[Editorial] Doing what we do
March 22, 2009
I’m pretty disappointed in the readers of tech it easy—you can comment on the light stuff, what doesn’t really matter, but you won’t on the things that do. It makes me re-evaluate the value of blogging. I’m about to engage on a journey, which I know will take me away from blogging for some time. As you already know, I blog when I can and don’t when I can’t. Perhaps it’s the same way with the way you comment, I doubt it, but I’m no mind-reader either; I just know what works for me and what doesn’t.
Internally, at tech it easy, we’ve been having a discussion about the future of the site, part of which I’d like to share with all of you. As is evident, I have been the main blogger here for some time, which doesn’t make me the boss [there is none], but it gives me a strong say in the matter. What we considered, briefly, was to make tech it easy a more commercial endeavour, with all the good and bad that brings, mainly:
- moving to a dedicated server and away from wordpress.com, which would give more flexibility in terms of design and content.
- implicitly, dedicating time, energy, and money to building up the tech it easy brand
Doing this would require initiative, leadership, and hard work, from the team, which is, at the moment, only a handful.
Here is the profound part of this post [I expect that 80% of you have stopped reading by now]. It is the way I feel about the direction we should take, and I prefer having it scrutinised in public, rather than in private.
The way I feel is really the way I behave, which is that I find maintaining tech it easy solo a pretty hard job and would like help with that; I find some of the “features” that wordpress.com brings to the table pretty great [e.g. no worries about things going wrong technologically] and some things pretty frustrating [e.g. little script-support, though things have been getting better]; I don’t feel hampered by the lack of income from the site, though I do feel unhappy about the lack of discussion [worth more than any cash amount]; And I don’t feel like I should be managed better [i.e. professionally], but I do feel that some things can be structured better, such as who posts, when, and that’s it.
Are these “feelings” enough to make changes on the site? … … …
No.
I don’t think they are. What tech it easy allows for right now is for a team of writers to post when they can, which is part of the attraction to blog here. Everyone who has joined tech it easy so far has a passion for technology and will certainly, at some point, feel the need to write something about it. When they do, I am happy and I hope you are too. If they don’t, que sera, que sera, as they say. It’s a free world and a free site.
[incidentally, if you feel the need to write and would like to do so on tech it easy, give me a buzz]
That is all I have to say on the matter. In summary, moving the site will create more freedom, but it will also make matters more complex, and it won’t automatically lead to a better blog. Readers, bloggers, I’ve had my say. It’s your turn now, if you chose to take it.
Vincent
alexandrelucas
Kari Silvennoinen
Lucien Huang
raphael encaoua
Leonard Sellem
Fidji SIMO
Matthias Schwenk
Remy MIRALLES
ceciiil
Emmanuel Perez-Duarte
Raj Sheelvant
Georgia
March 22, 2009 at 15:33
As I said earlier, not writing a textbook chapter each time you blog may help engage your audience.
March 22, 2009 at 20:42
I value your thoughts more than anything..form actor doesnt matter..
keep blogging
March 22, 2009 at 21:48
@Anonymous Coward / Alex: I have deleted everything apart from your first comment, because it wasn’t the kind of conversation I want to have. You are of course entitled to your non-textbook preference, even if I won’t purposefully try to accommodate it.
March 24, 2009 at 15:46
@Vince: what you’re currently facing with this question: “blogging or not blogging” seems to be pretty trendy one since a few months out there in the Blogosphere. Even big names with a reputation and visibility you and me never will reach have had to think about it - see TED’ Bruno Gussiani or TechCrunch’ Michael Arrington for instance. Subscribing to Guy Kawasaki’s blog feed? Then you may have noticed a slight decrease on his posting rate.
Fact is, the situation is quite hectic for most of us, with the crisis forcing most of us to re-think the way we do business in order to get some (business).
Hard times means less time for non-vital stuff, although blogging is now part of our Marketing & Communication arsenal. We must focus on a few things, which sometimes we can’t disclose to the rest of the World. Or, we simply realized that work is one thing, but private life another. So, we spend less time writing posts - except if you adopt the Seth Godin’ s style - and more time doing business.
Again, I’m not saying a blog can’t be part of our business - it has to be. I’m saying that finding interesting topics for our supposed-to-exist audience is a bit more difficult in such messy period - by the way, this is the first time ever that the Blogosphere meets a worldwide, deep, mind-changing crisis, so we are all learning new behaviors here.
Therefore, my suggestion is to keep TIE as it is today. Don’t change anything. Maybe just the form and/or the rate of posts. One short note everyday could be a nice way to maintain Tech IT Easy’ s reputation, with one longer, in-depth article once a week.
Also, don’t forget how Twitter became powerful over the last few months. The growth has been amazing. It could be another option for you guys to add content on a regular basis. Think about it.
HTH,
_Marc
March 26, 2009 at 13:07
@Marc: thanks for your comment. It is indeed as it is, and any change we make has to happen organically and make sense for the times and the people involved. Right now, I really appreciate that my involvement on tech it easy can remain casual, as there are plenty of other things out there, requiring a more formal commitment, often at the expense of this hobby.
I do however always enjoy hearing from you guys and hope we find future topics that stimulate good (and bad) conversations.
@eponymous: thanks for your comment. With sentiments like that, I don’t hope that I won’t disappoint.