Why Your Blog Is Your Front Porch
Nov 18th, 2009 by David Svet
Yesterday I wrote about the Habitat for Humanity build that I volunteered for a couple of weeks ago. I’m a big fan of Habitat. Our crew had a great time. We took a walk at lunch to see what else was going on up and down the street. It was quite a sight. There were between 12 and 15 Habitat houses completed on the street. In the beginning of November in Kansas City the street was alive. There were other people walking around, kids playing, and neighbors socializing. This was a neighborhood being transformed.
It’s fun to watch and largely a result of the architecture. All of the houses that Habitat built had front porches. A few of the original houses on the block did too — others didn’t. The ones that didn’t were dead and decaying. The one’s with porches are alive and people socialize. Front porches matter. Front porches are good for neighborhoods.
So, what does this have to do with this blog? Blogs are front porches. They are a place in the social media landscape for people to slow down and interact. Blogs and front porches are where we can sit down and look at an idea. Share what we each think with one another. Blogs are good for thoughtful interaction. Sure, Twitter is awesome. The torrent of conversations are exhilarating. The shear volume of ideas and information that flow past every few minutes is astounding. But for a solid take on a current issue, I love blogs.
You’re right! Unfortunately, the more blogs I find I’m interested in, the less time I spend with each. It’s a hard balance!
Oh, don’t you know it! There seems to be no end to all the great information out there. It’s just so easy to find fantastic stuff that it’s harder and harder to choose where to look. It’s also amazing how some people simply choose to ignore it all!