twodoebs

Kati, Libby, and I just got back from a great week in Hilton Head with my parents and sister. Take a minute and check out the video from our trip--we promise it's like no other vacation video you've ever seen!

I recently stumbled on a blog that re-awoke my passion for blogging. This particular site was devoted to a passionate craftsperson who sells her wares on Itsy. The blog was mostly presented as a venue for showcasing her products and encouraging sales. But—as any good blog should do—she wove bits and pieces of herself into her posts. The site became about, not just her business, but also her personality.

I spent hour after hour of my vacation reading this blog from start to finish (or, as blogs go, from finish to start!). I wasn’t particularly interested in the actual subject matter of the site, but I truly enjoyed reading everything that was written.

And this experience made me remember why I was originally so interested in blogging, way-back-when in 2004. It’s a unique platform that allows thoughts to be shared in creative ways. Blogs let their readers experience the passion for a subject that the writer experiences every day.

Between the time that I started doebtown.com, which has since morphed into twodoebs.com, and now, a disruptive event for blogging has occurred. It’s Facebook.

I’ve commented many times before that I think Facebook is killing blogging. And I, myself, was guilty of letting the universal appeal of Facebook cloud my commitment to twodoebs.com. But Facebook is not a substitute for blogging. Facebook does not encourage carefully crafted, well-written posts, which incorporate pictures, text, and video. (If you are a huge Facebook fan, brace yourself for an assault on your addiction) Facebook encourages a recitation of mundane quips, at best. It has its place, and I am by no means publicly closing my Facebook account, but it is not a substitute for a good blog.

In many ways, Facebook may prove to be beneficial for the craft of blogging. Facebook gives would-be bloggers an outlet for posting what they ate for breakfast, how much they hate their co-workers, and sweaty pictures of their wives in the delivery room. It, therefore, clears the underbrush in the bloggosphire for well-written, purposeful content. It shines a spotlight on those blogs that do more than just quip 1 liners or post links to content somebody else has developed.

I recently heard this concept referred to as Panda Blogging, in a nod to the code name Google has given for its new search criteria to identify valuable content. We’ll see if this terminology evolves into a true catch-phrase. Call it Panda Blogging, call it 2.0 blogging, or call it good old fashioned writing, but it’s what makes blogs do something that no other medium—including Facebook—can do.

So, I’m recommitting myself to twodoebs.com. I may sound similar to the newspaper lobby trying to convince people that an older medium is still relevant, but I’m willing to make another go of it.

This post is getting too long, even by standards other than the 160 character benchmark, so I won’t share all my thoughts at once. But in the next few postings, look forward to my thoughts on my expectations for the future of twodoebs.com.

In the mean time, what do you think about my blogging renesance? Am I crazy? Has Pink Floyd’s premonition about The Wall manifested itself in the Facebook feature of the same name?

(Incidentally, while I wrote this post, I was, indeed, “sitting on the patio.”)