[Factoid: This is the first cartoon I ever put online, back in the day, 1999, two years before I registered the URL, gapingvoid.com. What an amazing journey it’s been since then.]
Earlier today I told everybody on Twitter and Facebook, that I’m leaving Twitter and Facebook.
Why?
Because Facebook and Twitter are too easy. Keeping up a decent blog that people actually want to take the time to read, that’s much harder. And it’s the hard stuff that pays off in the end.
Besides, even if they’re very good at hiding the fact, over on Twitter and Facebook, it’s not your content, it’s their content.
The content on your blog, however, belongs to you, and you alone. People come to your online home, to hear what you have to say, not to hear what everybody else has to say. This sense of personal sovereignty is important.
And as I’ve said many times over the years, Web 2.0 IS ALL ABOUT personal sovereignty. About using media to do something meaningful, WITHOUT someone else giving you permission first, without having to rely on anyone else’s resources, authority and money. Self-sufficiency. Exactly.
i.e. not waiting for the green light. In the blogosphere, the only light IS the green light.
And I think a lot of people have lost that idea. Instead or writing about something that’s ACTUALLY important to them, they’re telling al their zillions of Foursquare friends what food trucks they just visited.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course, but…
Recently I had (non-online) conversations with two seminal, veteran bloggers, Doc Searls and Anil Dash.
On both occasions, we were reminiscing about the early days of blogging (I started gapingvoid in 2001, btw. Doc and Anil, a couple of years before that).
A decade ago, blogging seemed more powerful, more revolutionary, more disruptive… more like the way we wanted the web to be, as opposed to how the corporations wanted it to be.
But like I said, it was hard work. You had to write a lot, every day. And you had to be a good writer with something to say. Or else it would wither on the vine.
In other words, the barriers to entry were high, in terms of both talent and energy required.
So clever, talented people everywhere started inventing tools that made Web 2.0 much easier for ordinary people: Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare etc. That was a good thing.
But I think something was lost in the process. Suddenly it got a lot easier for the bloggers to be lazy.
And so people DID become lazy. In HUGE numbers.
Not that there aren’t any good blogs still out there- of course they are- but in the last five years or so, something magical was lost, or at least, diluted.
I think now is a good time to remind people why we all got into blogging in the first place, all those years ago. I think now is a great time to “reclaim” blogging, so that is exactly what I’m doing. Here and now. Rock on.
So from now on, if you want to talk to me, do it in the comments below or send me an email, Thanks.
Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare et al… it’s not my content. It’s not your content, either.
Decide.
[UPDATE: I’m not completely stupid and out out of touch; I do realize that A LOT of my friends still use Twitter at the expense of everything else (including RSS) and may need some time to adjust, so for now, we’ll still using my Twitter account to retweet links to my blog, just like Seth Godin does with his. But I won’t be spending any personal time over there, either. In fact, I’ve given my log-ins to Laura (she runs my gallery operations) and asked her to handle it instead. My personal online presence will just be here on my blog, and of course the newsletter. But I’m pretty much done with everything else…]
hmm, interesting decision. I can see your point of having all those social media platform dilute one’s blogging style
This reminds me of Seth Godin NOT joining Twitter because it’s distracting from his core strength – writing – and in his case – blogging.
But I also think social media is a grrreat tool to connect with your people – you just need the discipline to not go overboard with it.
What? you mean, not let Twitter and Facebook become a distraction?
Yeah, right, AS IF that was ever going to happen… 😀
You’ll be back. Even Miley Cyrus came back. No matter how hard you try, they’ll always pull you back in.
Realigning your efforts to focus on the blog is arguably a very wise thing. Ignoring Twitter, Facebook, Google+ as venues for reaching out to alert your audiences about blog content is arguably a big missed opportunity. Perhaps you can find a way to avoid throwing out the baby with the bathwater.
ReaderX,
On paper, you are right.
But sometimes one has to stand for something. This is my stand. I expect to lose something in the process, sure, but I’m hoping to gain a lot, too.
That’s what “taking a stand” means 😀
I understand this completely. And I knew what the arguments for/against it would be. What you said – “That’s what ‘taking a stand’ means” – is what I stand behind. Every time. Go Hugh! Go me! Go get’em cowboy!
