Jan 21 2007

Multiple blogs for multiple purposes

I’m noticing that because setting up a blog is so easy, rather than having one blog that serves all purposes, people set up many special-purpose blogs. Here are the blogs I’ve posted to within the last week, each having a special purposes:

A consequence of this ease is that abandoned blogs will proliferate in the future.

3 responses so far

3 Responses to “Multiple blogs for multiple purposes”

  1. Tina says:

    Very true, John.

    Just this month I “inactivated” a group blog that I had set up about a year before. Based on the level of activity, I requested feedback about how best to move forward with it. After 10 days with no response that request, I announced that the blog had been retired.

    In some ways I was saddened, but I also believe that the blog had served its purpose. I hesitated to completely delete it though, and I’m not sure how I would come to that final decision.

    What considerations are others taking when it comes time to put a blog to sleep?

    You can see how I indicated that the blog has been inactivated at amoccigompod.blogspot.com. I welcome any comments or suggestions.

  2. John.Smith says:

    Thanks, Tina,

    Using the participation-reification-participation cycle that’s at the foundation of Etienne Wenger’s theory about communities of practice, I’d say that you never know what kind of participation there will be from leaving a “dead blog” out there for reference. In this case, death is more a fact of life than a condemnation as irrelevant, don’t you think?

    By the way, I like the way you put together that “state of the blog” posting ( http://amoccigompod.blogspot.com/2007/01/state-of-blog-2007.html ). I think that kind of thing is very helpful. I’ve been interested in tools that “support awareness” for a long time. Some of their utility is contextual – how you put them in context (like you put ordinary subscription stats in that posting).

  3. joitske says:

    Hi John, from the list you mentioned, I’m subscribed to only this blog (I try to keep my bloglines below 50). So the consequence of writing on multiple blogs is when you think something is important for yourself, you might crosspost it on your own blog.

    (I’m crossposting most of the content of the icollaborate blog to the netsquared one because it has a different readership)

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