Why don't more people blog?

I read a page recently (sadly, I did not save the link) devoted to convincing people NOT to blog. The reasons given were there’s already too much out there, yadda yadda. The assumption was that no one will want to read your blog. I disagree. I think at the very least everyone has family, friends and parents who would want to read their blog- while a worldwide audience is possible, it’s certainly not necessary and may not even be desirable.

I’ve been trying to think of why more people won’t blog. I will get long email updates from family members or friends, but when I suggest that start a blog, they freak. No way! I think the hardest part is figuring out what you want to put on the blog- how do you write in a way that’s at once familiar and not too revealing? It’s actually not that hard, it just takes some getting used to. The other issue is one of content- you may want to write some things that you wouldn’t mind everything reading, some things you’d only want friends reading, and some stuff that would only be of interest to family.

I think the new service Vox is pretty remarkable in that it gives you a way to control these aspects easily. In most other systems I’ve seen, if you wanted to control who read your blog, you had to make the entire blog private, only accessible to select people. Some have improved this with an option to password protect certain entries- but readers without access are still clued into the fact that they are missing something. Vox’s elegant solution is to simply not indicate at all if content exists that you’re not supposed to see.

Say you start a blog, writing about several topics- you post pictures and stories about your new baby, and being wary of predators, you want only friends and family to see these. You know your mom, for one, would be happy to get frequent updates and photos. Perhaps you have posts about a job search that you don’t mind your friends and family reading, but you don’t want your employer to stumble on. Maybe you have a few posts of a more personal nature, stuff you’re sure would make your mom blush, but you know friends would get a kick out of it, so you allow them to view it. Then you have stuff that’s ok for anyone to see- daily observations, a review of a new restaurant you went to, anything that is not potentially damaging. Vox makes it easy to manage these level of access- logged on friends will see all he posts you’ve given them access too, as will family. The general public will only see posts you’ve deemed acceptable for public consumption, and will have no indication that they are missing out on other content. This is key to me- having a notice that an entry is password protected and you can’t read it could make a person go “hmm. what is he trying to hide?” but if there’s no indication of it, it’s not an issue.

All this sounds like a big advertisement for Vox. Actually, I like publishing on my own server, and although I do have a Vox account, I don’t use it for much besides storing lists of books I want to read. My personal blogging philosophy has turned into “don’t post anything I don’t want mom to read.” However, if I could get more people using Vox, I would use it more. What I’m really hoping is that the dynamism of Vox will be incorporated in other blogging programs.

I’ve been thinking of this because I have a friend with a funny blog that happens to have some posts that are not for public consumption, so the whole blog is set to friends only. However, there’s sometimes stories on there that wouldn’t be bad for the world, or parents to hear. The stratification of content makes it possible to easily maintain separate online persona’s in one place.

As an aside, the other obvious solution to this conundrum is to start a totally anonymous blog, and either telling no one about it, or telling only those really close to you. I think, though, that in doing this you miss the ability to reach a ocal audience, and to reach out to those close to you.

You remember letters, right? These long things people used to write, to help connect to those around them? People used to write letters to people on the next block, even if they would see them the next day. It was not only a way to communicate, but a way to solidify thoughts. Many people would recopy their own letters to keep before sending them out.  As our demands grow, and we don’t have time to send long, in depth, carefully thought out and personalized messages to each person in our life, blogs seem like a great way to keep connected. So put that time and energy into a blog post, and share it with the world, knowing you’ve successfully separated the personal from the public.

All these thoughts keep leading me back to my Monolith paintings- the concept was the same- these different persona’s we show to different people, the fact that there is truly no one person that is “you.” There’s a next step here, and I’m not sure that it will be a canvas and paint type project. I’m still trying to work it out. I am, however, growing weary of all digital projects, mostly because I like working with my hands, I want to create something I can touch as well as see. I kind of hate this part of the creative process… when an idea is almost in my grasp, but it’s being elusive.