Yeah! I’m so glad to hear that you’re giving up Facebook and Twitter. I did it long ago and I don’t miss it at all.
I’ve been disappointed any time one of my favorite bloggers moves to Twitter and Facebook as the primary platform. It dilutes their presence and cheapens their brand and I basically stop listening and engaging.
I’ve seen some bloggers use Twitter as a way to have quick responses to people. They establish and maintain a solid differentiation between what they write on their blog versus Twitter. But I think it’s not necessary.
Facebook is like Walmart. And there is still a reason people like to shop at one-of-a-kind boutiques.
Thank you for taking a stand!
I see this as simply an anti-big-website bias, mixed with a little of “data liberation.” The connection to Walmart is like saying “I won’t give my book to large retailers because they are one-stop shops and are killing the small-business of bookselling.
Extending this thought means that you can’t use wordpress.com because it limits your ability to do what you want, or use Amazon’s cloud hosting because Amazon is a large company, despite the benefits.
In addition, it ignores that any social media, even if organized by a limiting multi-billion dollar company, is like a flea market, where one can set up a table for a fee (for something like Facebook, it’s having 30 fans, which can be a bit of a cost-to-entry for even good content). It’s still your wares, and your voice has to come through for it to be truly effective. Then again, if that’s a chore for you, that’s what social media management is for…
I can’t help but see social media platforms as compounding, not diluting, your brand voice as a writer. Someone like Steve Martin might talk about his interest in art on his blog, leaving Twitter for witticisms that wouldn’t translate well to a 500-word blog.
I almost see your point that 140-character witticisms aren’t what really drive traffic, but by the time they’ve liked your Page and followed your Twitter, they’re your customers/readers/peers — to a degree, talking to them is like commenting on comments of your blog.
John Mayer’s comment about the “song still being 4 minutes” cuts deep to me as a musician and composer — just because you’re not Webern doesn’t mean you can’t write miniatures convincingly.
Interesting take. And the irony that I wouldn’t have read this blog post if someone didn’t tweet it is not lost on me at all. It only reinforces my belief that each of these social channels serves a different purpose and a different audience. But cross pollination is still an important way to make a connection.
I almost expected not to see a “comment” section at the end here when you talk about “your” opinions without all the noise of others.
To me, the comment section of the blog is as interesting as the blog post itself. The blog post suggests singularity in thought (something that taken to a wider context could be related to what is going on in Washington, a bunch of people with an ideology and no chance for discourse). I content that its the conversation, the disagreement and the refining of ideas that make the blogging experience truly successful.
I think your voice would serve well in commenting on other blogs as well as your own. No need to lock yourself in a digital room controlling the whole conversation. We have enough of that (its called the media). The give and take is the beauty in the “social” nature of the networks, blogs and our personal communications.
Just my two cents.
Well said! I enjoyed this post but never would have come across it either if someone hadn’t tweeted it. All social media has a place, but balance is the key. My blog entries get far more hits when I post on facebook, so I value its usefulness.
“… but never would have come across it either if someone hadn’t tweeted it.”
I would say this is proof that Hugh doesn’t need to be on Twitter and/or FaceBook.
There are plenty of people who find him interesting enough to send their friends and followers to his site.
He needs to concentrate on his work, and probably his family (just guessing).
I have many blogs I read daily (good blogs, by good people), yet I can not bear to follow them on Twitter. Yuck! The important stuff is mulled over, chewed on, fermented and then Blogged.
People who follow Hugh won’t need to see, via twitter, that he updated his blog, they will just go to his blog on a regular basis. And people that got here “because of a tweet” were not likely following Hugh.
Hugh, methinks you are not giving up as much as you, or others, might think. Keep up the great work.
Leish
what about using Twitter & FB to announce new blog posts on your site and using it as a driver?
