Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Living In A Small Town


Sun Setting On A Small Town

Living In A Small Town

It's like a quiet little town, this place we call Blogger. Nothing like the hurly-burly of former neighbourhoods, nothing like Yahoo! 360 or Multiply, the former long gone and the latter seemingly teetering on life support in the ICU of social networks.

No, the streets of Blogger seem to have suffered a kind of cyber-foreclosure, and except for the odd porch light that flickers on and off every so often, most of the blogs here are relatively inactive.

I suspect we could blame it all on that megalopolis, better known as Facebook, for luring most of the conscious world to within its city limits. Not sure.

Then again, I'm not sure what "blogging" is anymore. At one time in the history of social networking, folks enjoyed using the written word as a means of connecting with one another. Some wrote volumes; some wrote just a word or two. Some posted photos; some shared a video from YouTube. Most of all, people dropped by to say "Hello." Now, not so much.

Blogging has changed, has been reduced to the immediacy of quick notes, such as what we see on Twitter. People want their interaction to be served up like fast food. The new blogger has "places to be and people to see," and anything more than a "drive-thru" experience is too long a commitment, too much a presumed waste of precious time.

Some days, I have to remind myself why I am here. Today, I can't quite figure that out.
 




 

20 comments:

  1. For two years I wrote my pathetic excuse for a blog and got exactly ONE comment. Then as I was surfing around the blogs I found Glen's page and made a comment and he returned to my page and we became great friends and for the next year he was the only one who ever commented on my page. It showed many people visiting, but just one person bothered to speak. I write my blog for the pleasure or writing, and I like to share my photography such as it is. I've never cared whether I had 1 or 100 followers. I still post some nonsense on Multiply from time to time. I am not sure what is really going on there because I have read some things that indicate they may just leave the bloggers who bothered to stay right where they are.......who knows. I don't know why you blog, here or elsewhere, but I do know you are a brilliant writer. I am fascinated with your ability to take the most ordinary subjects and make them come alive. I would be devastated if you stopped sharing your writing in public :-( But if you do that, then write a book so I can buy it !!
    I know it can be discouraging, but those of us who love you,just simply love you and I know everyone who reads you would miss you if you ever stopped.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hmmm ... no book ... haha ... that would just be an ego thing ...

      Thanks for your encouragement ... I love to write, and so I do ...

      Delete
    2. Then you need no other reason Kennedy....

      Delete
  2. I agree with everything you said, but I want you to ask yourself a question. Why do you write? Why do you take the time to share what you write with those of us who thoroughly enjoy every word? (OK, that was two questions.)

    Blogger is a beautiful site with few followers. Most of us knew that when we came here. It is what it is and so are all the other sites that have popped up ever since the exodus from Multiply. I've tried cross-blogging, and I've seen former chat friends take up residence on multiple sites.

    If we could put together the perfect blogging site, I doubt very seriously that it would look like anything we see today. Sadly, the perfect site will never happen because of sites like FB and Twitter and a few other places.

    I wish that someone could convince Multiply to bring back the social networking side that clearly was a plus for the sellers. Multiply had a great thing going, and it's a pity the new owners are short-sighted and couldn't see it for themselves.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Why do you write? Why do you take the time to share what you write with those of us who thoroughly enjoy every word?"

      I write because I have to. When I stop writing, like when I have the flu, everything gets muddled up in my head. I start writing sort of waking dreams, using images instead of words. I love words. I love how they fit together on a good day, how they make things bigger than themselves. It's like music to me.

      I've never understood why I share some of my writing ... certainly not all of it ... I think it's a bit of an ego thing, but I do like responses, because those somehow make me think the effort was worthwhile and the subject important to other people.

      Delete
  3. I so agree with you, Kennedy. I feel exactly like you describe. Primarely, Blogger or WordPress don't invite networking the same way as Multiply did. Secondly, blogging seems to be out compared to short notes, as you mentioned. Another thing is that many people are members of groups like "Images and Words", and that activity is a kind of substitute for the former blogging. I think one can do both. I so prefer to write blogs about themes that really interesrt me, or read blogs like yours. Rest assured that you are one of few I keep commenting. Sometimes, I'm not sure how to express my opinion the way I want, (English isn't my first language, as you know), so I just read and leave.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, there are the groups, and those are great things because they keep people connected. I have never joined a group, other than Picture Perfect, which I got booted out of ... haha ... I wasn't wanted in the inner circle anymore. I'm glad you come to read, even if you don't leave a comment. That's just as good. ;o}

      Delete
    2. I find the group Images and Words very nice, and hope you will join us. I participate when I have time and have something I want to share.

      Delete
  4. Odd, I posted a comment, and it suddenly left..How can that happen?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It went to my Spam folder ... not sure why ... but I have set it free!

