This is how I came upon my brilliant idea of a blogger-to-blogger, design-oriented vacation/home exchange! And now look! I'm rich and famous! If only I could design a website and do the PR work while slipping into my nightly cheese-and-Seinfeld-rerun coma. *SIGH*
So anyhow, I was having some free association time in bed the other night. Been thinking a lot lately about blogging and social media. How fast things move and change. How challenging it can be to know in which media format to invest one's energy. How plugged in one has to be, but also disciplined and mindful about knowing when to shut it down; when to forge "real world" partnerships and networks.
It's no secret that I desperately heart Instagram. I'm quite prolific there, friends. My handle is modernhaus.
So my thought was this:
Instagram is the cool friend who knows the chef at the hot new restaurant. Blogger is the friend that knows the hostess at the Olive Garden.
This is not, by any means, in reference to YOUR blogs, guys. In the light of day I think my brain just meant to say that Instagram seems more dynamic, immediate, energetic, experimental, and fresh.
What do you think? Are your social media habits changing? Are you more or less interested in blogs than you were a year ago?
Last week I attended a Nutella binge/epic business discussion on the subject with Jon, Morgan, and Laure. Consensus seemed to be that managing social media is a little like holding on to the tail of a tiger, except for Jon who controls the internet with his mind.
Unrelated, but possibly related because I saw these via social media, are Freda Salvador shoes.
Sexy-orthopedic-handmade. Freda Salvador, you can use that on your website if you like!
And finally, the creative bender continues. I know. My days are filled with paint fumes, blisters, and sunburns. I wake up covered in bruises and miscellaneous paint colors and I do it all over again!
Yesterday's victims were a couple of antique lamps:
And then anything I could get my hands on.
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Agreed. I'm about 2 clicks away from an instagram only life. Your creative bender makes me happy that someone else has the energy right now...yougoyougo!
ReplyDeleteYep!
DeleteThe bender will end, and then I'll watch you work!
Oh so many thoughts about this! As much as I love instagram, and I truly do, it doesn't replace well-written blog posts for me. I prefer written words to images,and the bloggers I love most write thoughtful, interesting things I look forward to reading. On instagram, I prefer those people who give a real glimpse into their everyday lives, not just present a perfect image (though I enjoy those, too).
ReplyDeleteI miss many bloggers who are there more and here less (ahem, you and Amber to name a few!) but it makes me take that extra step to get together in person or send an email to connect instead of catching up via blog, which is pretty wonderful. I shall continue to blog as long as I'm enjoying it, but I am getting tired of reading blogs that are businesses, with sponsors, "content" delivered daily, constant columnists, etc. Those are the new magazine, I guess, and there is a place for that, but it doesn't interest me as much.
This used to be my motto:
Delete"Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self"
Except if you have to make a living and raise some kids, writing for yourself with no public begins to seem a little self-indulgent after a year or two!
I agree completely with you. In fact, I think Instagram is essentially devoid of thoughtful content but it does tell me almost instantly who I want to see/hear more of, and it is much more egalitarian in offering opportunities to connect with people who have never, and probably would never see my blog.
It's hard to invest an hour (or three) a day pouring your heart into content that has no audience, is not interactive (I realize that the majority of blog readers don't comment, but I want to write to start a conversation, not to hear myself talk) and does not evolve or create new opportunities outside of itself. I look back at my blog content from the first 12-18 mnths or so, and I can't believe that was me. I wrote some really intense, risky, funny, original stuff (almost daily, for about two years!) but it wasn't successful in any way.
Regarding these commercial, uber-bloggers, I feel like the public has voted (with their comments and their support) and content did not win.
"It's hard to invest an hour (or three) a day pouring your heart into content that has no audience, is not interactive (I realize that the majority of blog readers don't comment, but I want to write to start a conversation, not to hear myself talk) and does not evolve or create new opportunities outside of itself."
DeleteYES. I hear you on this. It's funny, my most-viewed posts are my more personal ones, but then I feel even stranger...who are those people? They aren't all (or even most) commenting. So I've opened up to people who are thinking what about it? It's very strange. That's why I'm a commenter- I know how much it means to have that conversation or to even know who has read what you've written.
As for opportunities, so far I haven't had any, but every once in a while I get a really thoughtful email from someone I admire and didn't realize read my blog and that keeps me going for now :)
That's sad, "the public voted...and content did not win"...but I have to agree. I am always searching for new blogs I really connect to...but a lot of blogs seem superficial.
ReplyDeleteI could care less about instagram...funny, because I have a blog heavy on the photos, lighter on the text...I tried out instagram for a heartbeat (maybe 5 photos, and got sick of myself!!!)
I skim through instagram summaries that people publish on their blog. Quick shots of food, feet/shoes, a piece of a flower arrangement (macro shots), nail polish, a cup of coffee, some vignette in a store all washed out with a 'vintage' looking filter? I guess I like knowing what a person is feeling, or that the experience is more than a photo op.
I just found your blog! Hello! I can't wait to go through it!!!
Please keep blogging for yourself! Don't worry about popularity! Imagine if you only had one or two pen pals...would you stop writing because the number is not great enough??? (I don't know where that just came from...it sort of squirted out of me...and probably something I need to tell myself, more than say here!!!)
Oh ....and those shoes on the left? I want some of them!!!
ReplyDeleteAnd I adore the stripe on the bottom of the pot!
DeleteLOve instagram. Found you there. You did/do write great stuff. I would read blogs, I just done have the time. Instagram is quick and dirty and about all I can commit to.
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