Or do “we” think “we” don’t need that anymore 😉
M
Maybe. Ask me again in 3 days 😉
Taking the Godin tact — he has both a Twitter and Facebook that are nothing but extensions of his RSS feed. With your stand, I think that’s the best thinking for your social precences… extentions of RSS. (like any of these social media gurus are old enough to remember when RSS was all we had to “drive traffic to the site”)
BTW — as I leave this comment, there is a button in your comment box that says “Connect with your Facebook Account” Make a clean cut 😉
I agree that our focus should be web properties we own and control, but I think FB and Twitter are good ways to drive traffic. Most consumers don’t use feed readers – they use FB so I’m going to fish where the fish are and post my new articles to FB.
Hugh,
I understand where you’re coming from and I agree with a lot of what you have to say about this, but do you still plan to have a Twitter and/or FB account for the site itself?
Both are great ways to drive traffic to your site. It would seem like a bit of a loss to not allow Twitter and/or FB to funnel people to your blog.
You are absolutely right about it being their content, though. Some folks don’t seem to understand that at all and think that they can build a foundation or following strictly from all of these third-party social media sites. You can somewhat, but when that site decides to pull the plug, you’ve lost all of the content that you put on their site when you should have been putting it all on your own site.
Anyway, love to hear more of your thoughts about this topic.
Thanks!
Chris
Chris,
I hear what you’re saying, and it’s reasonable, but I’m sick to death of hearing the phrase, “driving traffic to your site”.
People should come to your blog, not because somebody drove them there, but because it was important for them to come there.
Otherwise you’re just wasting your time, otherwise you’re just acting like everyone else.
And the trick to Web 2.0, as in business, is to be UNLIKE everyone else.
The funny thing about this for me is I found out about this post from Twitter! LOL! Never even heard of you before then. Ed Brubaker retweeted it and the blog post title caught my eye, so I clicked the link and came here.
I respect your reasoning and decision, Hugh. I think that you’re making a stand worth making.
I would like to suggest that, since you invite people to talk with you in the comments of your blog, that you add some type of comment subscription option to the comment section of your blog, that way people can be instantly notified of additional comments and/or replies to their comments on your site.
I just think that it makes a blog a bit more social and interactive for everyone involved.
Looking forward to reading more from you!
Chris
I’m sick of all this “driving” and “awareness” thing, too. But how can you expect everyone to come to your site? What about the gazillions of other sites that are interesting, too?
But you got me thinking, so there you have it.
Michael, you have point…
I just decided the time was ripe for somebody to take a stand. and I didn’t want be second in line to take a stand.
OF COURSE I’m giving up something, OF COURSE there’s a risk.
But blogging is to important to do otherwise, IMHO.
My hero. Again.
“People should come to your blog, not because somebody drove them there, but because it was important for them to come there.”
You’re overreacting to the word “drove.” It’s not like you’re setting up redirects to block everything but direct traffic.
Social media works find as a kind of blog “plugin” of which I see you have some. For example you let people login via Facebook for comments.
I think you need to frame the purpose of social media differently.
Maybe, but then again, as somebody who calls themselves “Mr Tweet Smarter”, what else COULD you have said 😉
Well, I don’t recommend that you Tweet DUMBER 🙂 Don’t shoot the messenger!
the problem I encountered when I would post on FB or Twitter that I had updated my blogs or website was that people never actually went to the sites. They would either post the comment on FB, click the like button or just retweet. What’s the point then if no one actually goes to the blog or website after you’ve told them you updated it! It’s as if it has become too difficult for people to click out of FB or Twitter to go to the site.
I have greatly reduced my presence on FB and haven’t logged into my Twitter accounts in probably a month.
YES. I love this. Thank you.
You are very welcome, Thanks 🙂
I think it’s a great choice, Hugh. Thank you for the inside. We spend so much time being sort of a puppets for those corporations. I facebook, I twit some great thoughts (at least I think they are… and that matter the most). And by doing that I give this corporations THE power and THE money of course. So we become addicted in a way. We become less of the PERSON. We give readers what they want, what’s popular. We loose ourselves.
Nah. Blogging was sh*te then, sh*te now, and will remain, for the most part, sh*te in the future.
Opinions are like arseholes. Everyone’s got one. And, on the whole, they act as a passage out for waste…
Anon anon,
I’m afraid you have been proved wrong on so many levels, so many times before.
