A few observations about the social aspects of blogging

The older I get and the more blogging I do, the more I notice differences in how many people approach blogging.  Some of it is cultural, some of it is generational, and I suppose some of it is political as well.  Whatever source these differences may arise, I have noticed some disconnect recently.

I won't mention how or from whom I learned this, but I learned recently that a few people were bothered with what was said in the faux news that I posted on April Fool's Day.  If I recall, someone was bothered that there seemed to be barbs underlying the silliness that I wrote.  Nothing could be further from the truth, as I'm much more likely to be quite direct about it if something of that nature were intended.  But this incident serves as an example for something that I've been thinking about on occasion for the past several months.

I co-founded this blog back in late August 2004 and began almost-daily posts back in June 2007.  I remember receiving my first review copy back in June 2004 (it was an autographed copy of R. Scott Bakker's The Warrior-Prophet and I received it when I was a mod/site Admin at the now-defunct wotmania fansite; I started the blog two months later, so I might be one of the rare few who received review copies before starting a blog).  Arranged a giveaway with Bakker later that year, again hosted at wotmania.    I viewed then, as I do now,  such things as reviewing books, commenting on trends, and the (very occasional) promotional giveways as being parts of a business.  Sure, I enjoyed interacting with others on occasion (and as I've said several times, this blog originally was intended to promote wotmania's Other Fantasy section, thus the OF initials in the header), but I never really conceived of this blog as being a social exercise.

Even despite the many interesting comments, links provided, and discussions here, it still is hard for me to think of blogging as being a social exercise.  Perhaps it's because I'm in my mid-30s and exhibit several stereotypical traits of the so-called Generation X cohort, but I tend to view with distrust the notion of book blogging as being something that ought to be a social exercise.  I have a Facebook account, but outside of keeping it touch with a few people I've worked with over the years, I really don't view it as being an essential component of my blogging.  I don't Twitter, nor do I believe that if I were to do so that it would be of great interest to most. 

But that is me.  Others view this integration of blogging, Twitter, Facebook, and other social networking groups as a fun and essential part of their online activities.  I have learned recently that there have been several group efforts, from interviewing people to starting group blogs that serve as an extension of their individual blogging efforts.  Obviously, there are quite a few positive benefits, not the least of which is getting to know others quite well.  Sometimes, remaining aloof can lead to certain misconceptions arising, such as the above-mentioned AFD post, as I rarely do link to others' blogs these days and perhaps my sense of humor was taken as being a veiled attack.  It is a danger that exists whenever there is not communication, I'll admit.

However, there are also dangers I see in being too "connected."  Besides that of "groupthink," where the bandwagon effect can appear to be on steroids, there may develop a new sort of insularity, in which those who are members of tribe-like organizations, say a band of bloggers who use Blogger, or those who use Wordpress or Typepad, may end up settling into a relatively small circle that may be mistaken for the width and breadth of online book discussion.  I know it is something that I worry about when I don't take the time to read what's out there (and I source surf to find dozens, if not hundreds, of literature/genre blogs in several languages, only a few of which I provide in my blogroll) and I can't help but wonder if something akin to that occurs in group blogs.  Wouldn't surprise me if it didn't, since clique formation is a typical human social behavior.

Perhaps these vague concerns are just the result of too much idleness and are mostly overblown?  Maybe, but I will admit that regardless of whatever blogging path someone may choose, there are dangers and pitfalls that await.