Blogging or Globbing?

I developed early on a sort of unspoken rule that I would not spend too much time blogging about blogging, as it seemed to me a rather circular endeavor. Besides, I'm largely unqualified to sermonize on the subject, being somewhat of a muddled milksop when it comes to cybernetics. But never mind; just think of this post as "Mr. Bean goes to Blogville."

I am thoroughly fascinated with blogging as a both personal and information-rich medium. There is a staggering quantity of ideas, news, and research that is available to anyone, anytime. I am starting to feel that this budding technology, for all it's flukes and flaws, will be playing a significant role in the immediate future of Christianity.

About a week ago I was invited to join Christian Bloggers. Whether they found me by pure accident or were tipped off, it earned me another button on the sidebar and possibly a few more daily hits, (not that either has any meaning). This network stops far short of embodying what I see as the medium's Kingdom potential, but it appears to be hardboiled and harmless. (If you happen to be interested, it is simple to join on your own initiative.)

In the reading department, I recently plowed through BLOG to try to bring myself up to speed a little and stop blogging by torchlight. Written by Hugh Hewitt, a Christian radio talk show host and blogger, the book describes how the blogosphere is dismantling the Mainstream Media monopoly on information, and describes some statistics and stories that are quite interesting.

According to BLOG, a full two-thirds of blogs that are started are ultimately deserted by their bloggers: the average abandoned blog lasts about four months before trailing off into the cold oblivion of outer-cyberspace. I guess that means I am either safely out of danger or inescapably hooked.

The book has a decided political emphasis, and commercialized blogging is preached as a matter of course. For myself, I can't help but hope that there remains a remnant who see advertising as the distasteful distraction it is. Blogging may be a marvelous tool, but much of it remains grossly and unquestionably materialistic.

The Economist has some interesting things to say about Web 2.0, the budding internet standard devoted to new media such as blogs and podcasts. (Speaking of the Economist, you may want to check out this recent article from Mercator.net about the magazine. I don't agree with all of Mercator's conclusions, but it's an informative third-party overview nonetheless.)

As I have intimated in previous posts, the whole affair is a good bit trickier than it looks. There is a fine line between blogging and globbing. Mud is easy to find. Diamonds are not.


Image courtesy of hovedetpaabloggen.dk