But that’s OK, I’m sure you get your jollies somewhere else. Rock on.
sooner or later most of blogs will be full with junk articles like ‘how to writ a good article’ or ‘how to get higher page rank in a very short time’. i am fully agree with you. we must have to maintain quility not quantity. of course twitter and facebook are two platform to promoting my blog. but they will never be my main blogging platform. u r absoluitly correct. I maintain 4 blogs from 2007 but never thought that i have to gain over it. i thintlk blog is a medium which can promot my ideas.
Hugh,
One thing I’ve always liked about you, is your willingness to ‘take a stand’. I’ve not always agreed with you. but in this case I do. I was thinking similar thoughts recently.
I won’t END my relationship with twitter, because I find it very useful. But I will blog more – and better.
Nice insight.
Take care. mjl
about.me/michaellaine
@mlaine
Hugh, you make a great point about blogging. I have a few blogs that I occasionally update. I was never prolific, however, I did enjoy publishing an occasional update. Has my use of Twitter interfered with me writing my blog? Yes. It has also interfered with me posting on blogs that I do read. Instead of commenting, I would just re-tweet the blog link and if there were enough characters left make a one or two word comment. Will I leave Twitter like you? No. I have made too many connections there that I value. I met people that I would have never met. How will I use Twitter to enhance blogging? When I do comment on a blog, I will use Twitter to say so and hopefully get others to not only read the blog post that I just read but to also join the conversation at the blog. Facebook? Ugh!
Google+ was not mentioned by you. That platform is interesting. I am still waiting for more if what Google has to offer on this platform but for know I will simply participate. What are your thoughts regarding Google+?
@dmgerbino – thinking about what to blog about next
David, I’m sure Google+ is wonderful, but again, it’s still their content, not mine.
And again, I’m taking a stand here….
This was something that needed to be said. I have heard similar observations about the music industry, where digital-based info technology has also facilitated an expansion of a “DIY” culture that, in the opinion of some elite artists, has coarsened its output and lowered workers’ living standards.
I suppose you and others will have to move on. In the short-term, I think, you may suffer financially, but your re-positioning should raise the quality of discourse in the future.
I will miss your tweets. But then again, I’ll probably go to gapingvoid.com more often. Just don’t take a stand against RSS feeds too, please.
Sorry to see you go from Twitter. You have introduced me to many cool people on Twitter who I now follow and interact with. You also made me laugh seemingly at the times I needed to the most. Thanks. I will continue to see what you’re up to through the blog but like andy good social mixer it would be nice to see you pop in to just say hi.
Go Hugh 2.0+
Hugh-
I think you’re on to something.
-Chris
Hugh, are you going to delete your social accounts?
Interesting points Hugh,
I too saw this post from Brian (@copybloger) who posted thing, and seeing that you said that you’re sick with the “driving traffic” i think you shouldnt still leave your twitter on auto pilot like what Seth Godin has going for him.
People will still get your updates and you’ll still get traffic despite you being on twitter and able to concentrate on your blog.
Seth was smart to ignore social networks distractions so that he can concentrate on his core strength, however he also had a strong community as he is well known in the industry. Therefore I think for everyone, I think there is a phrase, where the first phrase is a crazy amount of engagement, second is a mixture of creation, engagement etc and the last, which is like you, who is the curator of content, that others will share.
I like your stand and I respect you for that for sure, however I still like to engage with others on twitter or facebook as its easy to just say a simple “hello”
Cheers and good luck!
Aaron, I don’t see Twitter and Facebook going anywhere soon… ANYWAY, there’s nothing stopping other people using Twitter and Facebook to tell their friends about my work. Hey, I’m all for that 😀
[…] Macleod of Gaping Void (with emphasis from me) on why he’s giving up Twitter and Facebook. The permalink from his post says it even more succinctly, “its-not-my-content”. Like […]
[…] Macleod of Gaping Void (with emphasis from me) on why he’s giving up Twitter and Facebook. The permalink from his post says it even more succinctly, “its-not-my-content”. Like […]
About blogging, and how it used to be more than it is today:
From professional bloggers, I see not laziness today so much as devalue. Literally, as in, bloggers-for-hire getting paid $10/ post. The thought of putting 2 to 3 hours of concepting, research, writing and polishing, plus photo selection and editing, to achieve a truly valuable blog post – for only $10 – wow.
