I don’t want to publish these MBA posts in yesterday’s technology. I want to publish them in tomorrow’s technology. And I want them to be free and available forever to anyone with an internet connection.
The Internet we know today exists only because, until now, there have been no gatekeepers between consumers and service providers. We need to keep it that way.
Everyone should have a printing press and should use it as often as they see fit. Through things like RSS and Twitter’s follow model, we can subscribe to the voices we want to hear regularly. And through things like reblog and retweet, the voices we don’t subscribe to can get into our readers, dashboards, and timelines.
Totally Self-Involved Bloggers Suck
How many of you subscribe to blogs? Ever had a blogger or a website offend you so much that you promptly unsubscribed? What was it that offended you?
One of my long-time reads was kicked out of my reader earlier this year for one main reason: the blog (or at least what’s pushed through the RSS feed) has evolved into what seems to be a gigantic, ego-stimulating campaign of self-promotion. Whether the blogger sees it this way is besides the point.
Don’t get me wrong -the internet has provided a source of income for a lot of people and the limits of that platform are endless. Promotion is necessary, but at some point “Brand Me” becomes overkill. In a time where the personal brand has become the new black, however, too many have embraced this strange flavor of self-centered narcissism as the thing to do! What once came from a really sincere place [blogging] has evolved into the “Look what I can do!” pitch. Me, me, me!
Why? What happened to being gracious? Your readers, how you relate to them/how they relate to you, and your content should be the most important thing about your blog. Inspiring and interacting with your readers isn’t the easiest of tasks, but one should make the effort. The best bloggers do this: You inspire your readers and your readers inspire you and you both know it! Fred Wilson is a spectacular example of this: he not only causes his readers to think, but also remains part of the conversation in the comments section -reacting, responding, and having light-bulb moments.
To the bloggers who have let their web-celebrity status go to their heads, remember this: we made you. The readers helped you get to where you are today. Like any other “performer”, success does not exist without an audience. Practicing a little humility goes a long way.
Privacy: You Get What You Give
So many seem to grouse lately about online privacy and the notion that none of the companies/social platforms are listening to their users where this is concerned. Facebook, in particular, seems to be an ongoing scapegoat. Whine, whine, whine. The fact is, all of these companies and social platforms are listening. However, the difference is that they are responding to a user base that is not strictly limited to their actual current users.
They are responding to the shift of a social and cultural paradigm.
It has become acceptable on some latent level to remove the filters that once existed between our private and public lives. We volunteer more information about ourselves than we ever have and it’s without prodding or force. The line between what should be public and what should not has become blurred. Why? With so many avenues to choose from, sharing has become autopilot to such extent that people frequently forget to ask, “Is this something that everyone would want to know? Should know?”
Why do we share? Because connecting with something beyond yourself is part of the human experience. Why do we share more? Perhaps it’s that we’re strangely more comfortable with being more open. Perhaps it’s the illusion that anonymity on the Internet still equates to being anonymous. Perhaps it’s the fact that with the ability to connect with more people in more places has made us somehow more lonely behind our computer screens.
Facebook and all of its friends look at it this way: Your willingness to share this information says more about you than what you’re actually sharing. Facebook didn’t force anyone to sign up and to share their entire life story for all the world to see. There are more than enough ways within the platform to hide this information and more. And here’s a genius idea. If you don’t want other people knowing certain things, how about NOT posting that information at all?
Whining and complaining about the privacy policies of these platforms is the equivalent of refusing to take responsibility for your own actions. Fred Wilson talked about this very thing in a short & excellent post a couple of days ago.
If you can spend the time to share the information, you can take the time to protect it.
