Entries Tagged 'The Blogosphere' ↓

It�s that time of year again. Time for the 2006 Black Weblog Awards, the second annual recognition of achievement and excellence by and for Black Internet users who have their own weblogs, or �blogs� as they are more commonly known.

There are new rules and new procedures for nominating and voting for your favorite blogs this year, designed to make it a fairer process, as well as a list of new and interesting categories.

The nomination phase runs from August 1 � 15, followed by the voting from August 16 - 31, from the three top nominees in each category. Winners will be announced on September 3.

I’ve been out of town (and even out of web and cellphone access) for the past three days. I’ll be back by the end of the weekend.

A few questions for my fellow bloggers:

Why do you blog? For whom do you write? If you craft a particularly well-written entry and it doesn�t get any comments, does that mean it was of little value? If a blog entry is written about some frivolous topic and it gets a lot of comments, does that make it a �good� entry?

My friend John at J�s Theater wrote a piece in reaction to another blogger, Nubian. and her frustrations about the lack of responses to her more socially conscious pieces and an inability to break out and make a name for herself in the vast blogosphere.

Their comments are not unlike those I�ve heard from other blogger friends trying hard to find their niche and carve out a place in a community that is growing by the thousands every day of the week.

I posed the rhetorical questions above because I think they are at the heart of this discussion and weigh on the minds of anyone who has been at this for any length of time.

I think there is a natural evolution to blogging. You start off with great enthusiasm and excitement, typically blogging a lot at the outset, maybe even every day. You start to get noticed because people leave comments and that feels good. You�re now part of a community. Then the burden of posting regularly starts to set in as well as the awareness that what you write is being read by lots of people you don�t even know. Maybe you even get a few negative comments in reaction to what you write. That�s a bit jarring because now you realize not everybody thinks you�re a genius. It�s starting to seem like work now. You may even find that all your offline activities are geared around finding something interesting to write about. You may start to feel self-conscious and even start taking yourself a little too seriously, feeling as though you �have to write� or you�ll �let my readers down.� Man, what a stinky diaper that is!

It will evolve further to the point where you consider quitting, if the comments stop coming regularly. Now you�re putting in all this work and those damn readers don�t even appreciate it. �Why do I even bother� you might ask yourself.

Does any of this sound familiar?

I think it�s important to step back and gain perspective. I think some bloggers take themselves and what they do a little too seriously. It may be helpful to know there are an estimated 80,000 new blogs started every day, possibly as many as 50 million worldwide. They are as diverse and varied as the number of people who own them.

I find the concept of a �famous blogger� to be downright laughable. More likely it�s a shameless self-promoter who spends more time trying to get the attention of the mainstream media as he does blogging. The idea that anyone would want to try to keep up with these people is even more asinine.

I think a preoccupation with who or how many people are reading or commenting is also unhealthy. With so many blogs and only so many hours in a day, we should all probably be thankful that anyone takes time to read. And how many non-bloggers bother to read them? Are we a community of writer/readers unto ourselves? My gut tells me yes.

I say all this to say, does it really matter who�s �famous� or not, who gets comments and who doesn�t, who else is writing about the same things we are? Are we really �competing� with one another, or is that your imagination?

In answer to my own questions, I blog because I have thoughts in my head I want to get out. Writing them down helps me make sense of them. Consequently I write primarily for myself, although I recognize other people do read this. And because this blog is a reflection of my varied interests and thoughts at any given moment in time, some will be serious, some frivolous, but as long as I can finish it and post it, that�s good enough for me.

If you stopped by and took the time to read this, thanks. If you care to comment, feel free. If not, that�s cool too.

I got tipped to a new one, Vidocity, that is using the webcast technology in an exciting way to provide updates on what�s going on around NYC. I can�t promise you I�ll visit the site very often, but it�s the kind of stuff I�d love to do if I had a budget. If you�re still on dial-up, skip it.

We�re enjoying lovely spring weather this weekend in New York but there still aren�t enough interesting things happening in my life to fill a blog entry. Other bloggers have posted noteworthy items however, so I direct you to them.

Andres at Blabbeando attended Saturday�s march in Brooklyn to keep up public awareness about the still unsolved murder of Rashawn Brazell, on what would have been his 21st birthday.

Earl at Prometheus 6 always has a wealth of news and information. He tips us to two items on immigration, one warning Black people about the real impact of anti-immigration legislation, the second provides an eye-opening assessment of the economic effects.

Professor Kim is another great news source I like to read. She�s been covering the Duke lacrosse alleged rape incident. She�s got an interview with Duke professor Mark Anthony Neal who shares his thoughts on masculinity and sexual violence.

Scottie at AfroerotiK, usually writes about sexuality and eroticism, but instead has a few pointed comments to make about use of the �N� word in the Black community.

Few bloggers stay on top of current events like Rod, and he�s got news of a stage production down in DC, written by a local playwright, addressing the DL phenomenon from a different perspective. Folks in the nation�s capital are advised to check it out.

Finally, James has made it back to the Bay Area after his vacation in New York. In addition to being a jazz fan, he�s a brilliant photographer and has posted shots from his trip to his Flickr account. He can make the most ordinary subject look like a work of art.

Happy Easter everyone.