Obviously, blog-for-hire isn’t the only kind of blogging being done today. But that’s the area where the devalue strikes me most.
What I’m referring to: http://www.blogherald.com/2008/07/15/blogging-jobs-how-much-are-bloggers-paid-to-blog/
Yep, if you want to be poor, sign up for a blogging-for-dollars gig.
I have begun blogging again as well. I simply have my blog host post a link in twitter and facebook whenever I write in my blog.
However, I am not a puritan. I will still tweet in twitter with the tweets being posted to facebook. And I will still visit my friends in facebook to see what they are up to.
I think about this all the time. And with the addition of google plus, I wondered how anyone would have time to blog well anymore. But I’m also afraid to leave. It’s been drilled into me that my blog NEEDS Facebook and Twitter even if I’d rather blog. Or use Twitter for what I originally joined it for — to connect and discuss politics.
I love the idea of reclaiming the experience, the magic, the theater that started it all; and content sovereignty is critical.
I’m reading Howard Schultz’s Onward. There are a lot of parallels in his story–how Starbucks was diluting and even losing the experience for growth.
Interestingly enough…I have found Twitter a bit more intimate and nostalgic as folks abandon to Google+. It’s easier to see the people that really use it for conversation.
Didn’t you delete your Twitter account once before?
Like others I only found out about your blog when I came across a Tweet saying you were giving up Twitter and FB; otherwise it’s highly unlikely I would have ever found your brilliant site.
I completely understand what you’re saying but I do think if you want your blog to be found, social media sites make it a lot easier. If you don’t use them it’s a hard slog. Now…what about G+… 🙂
Denise
ditto
You are very true in what you say, many web users seem more interested in letting their friends know what they have had for breakfast!
I suppose the key to changing things is for the ‘bloggers’ about to inspire the’lazyblogger’ into something more constructive and personal than… Cornflakes or …is bored!
Great post, thank you!
Hi Hugh,
This is interesting and made me rethink about a recent thing I started doing…
I had been discussing this with a friend a few weeks ago after he asked me why I wasn’t tweeting about my new posts. In the end, I started tweeting once a week my best post of the week but I’m still not very comfortable with it. First, I don’t have many followers (I got late in the twitter game and I simply don’t tweet that much) and it kinda feels like I’m just pushing my followers to go and look at my blog AGAIN. They already know about it and they probably already follow it (via bookmark or rss).
Of course, I know some people just have so much content, they just don’t actively go in their bookmarks nor use RSS so it might actually be useful sometimes.
What I find works best for me is actually very natural even if it does take a lot more time: as I find people making interesting things and start interacting with them, they usually start looking at what I do and they start following if they like. It’s actually the best public so it’s not a bad solution.
Oh and by the way, I follow your blog with Reeder on my computer and iPod and I’ve always found your posts much more interesting than your tweets (I hope you won’t mind me saying it).
Cheers,
Hey Aklexandre,
I hear ya…
Like is said, It was time for somebody to take a stand. And I didn’t want to be Number Two.
[…] an interesting blog post by Hugh McLeod aka Gapingvoid, announcing that henceforth he will stop using Twitter and Facebook. His […]
All interesting points, Hugh. Good luck with the decision. I’ll have more to say in my blog, which i’m just getting started. In the meantime, looking forward to visiting your blog, where I first “met” you four years ago :-)!
You have made me rethink some things this AM. I used to love blogging and wish I could spend hours every day working on my blog. Now I feel like I never have anything to say. Not so much because of Twitter & FB anymore (I started tiring of those when it became overrun with spammers), but partly because of Skype and all the other conversations I have.
And partly too because it became about writing a great article instead of *sharing* ideas, thoughts and resources. I won’t take up space here but I’m going to post a longer response on my blog!
Hugh – I echo your sentiment. I have been voicing my frustration as of late with the lack of thought that goes behind SM posts. When social media started, people typically only shared interesting content. Now they share everything. And why not? It’s as easy as a click.