      Delete
    2. *lol* to your spam folder?! I even noticed it posted, then it disappeared.

      Delete
  5. I loooove the photo

    It is cozy in here and I much prefer it that way. There are many reasons why but the biggest one is: it is much easier for me to keep up with everyone...

    A creative soul will find it very difficult to walk away from blogging 100%...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're right, it is cozy with just a few responses. Sometimes, I do wonder what became of some of the gang from Multiply, but I suspect they are off somewhere else, doing what they have to do.

      Delete
    2. For some reason, many of them found Blogger too complicated...Everyone went from Multiply to divide ...into many different groups

      Delete
  6. I can't speak for anyone else, but sites like Facebook and Twitter have never held any allure, for me. I used to blog a lot, but it seems that I don't have much to say, anymore, that I think anyone else would want to read.

    Blogging, in my opinion, is sharing opinions, experiences, or information with more than 140 characters. It doesn't mean that I won't also share video or pictures, or the occasional comment but, most of the time, I like to be a little more long-winded. Maybe, that's the problem...

    At any rate, only you can answer why you're here. I'm here for the afore-mentioned reasons. Anyone who says ego isn't also a factor is lying to him or herself, but a writer with no ego is not really a writer, right? One might as well dash off a few thoughts, in word, and hide it in a remote cranny of one's computer, then.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, every writer is driven by his or her ego to some extent. There is definitely a sense of self-satisfaction when a piece comes together, makes sense, and evokes some response. I guess it's important not to see responses as the final validation of your writing. If writing makes someone happy with the end result, maybe that should be enough.

      Delete
  7. KJ--

    First and foremost, I believe the biggest advantage that Multiply has, or had, over Blogger is that, by designed, it funneled the individual into participating in actual social networking, as the name "social networking" implies. The inbox would present enticing subject matter, by title and first-line content, and it would encourage people, both those on your friends list and those not on your friends list, having similar interests, to read and congregate together. Hence, the writers of longer blogs would also be the readers of longer blogs.

    Of course, the content of a blog is also of paramount importance, as is the writer's ability to keep the reader reading, paragraph after paragraph. If I were to write a 10 page blog entitled The Collective Works of John Calvin and His Influence on the Protestant Reformation, 1550, I seriously doubt I'd get even one reader to read past the first page, regardless of how great a writer I am. However, if my blog is entitled Our Strange Sexual Experiences, Past and Present, I can guaranteed more than a few interested readers.

    In like manner, how you initially present the blog, in the title and in the first paragraph, and maybe even more importantly, in the first line of the first paragraph, often determines from the start if the reader will continue to read the blog all the way through.

    I wrote a fairly lengthy blog on Multiply, which I entitled Perfect Strangers, about interacting with people online. I got visits from over 100 people on Multiply, three quarters of which were not even on my friends list. I also got 50 public comments, not including my own replies, and I got approximately 60 PMs, which started me on a course of discussing privately with a number of people on Multiply for extended periods of time. The lines of communication with some of these people remains open even to this day.

    As for the length of my blog--this blog was by no means a couple of paragraphs, but rather it was a lengthy 2963 words. Divided by 250-280 words per page, were talking over 10 pages! Therefore, my conclusion is that there are still enthusiastic readers, ready and willing to read what good writers have to offer; it's just a matter of putting the two together.

    ~Manfred



    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "my conclusion is that there are still enthusiastic readers, ready and willing to read what good writers have to offer; it's just a matter of putting the two together."

      Exactly. On Blogger, a blog is not as visible to others as it was on Multiply or, perhaps, on other blogging sites. Maybe one has to be more proactive here. Not sure.

      Since my brain always combines things, you now have me wondering if there's something to be said for John Calvin's Strange Sexual Experiences. That topic has all the potential of being a PhD dissertation ... hmmm ...

      Delete
  8. 'I love how they fit together on a good day, how they make things bigger than themselves.'.. that's well said. Yes the words are the stage for opinions and ideas to prance upon. Sometimes they give elusive notions just enough body to be glimpsed ..have you ever caught a notion staring at you for just a moment begging to be adopted? ..reading your poetry does that for me often.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Not wishing to spend even more tedious time working out new sites,I'm one of those that found Multiply much easier and prefer it still.

    It's rather strange that it still works as it did before and yet a message that it was closing sent everyone annoyed and packing their blogs fast out of there.
    I have no followers here, no comments but still, I'm here to enjoy the writing (and friendship if possible) of others. All in all - I'm walking at the beach more often than I'm at the computer. I've lost good online friends in this 'exodus'. I suspect that each person thinks others really don't care about them so some just let it go.

    ReplyDelete

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