2007 outlook
24 12 2006You must have had the feeling when reading (most of the) blogs out there: what does this guy actually makes his money on? 2007 was the year when a wealth of Belgian Bloggers signed in for a corporate job: Peter (Screenvision), Pietel (Duval Guillaume), Miel (Microsoft). Make a socio-demographic map of the Belgian Bloggers: either they are heaviliy envolved in Belgium’s e-landscape or have an extremely big ego-drive.
I wrote on this before and Ine picked it up.
I started Blogging mostly to exhange quick tips on music, various countries, share pictures. Throughout time Blogging evolved to a bizarre mix where people mix still this tipsharing with a heavily subjective opiniating flow.
Because honestly, what is the added value of having an online discussion on the smoking ban in restaurants? I could spend my afternoon writing a peace on it, or I could go to Ipanema beach and catch some sun and talk with my friends on Lula’s incapability to solve the problems in the Brazilian airports.
Clo pointed to this article:
While social networks dominated 2006, we wonder if the amount of time an average user spends online will start to negatively impact on their social lives in 2007 and lead to a downturn. Could social networks prove to be anti-social? At the same time, social networks will probably also become more open - and data portability will start to occur, although MySpace will hold out.
I have wondered for a while why they are no opinionating Blogs in Brazil. The country has 22 million people connected on broadband, half of the population has a profile on Orkut, yet no local “LVB’s”.
The very truth is of course that one must be somewhat socially retarted to Blog if there’s no (direct or indirect) professional gain associated to the effort. Any Brazilian would literally die spening 15 minutes writing an entry in the weekend instead of going to Ipanema beach and discuss politics over a beer instead of fixating it on the Web. Next week I’m flying back to Belgium and this side of Belgium is what I’m most wary of: the seemingly supremacy of semi-intellectualism over the art of socialising.
I had a talk with a manager of Odebrecht who I’ve seen drunk singing during the worldcup here in Brazil, dressed up as a nun during carnaval. I gladly invite you to check the financial results of Odebrecht, both in Brazil and abroad.
Yes, Brazil is catholic, but what a contrast with the Belgian catholic gang of Leuven who blame Belgian’s loss of competivity on our lack of ability to sacrifice. Man, man, is this actually a plea to have a Belgian society with even more neurotics like Coutigny? We are already the country with the highest use of anti-depressiva in the world. Besides, the argument that people who live in ‘worse’ conditions are more ‘dedicated’ is an absolute false one. Brazil has more then 18 million people living below the poverty line and don’t expect any Brazilian to deploy this kind of behavior.
Besides, there is nothing wrong with destraction, I sinceraly believe that to truly function in this world, one needs what Peter calls structured procrastination. I leave it up to Patrick to explain why chaotic Brazil is bound to be the world’s 6th biggest economy by 2060. Only 2 European countries will stand strong in the top 10 ranking; neurotic determination has nothing to do with that.
All this to say that I think that Blogs as we know them are on the demise. Don’t understand me wrong, I believe that in 2007 we will see a mass of people ’sharing’ things on the Web. But the Blog-elite will become marginal compared to people ’sharing things’ in a structured way.
If I follow “one must be somewhat socially retarded to blog if there’s no professional gain associated to the effort“, then what’s the added value of sitting on the beach and having a beer? I know it’s fun, but there’s no professional gain either.
People do stuff because it fills a need they have. Writing a blog can be a positive experience for a plethora of reasons. Because it’s good for one’s CV, maybe, but I don’t see that motivation lasting very long.
Concerning your second point, the social dynamics of blogging are different from your ‘beach’ example, but they are there. Some people meet because they play badminton together, we happen to write stuff on a blog. We gather and have fun IRL too.
You seem annoyed about blogging or bloggers for some reason. What’s up with that?
glimpsed your about on this page:
What is this Blog about? Telecommunications, VoIP, internet infrastructure, social software, (viral) marketing, advertising, architecture, interior design, entrepeneurs, gizmos, globalism, Belgium, Panama, Brazil, South Africa, photography, politics, (p2p) wifi…. in other words everything which is of interest to me.
From that perspective it seems you are more than just a home, kitchen and garden blogger…
Whether the discussion is on a smoking ban or Lula’s abilities, it is a discussion.
But more over it is a reflection. And thus worth the writing.
Actually blogging is just a medium, a tool, a way to express yourself.
Hanging in a cafe talking with people, is just another way.
I do believe blogging is on the demise for those long time bloggers, for others it is just beginning.
You’ll need to find another tool to express yourself it seems
It is just John being John.
There is plenty of professional gain in the social meandering on Ipanema beach; directly and indirectly. What I wrote is that people who blog are either (1) socially retarded (2) doing it for a direct or indirect gain; as a consequence I belong to the first group since blogging is more contraproductive to me professionally.
I admit, there must be a very strong thriving force for people to become truly hardcore bloggers. No one is for sure using a blog to polish his/her CV.
I believe however that a blogger has a ‘product life cycle’ and it’s that ‘evolution’ which I was referring to.
I don’t believe the dynamics of blogging and sitting on Ipanema beach are very different; I actually believe they are very comparable. The differences are however that Bloggers have a facade; on the beach you are naked. There is a fundamental difference between people writing and people speaking. Writing requires no effort, speaking does. When you write, you mold an identity, when you speak you express your identity.
I’m just scrolling through my RSS feed and realising that the blogs I really follow are not the ‘opinionating’ but rather the ‘pointing’ ones; people who write ‘look there, look also to this’. The ones who end up becoming ‘commentators at the sideline’ indeed start irritating me.