I made my stand on the issue a few months back and failed miserably. I wrote a blog post asking people each Friday to look back over the past week and share the one post they considered the most important. Share it on Friday and tag it #OnePost. I was amazed at how many people RT’d my blog about the idea but didn’t actually do a #OnePost. When I asked why not, most said ‘it was too hard.’ Really???
With a blog you have to think. Social Media you don’t…but it doesn’t have to be that way, does it? I support your stand Hugh. Best of luck!
Hugh, maybe you’re right — and Facebook and Twitter are jumping the shark.
As much as we talk about and use them, they’re really a lot like ice cream. They are not, in and of themselves, good or bad. They do not, by themselves, make anybody fat or lazy. As long as we don’t make them our entire diet, or think they’re actually going to nourish us, they’re really pretty inconsequential in the grand scheme. It’s what they help us do — connect — that we value. So maybe we just need to do as you suggest — focus on *our content* and take little breaks (maybe on FB or Twitter) to share and talk about it.
That’s a good analogy — you should write a blog post about it. 🙂
makes sense to me (although I came to the article from twitter, which I have always hated)
🙂
I quit twitter two months ago.
The first noticeable difference is In that time I’ve probably watched, and not simply had playing in the background while I messed with Tweetdeck and Hootsuite, around 25-30 classic films i’d not seen before.
This has proved a wholly more satisfying endeavour than scanning through any number of 140 characters witticsims from the current crop of highly active tweeters.
I’m still required to shill on twitter via corporate entities… But such ‘business’ use of twitter and Facebook is buttoned down and billed for. Because whatever you say there is an enviable distribution mechanic at the core of twitter and Facebook, one i’m sure you’ll need to revisit in terms of publishing content and facilitating even those who ‘want’ to visit and re-visit your site.
I gave a very short talk on marketing for film and tv in the digital age to a group of european students. 26 enthusiastic and bright 20-35 year olds who will be our next crop of european producers and directors. All but one had a twitter account, all but one were on Facebook. But not a single one knew what RSS was…
There is an audience on twitter that was not there 6-12 months ago – it has crossed over into the mainstream and has reaped the rewards of such a milestone. Such rewards are inevitably both positive and negative in their effect. Negative especially to one’s ability to uncover like minded people who want to have an articulate conversation. But positive when you want to agitate any sort of hype based stampede. As a social tool to measure sentiment analysis within major metropolis’ – twitter has no rival.
This enormous influx to a platform that has been both perceived and promoted by both tech elites and n00bs in the past has led to an enormous group of people just completely side stepping some of the most powerful aspects of blogging, syndication and do it yourself distribution platforms.
They went straight to the word of mouth aspects of social networking – the supposed exciting end where the gossip breaks in realtime – the end where all their friends are dipping their toes in the shallow end and it’s a shared experience. The end of it where it’s easy to hide out en masse and avoid the attention. The end where corporations realised they’d already had 50 years experience operating within.
Not sure what’s next. It’s definitely not Google+, but both Instagram and Photovine are innovations you should watch closely.
Hi Hugh! Sorry I missed you when you were in London last.
Hey Lee,
Funnily enough, it was you who got me really into Twitter in the first place, back in the day 😉
Have you noticed JUST how much more interested in Facebook and Twitter the corporates are, compared to blogging?
I think there’s a reason for that…
There is a supposed rationale for ‘selling’ on twitter. The odd shaped pill of Word of Mouth has been swallowed easily…
Tweets per day can be purchased for pence, and @ accounts have been commodified as something resembling a Television set.
For £500-£10,000 a year you can by yourself an analytics engine to push reports to the top brass and that’s your ‘Socail media Campaign’ sewn up.
But gone is the nuance, creativity, conversation and bullshit filtration.
It’s been an interesting and educational experience though. Time to crack open the dusty and previously mothballed Google Reader me-thinks.
Google Reader is a great idea. I don’t like their web UI much but Reeder (on iOS, Mac) uses Google Reader and it’s one of the apps I use the most (along with ReadItLater which is integrated with Reeder).
