on blogging

Very sad that Marcus has left the world of blogs. He has done it before, but his final post makes it sounds pretty final. He says he's going to get on with real life.

Marcus's blog was one of the ones that kept me going. I like all of the planner-type blogs, but I don't think I look at the world the same way they do, and sometimes the intensity of their rigorous thought about brands and ads and communications does my head in.

To be honest, I prefer stuff and nonsense, and trees and odd things that you see stuck to the pavement. They're the things that make me think differently about the world.

With Marcus's stuff, you got a bit of everything - business, proper ad stuff, and then the personal and the slightly odd. The same sort of thing that you got from Paul's Life In The Middle blog, before he shut that down.

I don't know what the future of blogging holds. If the good/smart people are bailing out, maybe it is just a bit of excitement that'll soon be over. Maybe they'll gradually disappear, like Filofaxes (help me out here - I'm struggling to think of modern communication tools that have died out. CB radio?).

But I think I will keep blogging. I only ever started doing this so I'd have somewhere to write things down, before they were forgotten. And I wanted to see if anyone else was interested in the same things. So expect less rigorous thought about popular ads/brands/strategies of our time (not that you ever got that anyway), and more of the same old rubbish. Just like it says at the top.

See you later Marcus.

Comments

[Charlie Gower]

Quit!
Don't even toy with that one. Things that are stuck in the pavement will always be more interesting than the latest Sony campaign.
I wish CB radios were still widely used. Breaker breaker.

[Alex]

Blogs- the future; surely more flexibility, so we don't even think of ourselves as 'blogging' or 'bloggers', just sharers of thoughts, much as we don't think of ourselves as 'telephoners' or 'emailers', just normal people.

On modern technology communications which have vanished, more interesting is those which bemusingly haven't. The fax. Case in point.

[Paul H. Colman]

Afternoon,

I still like blogging, and am constantly on the cusp of coming back. I stopped for some boring personal reasons, but not forever.

I think they're good for the same reason you do - for remembering stuff, like a scrap book, or one of those boxes that get kept under the bed, with concert tickets in it and stuff.

I don't really agree with the argument that it's some how detached from 'real' life, quite the opposite in fact - when I blogged I noticed more, and thought a little differently than before.

Sincerely,
Paul H. Colman.

Ps. I'm watching the Grand Prix, and quite enjoying it.

[lauren]

thanks for this post dan. i also miss both marcus and paul's blogs (paul, glad to hear this 'on the cusp business). i think we need a balance of stuff, nonsense and the new york times - keeps it all a bit interesting really. if you could stick around a bit longer, that would be super. i don't think another class A blogger disappearance would be so nice this year.

[Amelia]

I liked Alex's point about us not being bloggers, but rather people who just like sharing interesting stuff with interesting people and (fingers crossed) generating interesting conversations. It just so happens that one medium that we use is a blog, but I bet that we probably do pretty much the same thing around the sunday lunch table/the pub table/work meeting rooms etc.

[dan]

Thank you for your kind words. I agree that blogging is just another place for thoughts, like a piece of paper or a chat in the pub. I guess it's the fact that we might already have enough of those places and occasions, and maintaining a blog could be the straw that breaks the...you know.

Happily, I do enjoy my blogging and I shall continue, clamouring children permitting.

[Mark Hadfield]

Amen to Mr. Gower above. It's the little things that make the big things more interesting. There are a number of the 'big important popular' blogs that remind me of sitting down and reading a phone book. It's just linear information overloading your brain. My fav blogs are ones where there are questions, some opinions but mostly just stuff. Stuff is what makes the world go round.