Blogsphere
21 July 2006
One of the questions I was asked after visiting Christians in the Media was “What were people like in real life?” The answer is quite simple really. People’s personalities were the same as they were online and exactly how I expected them. What was weird was that people looked different to how I had imagined them (Not in like a bad way mind you).
Blogging is such an honest upfront medium people’s personalities come across really clearly. The Blogging world is not a shallow way of meeting people as many think. You make friends with people in a deep and meaningful level. Superficialities never have a chance to take over or at least take time to develop. In the Blog world everyone is average in height, accents don’t matter, the Pacific Ocean seems a small puddle and I care about some kid hearing the gospel on a camp in the USA.
supportMIKE would like to know what you like about blogging?
Posts
Hmmm...my photo is pretty clear, so what would surprise you about my appearance?
But otherwise, yeah - I agree that people's personalities come across well on blogs.
lol it was more I realised I'm heaps taller than... well most people even Christine.
I'm enjoying my now week-long foray into the blogging world because it's a way for me to think through whatever may be happening with me at any given time. I have found that writing about a topic forces me to make my thoughts clear [so other people can understand] and can help me to see when I'm being inconsistant etc...
I disagree with you Mike. Which is to say, it's entirely possible for people to 'be themselves' in the blogosphere. But it's also a lot easier for people to be 'other'. People can and do construct personae on the internet which differ to greater and lesser degrees from their 'real-life' selves.
Hmmm...I think you only have 2 inches on CK...
Why blog?
- It's a good way to catch up with people I see only very rarely.
- It's a laid back way to practise writing.
- Community. It's cool when blog communities form.
As for self-editing: I am quite conscious about how I present myself online (eg, realised a while back that my blog was majorly whiny so I canned it and started again - hence 'optimistbron'!) But I also think that having the opportunity to edit something before I post it helps me to be more conscious about what I say and how I behave in the 'real' word. It's not wrong to be conscious of how you construct your persona. In some ways that can be called self control. It becomes a problem when the motives are wrong.
2 inches makes ALL the difference ;)
i keep trying to tell you that i'm a smelly 50 year old man living in his mom's basement. But no one believes me! argh!!!
yes ... all the difference.
I believe you ckhnat!..in responce to your post, what I love about blogging is getting to joke around with friends and you don't have the awkward feeling of seeing that friend in person.
In the Blog world everyone is average in height, accents don’t matter, the Pacific Ocean seems a small puddle and I care about some kid hearing the gospel on a camp in the USA.
I love that sentence. Quotable.
I stole some of it from a good friend ;)
i keep trying to tell you that i'm a smelly 50 year old man living in his mom's basement.
Hey - me too!!!
2 inches makes ALL the difference ;)
Very true...
Self-editing is an interesting one. I know I do it. But then, how is that different from how you control yourself in public? There's stuff I think, that I won't say on my blog. There's stuff I think, that I won't say in public or to my friends. I think we all "self-edit" in most areas of our life.
There's stuff I think, that I won't say in public or to my friends. I never do that. I have Toretts.
I began blogging simply as a means of keeping friends and family posted about my travels or antics. But as my readership widened, I realized that this was a perfect medium for getting my thoughts out to broader public. Now 1/3 of my readers are an ocean away and I've "met" some wonderful people in the process. Giving me more than one reason to visit your side of the world.
You were definately a lot taller than I imagined.
Not sure Jolly. People always seem so nice when you read their blogs. You just can't have a spat with someone through a blog and make up afterwards, so no, I don't think the blog relationship is in the wars and all category. Sure, deep and meaningful on an intellectual level, and maybe even the emotional level, but with your perception and the other's carefully presented image of themselves. There's no nose-picking online unfortunately.
"wars and all" - should've been "warts and all". But then again...
have you read Craig's blog ... they're ALWAYS fighting over there!
; )
lol - gotta keep things interesting...
blogging is a brilliant way of meeting new people, and establishing connections.
Thanks Annon. I'll have to include nose picking on my blog from now on then ;).supportMIKE now with nose picking.
Care to identify yourself annon?
Interesting comments everyone... I like to think that my online persona and "normal" persona are pretty close to the same. Loud, confident, outgoing and friendly.
good work linking to MTS Mike ;P
"Care to identify yourself annon?" - no, not really. But you do know me...hee hee hee.
Aren't blogs terribly me-centred though? And the things you write will be kept forever, somewhere (and you can never really delete, thanks to Google cache). Could bite you in the butt one day, maybe. What do you think?
"Butt"? As in a large box-shaped geological formation? Anon, I don't understand.
I like blogging because it's fun...but nothing really compares to a face to face relationship. I also happen to believe that my likfe is much more interesting than my blog shows at times.
As for "clear images"...Tracy thought I had red hair. I don't.
It's easy to make yourself seem 'better/ more sohpisticated/ whatever' in the blogosphere - but it isn't always easy to maintain that pretense.
I blog because it's more interesting than watching TV!
It can be me-centred, but it doesn't have to be. I agree with Priscilla, my life is much more interesting than my blog.
Priscilla, I thought you had red hair from your photo too!
And Mike - you are a whopping tall man! I was genuinely surprised when I met you about how tall you are - and I rarely get surprised.