Posted on February 28, 2006 at 11:34 AM in thoughts
Note: The below is an archived entry from Earthling, formerly EarthLink's official blog. The blog itself has been decommissioned and is no longer updated, and comments are trackbacks are no longer accepted.
While I'm working on a brief Part 2 today for "Why Read Blogs." I wanted to point out a discussion I'm reading this morning that's emblematic of discussions you'll run in to all over the place.
Blogs love to talk about blogging. For a couple of years now there's been an ongoing debate online and in the traditional press about the value of blogs. Today, I'm reading Rich Ord who argues that blogs are just the same as websites. I've said something similar in the past, but my point was that you shouldn't be afraid of them. You should consider them another option for something to look at, interact with, or create online.
Shel Israel, who recently co-authored a book about blogging called Naked Conversations, refutes Rich's points. The discussion ends up focusing on some specifics about underlying technologies. If you like reading debates, Shel creates some good point-by-point clash and re-focuses the discussion on some important differences between regular web site publishing and blog publishing. He points out that blogs are easier to use than regular web sites, provide more direct interaction between author and reader, and rise to the top of search engines that value freshness. He also defends the unique value of RSS.
I try not to focus on blogs-about-blogs too often because it's just a bunch of posturing on both sides. Why worry about whether or not blogs are past their prime, overhyped, undervalued, or the key to capturing the hearts and minds of a generation? Like I wrote in part one, blogs are a specific form of web site, and they can be very useful in a number of ways. I wish we weren't so obsessed with declaring them dead on the one hand or the savior of all mankind on the other. It all starts to feel a little robotic, and the hyperbole gets in the way of regular people using them for regular things. Let's put the thrones and pillories away.