Mar
31
2006
Can you ever *stop* blogging? A-list bloggers Dave Winer and David Allen retire from the blogosphere
Posted in the Category of Blogging and CEO Bloggers and In the News
It was bound to happen. An A-list blogger or two decides to throw in the towel. Enough blogging is, er, enough. But why? Read on...
Two well-respected bloggers have announced their retirement recently. One is the irascible Dave Winer, creator of the RSS format and a blogger for almost a decade:
On March 13th he wrote in Scripting News:
I can do it, folks, I have already, in some sense, stopped one of my rivers, and soon, probably before the end of 2006, I will put this site in mothballs, in archive mode, and go on to other things, Murphy-willing of course.
It's been a long time coming. When I started blogging, depending on how you look at it, either in 1994, 1996 or 1997, I had different goals, and happily the goals have been accomplished.
Note his "I can do it" assertion, as if he's already hearing the "No, you can't!" chorus that did, in fact, spring up from the bloggerati upon his announcement.
Another is David Allen, best-selling author of Getting Things Done. On March 15th he wrote: I'm halting my personal blog for now...
'Twas a noble experiment, 270 Entries and 1,529 Comments later, and it was great for me to experience this medium from the inside out, in my limited way. I'd probably continue it in some form, if I didn't have a multitude of other things to do that are taking priority. It's another time I need to practice my own GTDing and renegotiate my own commitments with myself..."
The time and priorities factors
Not surprisingly, David Allen's reasons for stopping, after exactly two years, are mostly to do with time and productivity and re-ordering his priorities. I spoke with him by phone a few weeks ago (I had asked him to consider writing a jacket "blurb" for my book) and he elaborated, saying that blogging for him was an experiment. He wanted to understand the medium. But he didn't need to "spread" his brand through a blog.
Most of what he does professionally is face-to-face through his workshops or consulting with high-level execs. He doesn't need to propagate - or introduce - his brand online to everybody. And in fact one of his goals is to encourage his coaches to work on establishing their own brands more forcefully. You can visit their blogs on the company blog page.
What's New pages re-cycled
Dave Allen notes in his final post that he's reinstated a What's Up page on his main site. You can visit it here. Note that it isn't dated. But it provides him a space to offer Web visitors a bit of company news. Remember the "What's New" pages of yore? They were pretty much a standard part of any Web site. Note that you can power a What's New page through blogging software, by configuring it so that your entries aren't dated.
The privacy factor
Dave Winer elaborates on why he's going to stop blogging by saying, "I want some privacy." This, in fact, is a more profound reason not to blog. And one that begs the question of just how transparent a big company or public figure or top executive can be in a blog. The answer is... not 100 percent. The trick, of course, is to find the line that approaches real authenticity without revealing too much.
Dave Winer:
So there's the first part of my reason. Blogging doesn't need me anymore. It'll go on just as well, maybe even better, with some new space opened up for some new things. But more important to me, there will be new space for me. Blogging not only takes a lot of time (which I don't begrudge it, I love writing) but it also limits what I can do, because it's made me a public figure. I want some privacy, I want to matter less, so I can retool, and matter more, in different ways. What those ways are, however, are things I won't be talking about here. That's the point. That's the big reason why.
Your comments?
So what do you think about the issues of time, productivity and privacy - as they relate to blogging? And what it means to stop blogging? Click the Comments link and leave your thoughts. I'd really like to hear them.
Useful Links
More buzz about Dave Winer's decision to stop blogging
Robert Scoble's rant about bloggers beating up on Dave Winer
(It has to do with whether Winer should properly take credit for creating certain code standards, from XML and RSS, to OPML and podcasting. Winer has alienated a lot of folks with his prickly personality. But the fact remains that he's brilliant. Of course being obnoxious or controversial garners you lots of links and exposure in the blogosphere.)
Comments
Telian Adlam said on March 31, 2006 at 03:20 PM
Definitely a great point to cover with potential bloggers - privacy. Time constraints and time management are constantly being talked about, but it seems that privacy is always glossed over.
Blogging gives people a sense of your attitude, your style, and of course, your personality. Those things can be quite revealing in an of themselves.
Can a blogger stop blogging? Of course, I’ve seen it happy numerous times for numerous reasons.
