Blogging isn’t a tech issue, it’s a fame issue

I’ve said on here quite a few times that most everyone should have their own blog, and they should use it as the central place to share their ideas. I still fully believe that, but a recent post from Manuel Moreale has me rethinking my perspective a little bit. Here was his main point:

No one can amass million of followers on a person blog in a matter of weeks. That is something that can only happen on a social platform like Instagram or TikTok. And that’s why most people don’t go down the personal site path. Most people are not chasing freedom of expression. They’re chasing fame. Quantity over quality seems to be the law of the modern web.

We recently saw this exact thing with Donald Trump. When he was on Twitter, it wasn’t the technology that appealed to him — it was the access to millions of users. When he was kicked off Twitter, he started his own blog — and then shut it down after less than a month due to a lack of readership. For someone like Trump, online content is 100% about fame and 0% about freedom of expression.

I think that mindset shift is what’s allowed me to keep publishing every day for more than eight months now. I’m glad people (like you reading this!) follow my work, but the site only sees a few thousand visits per month, which is not “fame” by any definition — and I’m ok with that. I shared early on that I’m writing for me, and if others get benefit from it then that’s just a fun side product.

Manuel’s post helped me to better understand why many others aren’t following suit. It strikes me as odd when people are using Facebook to vent about how awful Facebook is, but now it kind of makes sense. People aren’t trying to unpack whether Facebook is good or not, but rather just trying to get more eyeballs on their words for that bit of fame that they’re seeking. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it helps me to see why behavior like that actually makes a bit of sense.

But seriously — go start your own blog. 🙂