The Point of a Blog?
The one comment I had in relation to my last blog post on Post.news asked a question: if you’re not looking for comments, why bother with a blog? An interesting, if somewhat facile question (at least in my mind). I guess it has to do with what the point of a blog, or at least my blog, is.
What Is A Blog?
According to Wikipedia, a blog (short for weblog) is discussion or informational website. While some blogs allow, and even encourage discussion, others filter comments, or disallow them altogether. Certainly most of the more popular blogs include some kind of comment section.
This means that a blog is a place to publish ideas, thoughts, opinions, or information to be consumed by an audience. It may or may not include discussion. The assumption that they all should, or do, is not supported by evidence or convention. Assuming that a blog without support for discussion is pointless is equally incorrect.
Some Seek Engagement
For some, their blogs are about looking for some kind of engagement from a broader community. That includes hoping (or expecting) some kind of dialog in the comments. This is “blog as social media” in a sense, even though a blog isn’t necessarily seen formally as social media. For some, it’s a forum to publish content, and nothing more. But there are some who either want, or in some cases feel they need, comment, feedback, and engagement. If that’s how you roll, then be my guest.
Another perspective is to see this as wanting attention, perhaps even adoration. The point isn’t to inform, enlighten, or teach. The point in this case is to seek the attention of other’s, and perhaps gain their support or approval. For some, it’s about being as controversial as possible, and participating in the resulting battles (should they arise) or swim in a sea of fawning fans. The actual content isn’t important, it’s the resulting interaction (good or bad) that matters to the author.
Creation
The other perspective, and one that I subscribe to, is that a blog is about creating something, even it if may be shallow or questionable. To ask “without comments, what’s the point” ignores the legions of creators who create, not for feedback, but to simply create. Consider there are thousands of actors, musicians, composers, writers, directors, etc. who never read reviews, and don’t seek nor want feedback or comment from the general public. They may ask people they know and trust for their thoughts (something I generally do). But they have zero interest in what “everyone else” thinks of their work.
Directors don’t make movies to see what result they get on Rotten Tomatoes. Game developers aren’t doing it for the MetaCritic score. Writer’s aren’t writing to get reviews in popular news media. They create to create, it’s what they do. The value for them is the final work, not what people think of it. But they still want to share it with the rest of the world. They are still creating for others, not just for themselves.
Branding and Promotion
Part of creating a blog can be to build a body of work that demonstrates your expertise on some topic, or shows what insights you may have in some area. It’s an opportunity to showcase your knowledge, skills, and experience. The blog, and its contents, becomes part of your brand, and helps to promote you, or to promote your organization or venture.
To what point? For anyone looking for employment, investment, or business partners, it’s a chance to show what you stand for, or what you believe. They can look at your work and perhaps say “hmm, I like that, I want to work with them”. It’s an opportunity to see if there is philosophical alignment on topics or ideas.
Of course, they may also look at it and go “ewww, no way I want to work with them.” Which may be a good thing, since perhaps you weren’t compatible. Filtering out people or organizations that don’t want to work with you can be a good thing, since it avoids the pain of having to break up the relationship later. You might not have wanted to work with them, either.
A False Sense of Entitlement?
Assuming that all blogs must allow comments or be considered pointless seems to be based on a sense of entitlement: that you are not only entitled to an opinion, but should have the right to tell the author your opinion, and expect that author to see it, listen to it, and even respond to it.
Everyone is entitled to an opinion. What you are not entitled to is having that opinion seen, acknowledged, or responded to. If you want to express an opinion in response to something you see in a blog, write it on your own blog.
As an example, a news site is not required to read, let alone publish, letters to the editor. They don’t have to provide you with a mechanism to provide feedback or opinions on what they publish. They also aren’t obligated to publish your work. It’s their site, and they get to choose what is and isn’t on it. And, by the way, this is not censorship. Your right to freedom of speech (as defined by most developed societies) has not been limited here.
There is a great XKCD comic that sums this up nicely:
Wanting To Create and Publish
For some (including myself), the point of a blog is to create something and publish it for others to read. What I write may be nonsense, or full of all manner of problems and fallacies. You may not agree with it. If my work is “bad enough”, people will stop reading it, and that’s ultimately on me. Not asking for the public’s comments on it means I may never know why. And I don’t care. The people whose opinions I care about and trust will let me know if what I write is nonsense or problematic.
Of course, when I publish links to my work on actual social media, I have to expect questions and comments (much like the one I received on the previous piece). That’s the point of social media, to be ‘social’, to have some kind of interaction. But a blog is not, in my mind, social media. And as such, I won’t be including comments on mine.