The fact that two A-listers are calling it quits is stirring up dust solely because they are A-listers . If it was Guy or Girl B. Average, then the question probably wouldn’t have been posed.
I do believe, however, that this is a great opportunity to learn from.
What to do when you’ve decided to stop, how to set up the archives for people who may happen upon the blog at a later date, and any maintenance that may need to take place over time.
Thanks for bringing this to our attention Debbie, these are two blogs that I will be watching intently to see how they each go about abstaining from blogging.
~ Teli
Jim Symcox said on March 31, 2006 at 04:22 PM
Hi Debbie
It’s interesting that two high profile people are giving up blogging. But really that just means others pick up the torch and carry on. Not to say they wont be missed. They will.
In fact I did a post on David Allen myself because I have his course on CD and listen to it often.
In the main I don’t think their goals have ever been those that a company that is using blogging as a marketing tool would have.
As you alluded neither actually needed to brand themselves to get more business or maintain client relationships.
Tina said on March 31, 2006 at 04:42 PM
...and it brings up the need to come up with “dos & dont’s” around “how to end your blog”. Both Davids have demonstrated how to do it right. As a blogger you have a responsibility to your readership. And you should tell them why you folding your blog.
Nina Meiers said on March 31, 2006 at 09:53 PM
For me, blogging has been like an online diary, knowledge base and ability to keep in touch with my subscribers.
I think too, if you’re in a position of being able to assist others through knowledge sharing, then blogging is a great tool, since it allows you talk in your own style and I that there is some responsibility bestowed upon bloggers who choose to create a type of knowledgebase, based on their experiences in a particular field.
But everything has it’s cycle, and where one leaves, another picks up and I think blogging is one of those internet elements that is here to stay.
It takes alot of time and committment to keep blogging at a high level and at times I do feel under pressure to ensure that I keep a hungry audience informed with information I believe is lacking in the environment I work in.
Nina Meiers
Lois said on April 1, 2006 at 05:08 AM
It sure does take a lot of effort to keep a blog up-to-date with relevant information. There are probably many reasons why people keep a blog (and good reasons to stop too!)
For me, as a small business owner (in a small niche in the travel market), blogging is a great way of providing useful, relevant information to members and potential members on a regular basis. But one of the other advantages is that this fresh content is indexed by search engines - which helps me market my service without so much competition and without costing anything (except my time of course). I also find that many people who visit the blog have not been searching for phrases directly related to my business. Such visitors are a bit like when people happen to read an article in a newspaper on a subject they didn’t previously know about but find interesting (at least some of them might!)
I think the reasons I will eventually give up blogging for business will be a combination of when it starts to feel like a burden rather than fun, I struggle to find new topics to cover that are relevant and it seems like the effort may no longer be worth the results. Or, more likely, I will just retire!
Radiant Marketing Group said on April 1, 2006 at 11:30 AM
Two A-Listers Have Ceased to Blog
Debbie Weil reports that Dave Winer and David Allen of Getting Things Done fame have (or are) ceased to blog. Winer was one of the originals (remember Radioland) and Allen has been doing it for 2 years.
Does this portend a future trend where vetera…
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rickey gold said on April 3, 2006 at 10:40 PM
Although I’m only a quarter of the way through Dave Allen’s Getting Things Done, I’m not surprised that he’s one of the A-list blog dropouts. It’s just one more task that is obviously no longer a necessity for him. Seems not at all surprising based on what I’ve read thus far.
While I see my blogging colleagues gaining website traffic, I can’t justify the time required to do a decent blog. It’s Spring and I want to spend less time at my computer, not more!
Tina Lang-Stuart said on March 31, 2006 at 02:04 PM
As I was thinking about blogging myself (but allowing for lots of guest bloggers), I am primarily concerned with what made David Winer and David Allen stop: time constraints and privacy. I am also wondering - as these two celebrities say good-bye to blogging - whether blogs got what it takes to make it to a an accepted communications tool. I still believe in it but these two blogging funerals along with A-List bloggers getting fed up with too many emails and being openly badmouthed (see Strumpette jumping on Stevel Rubel)make it obvious that blogs need to evolve (yeah but in which direction I havent’ figured out yet)) in order to be embraced by my more than the infected crowd.