Thanks Alexandre. Swapped out Socialite for Reeder and it’s a much, much better experience.
I’ve actually pruned and added some feeds.. for the first time in months.
I’ve seriously culled my time on social media the last few months. Not to spend time blogging, because I haven’t done that either.
But, to work on client and personal work. I really want to leave something tangible in the world and social media fills the “social” gap, but not the legacy part.
I’m glad you put this out there.
Hey Naomi, I’m not saying blogging is for everyone, but I am saying, Twitter and Facebook et al have distracted A LOT of people for their core activities, myself included.
So I decided to do something about it. Hopefully this will help other people re-focus, as well…
Thanks.
Blogging takes months for me to get responses, as my posts creep up in Google juice. It does happen, but the wait is long. Twitter is almost instant, and it’s like junk food. It takes discipline to stay away from it, especially when it’s designed to make you constantly want more.
Twitter (not really FB) did distract me for a long time, but I’m working on moving away from the instant feedback loop.
I’ve been blogging since 2004 at PurpleCar… I’ve really lost interest, even after I deleted all my posts in 2008 or so and started again. For me, I’m not sure leaving Twitter will help with blogging but it will help with getting me offline to concentrate on reading and writing.
Thanks for this.
-Christine Cavalier (PurpleCar)
I 100% support your cause. Well, maybe more like 75% since I’m not going to join you.
It should be noted though, that I actually got the link to this post via Twitter…
Bravo for your conviction though!
Hi Hugh,
As a long term blogger (blogging since 2004) I’ve watched with amusement as people have grabbed onto the latest shiny new thing, and turned their attention away from blogging. Why?
Because its hard work finding something intersting, thought provoking and relevant to say.
Its easier to click the like / retweet / share button and leave the responsibility to someone else.
Perhaps its time for a shift in priorities. Less focus on Twitter / FB / Google + more focus on the thing that gives you credibility…
Your blog…
Thanks for posting..
EleenB, you’re exactly right.
Any fool can say, “Yes, but…”
Taking a stand is far harder.
Hugh,
I totally get what you are saying, but I’m not sure we can stop the rise and rise of social media by opting out. As bloggers, all of us want to be heard, to be listened to, to be read, and like it or not, that’s where the conversations around your content are already happening amongst the masses.
I fear the magic that has been beaten out of bloggers as a result has already gone forever. The ecosystem has had its energy sapped from it.
Anyway, I digress.
I’m not sure the lack of your participation on those networks will impact your site in any negative way, so for you, as a personal decision this makes sense. For someone starting to promote their content – I dare say it would make the up hill struggle to be heard that bit harder.
Once a site receives critical mass, as I suspect yours has, the conversation around it will continue – with or without your presence.
I do think your refocusing will see reclaimed time and energies though, so do keep us all posted, and best of luck with it. 🙂
Fabulous! Diving in again, more than 140 characters deep; like your cartoons do for us every day!
Add in some guest posts, like you’ve done with the esteemed Kathy Sierra.
I’m *overjoyed*. Twitter and Facebook are tools, send your RSS to them and be done.
Now if I can just figure out how to best build a valuable resource for my niche,,, yep, the *hard* stuff worth doing.
this is an experiment right?
And with that, I have not just added you to my Google Reader.
It’s a stance that I’m not sure I am capable of at this moment, which of course has me thinking I need to be working harder.
that should have said…
I have NOW just added you to my Google Reader.
I think if you’re confident enough about the quality and value of your content, then you don;t need to go chasing the latest shiny Web 2.0 object.
Unless you’re Robert Scoble, of course…. 😉
Scoble used top be the best blogger in the world, just about.
Now he’s just one more tech geek doing the social media rounds.
Not that he doesn’t do the round very well- he does, and he’s wonderful- but go from “best in the world” to “Just another geek” isn’t going to cost you something in the end.
Well said. The argument that social networks “own” the content you create on them doesn’t compel me, but there’s something to be said for sweating your brow in the goal of writing something interesting and depositing it on your own website. I’m dancing between the two extremes of a more honed and sharpened sort of blog writing style, and a more relaxed, twitter-based kind, and it feels like Manichean battle sometimes.
