Is Twitter (and Friendfeed) Killing Blogging? Scobleizer Hasn't Posted In 12 Days!!!
By Tom Foremski - June 5, 2009
I was going through a list of venture capital blogs the other day and I found many were dead, hadn't been updated in months. . . some in years. But I also noticed that some of the owners of the dead blogs were still alive and active -- they were on Twitter.
Then I happened to look at Robert Scoble's blog, "Scobleizer." When I started SVW five years ago, Robert was the top tech blogger and very prolific, posting many times a day. But I was shocked at what I saw the other day. The most recent entry was on his blog at the time of writing was May 29, 2009. UPDATED: He didn't post again for 12 days!
And his prior post was on May 24.
I know Robert is very active on Twitter and on Friendfeed, and you can find him there.
But I wonder what his employer, Rackspace, thinks about all of this. Presumably they hired Robert because of his visibility online. But his visibility in the "real-time" web is much less than his visibility on his blog, which is read by far more people.
Robert's tag line on Scobleizer is "Exploring the 2010 Web." I'm sure he is, just not that much on Scobleizer.
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Posted to MediaWatch
June 5, 2009 | Permalink | Comment | Subscribe to SVW
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Comments (3)
Funny, the last time I checked the solar system didn't orbit around Scobledoucher. The hype around this mesomorph geek is beyond normal. Patsy. Overweight. Not that interesting. The fact you'd devote time noting his 5 day absence is a rather sad commentary. I'm even ashamed of myself for wasting life posting about it.
Posted: June 6, 2009 10:11 AM
I think competing for personal brand attention in the real-time web is a lot like competing in the fast-food market in the US. There's just so much saturation that any attention you garner is fleeting. It's just such a high maintenance, rat-race pursuit.
That being said, I can see how tempting it is to do so. As high maintenance as it is, it is also low-effort. And that sense of being "connected" or "tapped in" can really lull you into feeling that you're producing and contributing something when you're kind of just participating or hanging out.
Posted: June 19, 2009 8:20 AM
Chris, I see the real-time stream more like a cocktail party, you gravitate to the interesting conversations; you can hang out and listen but also contribute. You have the loud, obnoxious types, who dominate conversations, sometimes they can be funny or annoying but you can dial them down. Then there are the less talkative ones, with more insight, and you can lean in and hear what they have to say. And, then you can wander the room... and peek in on other conversations. Is it useful? Sometimes. Is it productive? Sometimes. Is it good use of your time? Absolutely. It's the best use you have at that particular moment in time . . . because otherwise you wouldn't be doing it :) (We are always choosing.)
Posted: June 19, 2009 10:15 AM