It’s a common dilemma among hobbyist bloggers like me: whether to specialize.
Tech-Media-Tainment is a catchall blog that spans my interests in entertainment, technology, pop culture and the news media. Pretty much anything that trips my fancy I write about. But it’s not specific enough for anyone to turn to as a resource or to bookmark for repeated visits.
Occasionally I think about specializing in one subject to be an expert resource on the Web. But that would be restricting. I like having the freedom to spout off about a range of subjects.
Fun as that may be though, my free time could be better spent chronicling and writing about one niche area.
Penelope Trunk recently blogged about the subject in a post titled “Blogs without topics are a waste of time.”
On her blog, Penelope Trunk’s Brazen Careerist, she wrote, “I challenge you to think of a popular blogger who lacks focus on their blog.”
The implication of her article is that bloggers who don’t focus are being lazy and undisciplined.
She writes, “Please do not tell me that you are just going to write whatever you want and you don’t care who reads it, or if anyone reads it. You are lying to yourself. Of course you care. We each have a limited amount of time in our lives, and blogging takes some of that time … The nature of a blog is that you are choosing to write publicly, so it is, by definition, for other people to read.”
She’s right. Even though I’m writing my blog as a creative outlet, I’m trying to make it entertaining for others to read.
As a counterpoint, John Pozadzides, CEO of iFusion Labs, took Trunk’s assertions to task on his blog. The motto of his blog is “Specialization is for insects,” a quote from science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein.
Even if I wanted to specialize, I’m not sure what that focus would be.
Looking at the labels, or tags, on my blog posts isn’t much help.
Of my 306 posts in the last year, here are my 10 favorite subjects in descending order: Twitter, movies, TV shows, Americana, news media, Chicago, sexy women, Web sites, consumer electronics and video games.
I’m not sure the world needs another blog solely about movies, technology or sexy women.
On that note, another opportunity to post a gratuitous Megan Fox photo! (Courtesy of I Don’t Like You In That Way by way of Maxim.)
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Blogger’s dilemma: To specialize or not
It’s a common dilemma among hobbyist bloggers like me: whether to specialize.
Tech-Media-Tainment is a catchall blog that spans my interests in entertainment, technology, pop culture and the news media. Pretty much anything that trips my fancy I write about. But it’s not specific enough for anyone to turn to as a resource or to bookmark for repeated visits.
Occasionally I think about specializing in one subject to be an expert resource on the Web. But that would be restricting. I like having the freedom to spout off about a range of subjects.
Fun as that may be though, my free time could be better spent chronicling and writing about one niche area.
Penelope Trunk recently blogged about the subject in a post titled “Blogs without topics are a waste of time.”
On her blog, Penelope Trunk’s Brazen Careerist, she wrote, “I challenge you to think of a popular blogger who lacks focus on their blog.”
The implication of her article is that bloggers who don’t focus are being lazy and undisciplined.
She writes, “Please do not tell me that you are just going to write whatever you want and you don’t care who reads it, or if anyone reads it. You are lying to yourself. Of course you care. We each have a limited amount of time in our lives, and blogging takes some of that time … The nature of a blog is that you are choosing to write publicly, so it is, by definition, for other people to read.”
She’s right. Even though I’m writing my blog as a creative outlet, I’m trying to make it entertaining for others to read.
As a counterpoint, John Pozadzides, CEO of iFusion Labs, took Trunk’s assertions to task on his blog. The motto of his blog is “Specialization is for insects,” a quote from science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein.
Even if I wanted to specialize, I’m not sure what that focus would be.
Looking at the labels, or tags, on my blog posts isn’t much help.
Of my 306 posts in the last year, here are my 10 favorite subjects in descending order: Twitter, movies, TV shows, Americana, news media, Chicago, sexy women, Web sites, consumer electronics and video games.
I’m not sure the world needs another blog solely about movies, technology or sexy women.
On that note, another opportunity to post a gratuitous Megan Fox photo! (Courtesy of I Don’t Like You In That Way by way of Maxim.)
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