Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Uninhibited Bloggers and Our Egos

This blog got a mention (and a link) this morning in Melissa McNamara's CBSNews.com "Blogophile" column. She quoted me from last week's "Save the Internet" post.

The main focus of her column this morning, however, was blogger reaction to a Wall Street Journal article about people using their blogs for "self-therapy." WSJ came to the conclusion that all this "uninhibited online culture is not something to be proud of."

I was pleased not to be chosen as an example of a self-centered blogger who gives out too much private information, but I do admit that I've been guilty of that sort of behavior. Mixed in with my political rants, movie reviews, and general banal observations, I've been known to post a few items of a more personal nature.

When I have, I've sometimes wondered whether or not it was appropriate. But here's the thing: The personal posts get more hits over time than the more topical ones.

The reason is pretty simple. On any given day, there are thousands of bloggers complaining about the President. Over the course of a year, however, there are only a handful who post about having gum graft surgery.

The more topical stuff - the posts that the WSJ might consider public-worthy - gets lost in the noise. But something personal stands out and remains relevant in the search engines for a good long time. People who are going through a tough situation (be it surgery or otherwise) look to Google to help them find others who have gone through it before.

I may have written about my various health issues out of uninhibited self-therapy, but those posts have helped many people through their problems. Meanwhile, some of the writing that I am more proud of gathers virtual dust. Stick that in your Wall Street Journal.

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