Today a short piece “10 blogs to make you think” I wrote for CNN.com was published. I’m pretty excited about this and I also hope it drives a new audience to the blogs I mentioned, though to be fair if you’re not fascinated by how technology is changing society my picks might not be interesting. It’s a short piece in a “top ten” format, but I put a lot of thought into curating the picks.
I started blogging because I love writing. While the nature of Automattic is such that I’m writing all day long to communicate with my colleagues but writing for communication is different from the state of mind you’re in when you sit down to tell a story or change someone’s perspective. (Though perhaps it shouldn’t be.)
I started blogging for writing, I kept blogging for comments. It turns out what I love isn’t the act of writing itself, which has never come easy to me, but the conversation that happens afterward. Collectively in tech we become infatuated with each new medium be it blogs, widgets, social networks, micro-blogs, but in the end it always comes back to people talking to each other and eventually the novelty of the format fades.
As a final note when I write now I go into the WordPress editor because I know the auto-save will make sure my text is always safe, it produces clean and simple HTML, and I lean on After the Deadline. (Which now helps you rock the diaeresis New Yorker-style.)
That’s pretty neat that you were featured on CNN. Congratulations on getting that article published on there. I’m gonna head over an check it out right now.
I thought your list was great even though those who commented on it may not have.
Where are the woman bloggers? I guess you should actually change your favorite bloggers to appeal to a more sexually equal group of readers.
I didn’t think of that when making the list, but now that you mention it what would be some you recommend?
Had no idea about After the Deadline — much appreciated.
Interesting observation re: diff. states of mind for communication vs. “heavier” (couldn’t think of a better word) writing. I wonder how much more enjoyment we could all wring out of a day if we approached our email writing/IMing the same way we did our blogging.
Nicholas has a good point. My favorite is Naomi Dunford of ittybiz, but she’s sometimes NSFW. Brilliant though, utterly brilliant.
Now I’m drawing a blank… sounds like a good idea for a contest or something: Top 10 Women Bloggers.
In the meantime, I’m going to run this by my Women2.0 ladies.
If Kathy Sierra were still writing, she would definitely be in this list. She’s brilliant too.
She was on my list originally but I took her off because the blog is probably not going to be updated again.
I wish her site had a magazine or book or wiki format, especially now that it’s static. It’s such good, good content.
I could not agree with you more Matt. Since ideas can only be overcome by other ideas and because money and force are impotent against them I find it absolutely fascinating to release new ideas into the wild or analyze current ideas in a unique way to stimulate the conversation.
I do a lot of reading and I find it particularly interesting that a couple of ideas or phrases I picked up from you have had such a lasting effect on my analysis. For example, at the SF Wordcamp I read about your take on ‘geographic discrimination’ and somewhere else I read your take on ‘open source voting’.
I have built upon those ideas in a piece titled Relentless Advance Of Technology which has already garnered 150+ tweets and stimulated significant discussion. I think you may appreciate seeing what has resulted from some of the ideas you let loose …. like a chain reaction.
http://www.runtogold.com/2009/10/relentless-advance-of-technology/
Thank you for sharing — I’ll check it out.
Do you share with Google Reader? (link please)
Not really, never got in the habit of clicking that button.
You hit the nail on the head Matt. I too blog for what can happen after I post which is community.
“I started blogging because i love writing…”
It’s so simple statement but really great! I love it! 😀
“I started blogging for writing, I kept blogging for comments… ”
So true, because without comments, you might as well be writing a journal.
On a completely different topic, I attended my first WordCamp a couple of weeks ago in Victoria BC. Lloyd Bud from Automattic sat in. It was a great day. Tremendous energy. Very inspiring.
THanks for sharing your taste, Matt. & congrats for being featured on CNN!