleague suggested I write a blog, a journal. It took me another year before I took her advice.
I thoroughly enjoy writing and find that the moment I begin to type the ideas pop into my head and are often different to the ones I started out with.
Generally I blog a couple of times a week, plus writing the Weekly Prompts challenge.
I think bloggers are a great group of people, disagreements and misunderstandings are sorted politely and amicably, I haven’t come across anyone who acts in the same way as some of the nasty outspoken Twitter twits.
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I find people on here are more articulate, certainly, but the underlying thoughts are no different. I received a racist comment from a user the other week, would you believe? There’s very little I censor, but that one I did. I suppose I often invite controversy because I will sometimes talk about hot topics and sometimes have unconventional views.
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That’s a shame, it spoils everything.
Remember our election last year? Having mostly voted conservative during my adult life I mentioned that I would not be voting Conservative this time because I felt let down over Brexit. (So I voted Lib Dem!) An American blogger, a man, commented ‘Who would you rather vote for, the Muslim so and so (cant remember the candidates’s name). I wanted to ask why he thought he needed to mention the candidate’s religion, what has that got to with anything? But instead I kept quiet. The candidate was out of my area so couldn’t vote for him anyway. But that comment showed how bigoted and racist the blogger was. And was obviously meant as some sort of insult to me.
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I could never understant the sectarian divide in NI, say, because our society has in general moved way past that. But a lot of societies haven’t, and a lot of people haven’t.
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I agree with you.
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You are so right when you say that blogging is a lot more reading than writing.
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Spot on. Really very apt
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