I have decided a few days ago that I won’t be blogging for much longer. Well, actually, I have ca. 150 blogposts on my blog, and I plan to bring it up to 500 (which will take about a year), and then quit pretty permanently, and maybe start writing again when I’m retired. By that time, I’d love to publish books, though who know what the industry will look like then. Or perhaps, I’ll go the Paul Graham route, and produce a super-long essay once a month or every quarter.

Anyway, a number of reasons why I don’t think blogging is for everyone (and no, none are related to health).

1. You can only say so much: I’ve blogged for roughly three years now. In the beginning, I had a lot to say about my life, philosophy, productivity, the Mac, and the media. Most of those topics are boring to me now. I’m cranky about new technology, feel like I’ve seen it all before, and don’t want to be one of the many bloggers writing about the same thing, over and over and over again. I guess it’s a lot to do with the law of diminishing returns.

2. Competitive advantage: I don’t think blogging and commerce works particularly well together. The most obvious reason is that blogging itself is pretty hard to make profitable. Another reason is that it distracts you from what your core-focus should be as a business-person: making money, be productive. And three, competitive advantage is often incompatible with making things public. It’s like playing chess and writing about the moves you make before making them. I also don’t think its particularly effective as a marketing-tool: A good picture always says more than a 1000 words; it’s still pretty niche (focussed on tech); and it’s much more valuable to be written about by a top-blogger, than it is to write about something yourself.

3. Free stuff sucks: The way most blogs are run is on an open source model. People contribute but are not held to any standard except for the one they set themselves. I try to conduct myself professionally, whatever the circumstances, but even I fail when I have to choose between surviving (paying the rent, etc.) and producing an altruistic piece like this one. There are of course indirect advantages to blogging, like contacts, etc., though is much more to do with how you conduct yourself in real life, then as a blogger.

4. The distraction of community: I think this really depends on the person, but I find it much easier to write when there’s no one looking over my shoulder. I have consciously trained myself to ignore the fear of failing in public, but I still find myself re-checking my text the next morning, for embarrassing spelling, grammar, or logic mistakes. And you have to grow an elephant-skin to write negative stuff about companies and technologies, as there will always be a fanboy nit-picking your words to the extreme. The other side is if you receive no comments. That can be hell also.

5. Blogging is not the same as writing: It’s easier. You can be quick and hide your mistakes by writing a new post the next day. People don’t read blogs the same way, they do books. They skim and a post written yesterday has much less value then one written today. So while it may be a way to improve your grammar and stuff, it’s not the same as constructing a universe, like you would in a book.

Why I like blogging

I don’t want to make this a hate-piece, so here goes.

1. It’s a way for me to formulate my thoughts: The world is getting to be ever-more complex. It really helps to write stuff down, it’s a form of therapy, and a way to formulate my goals. Of course, too much openness disrupts competitive advantage (see point 2 above).

2. It’s a great way to practice writing: This is why I originally became a blogger, to improve my grammar and learn to communicate effectively. I read tons of book about writing in the beginning and tried different styles. And I like to think that it helped, though (see point 5 above) writing a book or a thesis is still considerably more work.

3. It’s a good way to meet people: Even though I may appear negative, I’m always happy to read a comment and to have met my fellow-bloggers. If I wasn’t forced to pay the rent, I could probably spend an eternity communicating with all these interesting people all over the globe.

4. It’s a good way to learn about a topic: My own blog is my way of learning as much as possible about food & retail. By adhering to a regular schedule, reading a lot, and writing it down in my own way, it kind of feels like I’m going to school. And hopefully I’ll graduate at 500 posts.

5. Why don’t you give me your own reasons in the comments?

All in all, while the last 5 reasons show that I do love blogging, I guess it bothers me that it’s only a hobby. And I have no desire to make a job out of it either. But as always, as we wrote in our disclaimer, my/our thoughts on this blog are evolving, so no guarantees that how I feel today is the way I’ll feel tomorrow. Blogging is dead, long live blogging!

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