The lesson for me? I am largely incapable of being interesting. It takes a lot of effort.
well written
i worry about my data on twitter and facebook
I get what you’re saying Hugh. I like visiting your blog but sometimes I forget and I need reminders. So you’re in my google reader to remind me to read your blog. Wouldn’t you want FB and Twitter to do the same though? To remind people to visit your blog?
This reminded me a little about this post:
http://noisydecentgraphics.typepad.com/design/2010/09/lets-make-blogging-good-again.html
I’m beginning to think that social media use is like the single glass of wine a day that’s supposed to be good for you. A few people can stick to one glass. Most others, having a good time, end up having two or three more than they intended. Still others, starting out with the best intentions, empty the bottle.
For me, it’s not so much about them taking your content — although that should be a huge concern to people who make their living, or want to make their living, through their creative output — but it’s about what the use of social media does to your content. They can’t rip it off *if you never wrote it*, because you were too busy playing around with Farmville or obsessively refreshing to catch every BieberTweet in real time. Social media use is a potentially huge distraction from creative activity, and that’s the aspect of it that really worries me.
Well, with all due respect, I think it’s easy if you’re a Hugh MacLeod or a Seth Godin to shun Twitter and Facebook: you’ve already got blog traffic. But what about those who don’t want to “re-claim” the blogosphere so much as “claim” their share of it? Like myself. Consider us ‘homesteaders.’ It’s difficult to drive blog traffic and engage in these comment-thread conversations (which I love) if there’s no one else to talk to.
And so, I’m back on Twitter (heck, I dumped Twitter over a year ago; in my opinion, Twitter jumped the shark when Ashton Kutcher got on it) because it’s one easy, convenient way to get the word out about my new homestead.
I do appreciate your points; I just don’t think they’re necessarily applicable across the board.
Perhaps. But I knew of Hugh long before he was on Facebook and Twitter. How? Because Godin mentioned him.
If you do really good work consistently people really do find their way to you because others spend their days looking for people who are doing cool and interesting stuff.
Try to “drive me” to your work sometimes feels like I’ve been kidnapped and stuck in the trunk of the car. I’m along for the ride, but I’m really just looking to escape.
Yes.
I have found twitter to take away my zest for blogging.
Just too many irons in the fire.
I also discovered your amazing blog and work through twitter. Anyway, great post. Good for you. So much energy and power in the act of decision! I love your post and it is inspiring me to push further to cultivate and put my best blogger forward. Gratitude & Smiles.
I’m a comedian and have been blogging since 06. My entire purpose was to be funny. The End. I peaked at that on my blog in 08.
When I moved to twitter in 09, things picked up. Not only did I get more blog readers, but I easily branded myself as a funny person on Twitter. Much faster than on my blog. I also have a Tumblr and Google+ (god help us all) but the results are much the same as with my main blog.
You want to be known as a great writer and I want to be known as funny. Any way we achieve that for ourselves is ok.
I totally agree that we don’t want to creat content to build up Twitter and Facebook, but don’t forget that those places are GREAT to post a simple link back to your blog post. Many millions of eyeballs are looking there every day, but “out of sight out of mind.” If I didn’t see this link on Google+ I wouldn’t have read this post!
This is one of the boldest moves I’ve seen in awhile.
“I think now is a great time to “reclaim” blogging, so that is exactly what I’m doing. Here and now. Rock on.” – Hugh McLeod.
I hear what you’ve said about Facebook and Twitter being easy. Google+? Easy too. That means everyone can do them. If everyone can do it, it’s not worth doing in my book.
I untethered from Facebook in December, and Twitter in early June. In both cases, I did it because they were no longer vehicles for growth.
I’m not ready to jump-ship on social networking all together, and I applaud you if you are. That’s really hard. I’ve been all-in on Google+, which is easy, but it’s paying off by bringing new people into my work.
I look forward to what is to come.
Best,
Ev
Ev, we’ll see where this goes.
But I think there is some value in having YOUR content in JUST one place that YOU actually own.
Yes, there are trade offs. Of course there are…