Month: July 2006

The problem with blogging

Here’s the problem with blogging:

People who blog often sound like they’re obsessed with themselves (see my last post). The problem with that is that it’s normal to be obsessed with yourself (who else is going to be?), but sounding like you’re obsessed with yourself is frowned upon. So, there’s a conflict.

If you, as a blogger, want other people to read your blog (and become obsessed with you?), you need to try to write as if you’re not obsessed with yourself. At the same time, you need to not sound like a moron (because that turns people off too), and hopefully you have something interesting to say that isn’t totally about yourself (but, most of us don’t have interesting things to say very often).

According to leading experts in blogger psycology, the moment when all this blogger inner turmoil shit hits the fan, Web 4.0 will officially be launched. Stay tuned.

Oh, and I also wanted to mention that I think we saw the beginning of the end of MySpace last weekend with all their problems keeping the servers running during the heat wave. Our 14-year old friend was very annoyed by it.

I’m #1, but I’m not!

Here’s something that’s been irritating me: ever since I discovered that a colleague/client of mine has a blog dedicated to making him the #1 search result for his name on Google, I’ve started to worry about how I’m not the #1 search result for “Chris Minnick”. To add insult to injury, the #1 result is completely devoid of content.

I’m shallow, I know. But, now I’m obsessed. 23 of the first 25 results are me….why can’t I just have one more?

Web x.0 checklist

A few things I think need to happen soon:

1. Google needs to be taken down several notches. Not that I have anything against google, it’s just that I think too many people see them as the end-all-be-all of companies, technology, and search and too many people in the media and in blog-land have the hots for Sergey and Larry.

2. MySpace needs to go away.

3. Everyone who makes web sites needs to check out the Yahoo! Design Pattern Library and either start using these or create and posting their own patterns somewhere.

Why I don’t watch TV

I’m obsessed with YouTube and Google Video.

When I was in high school and college, I had a video camera and shot hundreds of hours of tape (which I’m starting to go through and digitize now). Watching this footage today, I realize that I never learned to edit, or cared much about editing, and that’s why most of the videos I made in highschool and college are unbearable to anyone but me.

I watch the videos that kids are making now and posting to YouTube, and many of them spend a lot of time editing and produce much more polished things than I ever did. They do have much better equipment than I had in the late 80s and early 90s, it’s true. But, I think they also see the potential of editing, even if they rarely get it right. I think that’s cool. What’s even cooler is that they have a way to get their videos out there so that I can watch them.

Have I mentioned lately how much I love the Internet?