Facebook’s “notes” feature has possibly created an entirely new faction of bloggers who have no idea that they are self publishers and by default, bloggers.
I can only imagine that by the sheer number of South Africans that are using Facebook (over 700 000) and are actually writing innocent “notes”, well outnumber us “real bloggers”.
Furthermore, if on average let’s guestimate that these “note bloggers” have +-250 friends and that each note is being read, or at least viewed by half of these people. Imagine if every article you wrote on your blog was read by between 100 and 300 people. You’d have a thriving “real blog”.
“Note blogger” vs “Real blogger” - what’s your poison?
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Paul Jacobson 8:44 am on August 11, 2008 Permalink
I didn’t really think about Facebook notes as “blog” posts but you do have a point. I probably do have a fair number of my friends seeing my notes and other entries so from a visibility perspective that is pretty potent.
Another factor is that most of my friends have a stronger connection to me and interest in what I am doing than many of the visitors to my blog which makes the views more meaningful.
I also think the distinction you draw between Note Bloggers and Real Bloggers is probably the wrong distinction to draw. Real bloggers are bloggers who, among other things, share a strong personal connection to their readers. If Note Bloggers can achieve that on Facebook and we struggle to achieve that on our islands in the blogosphere, who are the *real* Real Bloggers?
Nic 8:59 am on August 11, 2008 Permalink
Paul - very good point re who the “real’ bloggers are!!
I definitely think that considering Facebook notes are sent/viewed by ppl who have a direct relationship with the author, they become very valuable. Especially when you can tag people who you think should read it or would benefit from your note.
Blogging is, like, so 2007 | Paul Jacobson 9:39 am on August 21, 2008 Permalink
[...] and Nic posted a pretty good take on this distinction a little while ago in his post titled ‘Facebook’s “Note Bloggers” must outnumber us “Real Bloggers”‘ where he talked about how Facebook users who publish their thoughts using Facebook Notes may [...]