Blogging Everywhere! (Not) Enough Already?

Hi, I’m Russ and I’m a blogger.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one–or if I’m talking about you. Or you.

Like many people, I enjoy blogging. Like many more people, I learned a long time ago that blogging–and blogging well in particular–requires a certain degree of commitment and effort. Putting a bunch of jumbled thoughts or ideas into words that are easy enough to digest and interesting enough to get through can be pretty challenging. Ask any of those folks over on the right side of the page (and then see when the last time any of them updated their blogs, too!) and I’ll bet that they’ll tell you that they started out with a lot to say and that they saw blogging as something slightly different than what it is for them today.  I bet that they’ll tell you that blogging just happens to be a labor of love for them, as well–but that it also offers up rewards, too.  More than one blogger has had a prospective employer contact them with piqued interest based upon a posting or perspective.

Not me, mind you, but it does happen.

For quite awhile, the blogging scene was really becoming the bandwagon to get on. People still have blogs–but maybe now it’s called your MySpace Blog / Page or your FaceBook Notes or what have you. Those are more for the hobbyists, I suspect. People need to be able to whip out that poetry and prose as it strikes them during the work day, right?

And there are more Professional Blogs, which is where I’d classify places like TechCrunch and others–they serve a broader purpose than to just ramble on about your new kitten or what you had for lunch with Jeffers and Kimmers and whatnot. Your favorite newspaper will likely have a blogging section with plenty of spirited conversations and commentary to support it. Some (me) would argue that the UserGlue UserBlog is a professional blog–because I try to keep this topical and you’ll probably never hear me mention my wife, my children nor my pets here. Probably; there’s a baby coming and I’m suspecting I may be uber-proud and feel the need to post an announcement or something. Just saying.

A lot of people that I know enjoy blogging for themselves–they feel good about it. They feel as if they’re contributing. Some even feel as if their personal blogs, whatever way that happens, help them to stay in touch with their friends and family without calling everyone, say every time they have a near-perfect bowling game.

My friend Wil uses his blog in many different ways–it’s a way to hone his craft as a writer (sometimes providing content for books that we release under Monolith Press), keep his friends, family and fan base up-to-date on what he’s doing and it’s a good way to provide information to his consumers who want to know where he will be appearing, what he will be performing in and any new product that may be for sale. All in one tidy place. Well, all in one place, at least.

I blog here. I blog personally on a different site. And now, that place that I call “work” when I’m not dividing my time between UserGlue, family and school, has a blog for people to get involved in, if they so desire. No one is forcing my hand on anything, but I’ve been made aware that the mechanism exists, “if I’d like to participate”.

I think it’s a great idea and it can help foster a community and culture among your peers–help you take a look at how other people see things, what they find important and what they notice in their work lives. I think it’s the right approach to take to NOT force anyone to joining your club of bloggers, but at the same time, I feel you should try to be involved in opportunities like this as they arise.

The problem is, where does all the content come from? Personally, I try to contribute here and on mailing lists (such as the IAI mailing list and I try to do my best to be an effective editor at Boxes and Arrows and I even try to provide insightful responses to questions at LinkedIn. That’s a lot for a guy who also has to author 4 papers every 2 weeks for Business Administration courses and has a pretty full load at work, as well.

Is it okay to provide duplicated content? Is it wrong to actively not participate? Should someone try to provide topics for people to respond to in order to help foster the community of the bloggers?

Where does it begin or end?