This post actually was started last week, but time was rather sparse to finish it. I think that will emphasize some of the things I write here.
So, I stumbled upon Shel Holtz post, I’m a blogger, just not one of these bloggers, then the next day, or in the evening I had a short conversation with Curt Monash, and then I wanted to write a bit more of my thoughts on this whole ‘bloggers’thing.
First of all, who are the bloggers? Who is a ‘blogger’?
I find that people call everyone who has a blog a ‘blogger’, which seems like the correct thing, only. Only the word starts to get a more solid meaning. ‘Bloggers’do this, ‘bloggers’do that. It starts to become a primary attribute, something that defines the person.
I remember that a few years ago we had blogger meetings. The ‘bloggers’met in a pub. Well, actually it was a bunch of people from different professions and cities, who happened to write blogs, about their own life.
I don’t think we were bloggers. Not any more than we were diarists. It was a small part of our life, but then I could define myself as a lawnmower, or a driver or a walker – the latter I do more than any of the other – or maybe even a sitter, as I sit a lot.
I would keep the ‘blogger’tag to people who either make it their job, or for whom it is a big part of their job.
I am not one. It’s a hobby, it’s a way to put out my opinion if I wish, but I am not a ‘blogger’. I can go for weeks without posting. I do not concentrate on anything in particular. And I doubt that people who kept diaries or journals in the old times were called ‘diarists’, or ‘journalists’if I think about it. The latter means an entirely different thing.
So, I think most of the people we refer to as ‘bloggers’are just people. They eat the same stuff the rest of the world.
And then, there are some who write blogs as a job, or as a big part of their business, like Hugh MacLeod, or ProBlogger, or Shel Holtz who I would call bloggers, maybe.
Even then, I am hesitant to call a PR or marketing professional a blogger, even if half his work is done on a blog. He is not a blogger in my opinion, he just uses a tool.
So, the more I think about it, there are not many real bloggers. Blogs are tools. A way to put your thoughts out there. Tools like emails, newsgroups, and you never heard anyone call people ‘emailers’or ‘newsgroupers’did you?
Just a few thoughts of a software developer, who sometimes posts on his blog.
And what are your thought?