Most of us have multiple aspects to their lives. Should a blog (or other online presence) reflect this?
Yes. Absolutely.
Should someone maintain separate blogs for each key “aspect” of their lives?
Maybe. But probably not, in my opinion at least.
The way I look at this is that my blog is my thoughts, my opinions, my ideas, my commentary, irrespective of the content. I may blog about SharePoint one day, then photography the next, and some random nonsense the day after… Or indeed most of the time ;) Either way, it is me blogging it, this is the common thread running through everything…
I am also not overly fussed about maintaining multiple identities or brands, they would, in my opinion, overlap and merge to such an extent that trying to keep them separated/isolated wouldn’t work.
Maybe I’m wrong.
The readers of my blog may find the mix interesting, they may only bother with posts categorised/tagged with certain terms, I would like to hear what you think and how you read this blog.
Does this work?
Am I wrong, right, or (as I often am) in that delicious grey area in between? I guess, as previously stated: “It depends…”
But I believe that, in the words of Matt Groves and U2…
One Matt. One brand. One blog.
-Matt Groves
One love, one life, one blood, you gotta do what you should, one life - with each other, sisters, brothers....
-U2
The way I look at it is:
I am me. I work. I play. I SharePoint. I take photographs. I have a family. I like to fish. I play golf (albeit badly). I like Rugby. I am me.
[Thanks to Tom Short and Ant Clay for providing the question, this post is based is based on the response I gave them]
.png)
4 comments:
I don't mind seeing all aspects of your life on one blog. I'm thinking about doing the same. I have a SharePoint blog and a photography blog. I've been a "bad" blogger in regards to the SharePoint blog because I haven't encountered anything that was really worth blogging lately. I'm working on MOSS 2007 projects that have their issues, but for the most part have been blogged about repeatedly.....so I have a hard time justifying another blog post on a subject already covered.
My photography blog is evolving though. I feel like I can put more non-work related posts there without fear of people thinking something about it.
Keep up the posts - I'll read them! :)
Thanks Matt for the attribution!
I think the commitment needed to maintain two discrete identities is what most people find a challenge and I for one am reinvigorated in my blogging efforts, now I am moving to one blog. Unless you are posting every day about a single specific subject then allowing personal off-topic posts into your blog MUST only seek to enhance the value of your blog, your reputation and the connection with your audience..
Thanks for the feedback Alisa, goes a long way to validating my thinking, as a reader of a great many other blogs I find it interesting (mostly) to see insights into peoples lives outside the "main" reason I read their blog. I am interested in the person behind the content...
Same goes for Ant's stuff, the unification of the content and brand/identity is a good idea, especially when there are "major" and "minor" focus topics (for me this is basically Sharepoint as the major topic with the others as minor ones).
Ant's point about the commitment needed is very valid, I generally prefer to keep things simple, it's just easier that way ;)
Also, given that previously Ant maintained a blog for technical strategy and another for sailing -where does content go that doesn't fit into either one? Do you have a blog for all aspects of life and/or topics you blog about?
I think this question becomes yet more interesting when you consider the option of being a contributing author to a 'team' blog relating to a specific topic (or indeed any blog with multiple authors), does this shared blog become the only place to blog about that topic? Is this "dual maintenance" different to maintaining 2 (or more) blogs by yourself?
Post a Comment
Please feel free to comment on this post, I want to hear your feedback!