I was kind of a biatch last night on the Twitter.

My friends alimartell, Issa, Loukia, Flinger, a few others, and I were discussing how blogging today is SO not like it was in the olden days. The times before 2008 when Twitter wasn’t around, Facebook’s world superpowers were just a gleam in Zuckerberg’s eyeball, and MySpace was king. We met our online friends though blogging and commenting and linking to our favorite people. SEO was just for the professionals and we worried about writing before all else. The only people monetizing their blogs on any scale beyond a free pack of cupcakes were Dooce and Perez Hilton.

Three-plus years later, we are where we are. Social media is king, Twitter is a way of life, Facebook isn’t just for Farmville (unless you’re my mother-in-law), and MySpace is a fledgling music project. We are still blogging and writing and commenting and linking, but the discovery of new people among us is left to the social networks.

I like it now. I liked it then. Both eras of living on the internet have their strengths and both have their Achilles heels. I liked reading about people and their lives and having people read my words and learn about my life. I loved the validation of a comment, a link from a friend and meeting a new reader. I like Twitter, its immediacy and platform to share my thoughts, and being able to have public conversations. The same goes for Facebook. I haven’t looked at MySpace in months or maybe years, so I’m assuming Justin Timberlake is hard at work over there bringing its sexy back.

My point, and I have one, is that if we want to get back to the basics of blogging, we have to DO the basics of blogging. Be the change you want to happen. We have to write with meaning, read with connection, and comment with intention. Social media sites allow us to SHARE better and easier. Share what you’ve read other people blog. Let other people know what you’re reading by posting a link on your Facebook profile or clicking the “like” button on the blog. Send out a tweet telling your followers that there is something worth reading on a blog.

We become better writers when we read more, at least I know I do. Since writing the post about Tipping Your Bloggers and Bloggesses, I’ve made a concerted effort to read and comment more. Sometimes I forget that I need to read to write, and the socials get in the way. When I remind myself to read, 1/2 a second later I’m reading (thanks to the black magic of the Google Next button).

We can do it all. We can read, share, comment, write, befriend, love, promote, monetize, and whatever else gives you validation, and do it all with meaning.

I was trying to make my point exactly this on the Twitter last night, but I think I came across as a bitch. Sharing my feelings on blogging can’t be condensed into 140 characters. 

Exactly my point.

Share with me what you’re reading and writing. What have you discovered lately? Is there a favorite post or article you can’t stop thinking about? Is there a photo post you’ve published lately that you want people to see? TELL ME. If you don’t put yourself out there, no one will know you’re there.

I’m going to walk the walk, share what I’m reading, and I’m going to comment with intention. I hope you do the same.

_________________________

SHARING IS CARING IS HUMPING A LEG:

• On Curvy Girl Guide, I have an editorial on how teachers are getting the shaft.
• One of my most favorite people in the world, alimartell, wrote a follow-up letter to her 16-year-old self.
• One of my other most favoritest people in the world, shaunaglenn, asked for prayers for a life pileup.
• My OG BFF, Mishi, takes way a lot of pictures of her new puppy, Pepper.

© Angie [A Whole Lot of Nothing] for A Whole Lot of Nothing • Your Favorite Blog, 2011. | Permalink | 37 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: blog about blogging, Blogging, facebook, Friends, twitter

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This started off as a comment on [Meredith's, Bueno Baby], but I just kept going. Go read her post first, then come back. I trust you. Fly off and read, just promise you’ll come back and hump on my blog, please. Mkay? Now SHOO.

I’mma just say…

I was sent to your post from a friend’s link *ahem*allisonzapata*ahem* who couldn’t say enough nice things about you and your blog. She didn’t say the nice things about you until after I said I “wasn’t feeling this post” because I truly didn’t.

My gut reaction: you just slammed me and everything I’ve worked for. Of course, I don’t think you slammed me personally, but everything I do on the interwebs is to make money for my family, and making money for my family means being social.

I’ve written posts about the good in blogging and posts just like yours. I’ve received tons of *high 5s* and *ME TOOs* when I write them. I’ve felt exactly the way you felt when you wrote this post. Been there, done that, got the $3 t-shirt, and I might even be there tomorrow.

And then I get my head out of my ass, shimmy up my XL granny panties, and realize no one cares more about me than I care about me. The majority of people online and off live in the light. We are kind, generous, caring people who want the best for ourselves and others. The very small minority of people live in the negative darkness, wishing evil upon others with the reflection back at themselves. THOSE PEOPLE do not deserve the majority of my light and energy. They are their own problems, not mine.

Regarding the issue taken with numbers and statistics in social media, it’s all business. It’s new business, it’s Good Ole Boys comparing weenis sizes, and it’s stereotypical head cheerleaders giving head and padding their bras. It only matters if you make it matter. To some of us who depend on social media to make a meager living, those numbers matter to an extent. They don’t have to matter to everyone.

I hope you don’t take this as a slam on you at all. You just made an impact on my feelers that I had to express, and what I wanted to say was longer than a comment. Plus, it’s a good excuse to make something into my own post. I’m generous to myself like that.

Nice to meet you, Meredith.

Welcome to my blog.

© Angie [A Whole Lot of Nothing] for A Whole Lot of Nothing • Your Favorite Blog, 2011. | Permalink | 39 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: blog about blogging, Blogging, social media

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I’ve been blogging for almost 2 years.

That makes me an expert in nothing. (see: blog title)

For me, blogging has lead me to valuable friendships, getting free stuff, and a way to see the world beyond my cookie-cutter street.

I used to read every single post in my feed reader, but that got to be too much pressure to keep up for me. Now, it sits idle and ignored, much like my bank account. I’m afraid to look in the dark room.

There are times that I’ll check out my friend’s posts or posts linked to from Twitter, and recently, I’ve been reading more and more about what blogging is and who is a blogger and why people should blog. I have a feeling the upcoming BlogHer conference is to blame.

woo hoo! only (checking calendar) 3-1/2 weeks till rub-up-athon!

Reading these other blogs (mostly written by people I don’t normally read) makes me wonder why they have such authority to declare who is a blogger, who should call themselves a blogger, and why we should all care what being a blogger means.

Who the FUCK cares?

Really.

Isn’t there room out here in the Internets World for every man, woman, and child to have their own little slice of Blog Heaven? Can’t some mommy bloggers write solely about their experiences as a mother, no matter how inane or exaggerated? Can’t some people carve out of their blog house a place to vent or rant or post crap-ass pictures of their dog and call it their own?

Why does everyone have to be criticized and called out for doing what they like?

If someone wants to call themselves a “Social Media Guru” or the “Queen of All Things Awesome” or “Worst Mother on Earth,” why not let them?

If you don’t like it, don’t read it. By reading it and giving them attention, you are validating their successes. SOMEone, somewhere is reading them, so there IS a space in the Series of Tubes for them.

I’ve said my peace, now run along and make yourself happy. And quit worrying about what everyone else is doing.

Unless they’re making brownies – then sit down and enjoy.

© Angie [A Whole Lot of Nothing] for A Whole Lot of Nothing • Your Favorite Blog, 2009. | Permalink | 25 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: blog about blogging, Blogging

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