HomeOfficeVoice

Striking headline, sure … but it’s honest.

I came into blogging in late-2004 when it was still a little niche industry. Actually, it was this very blog that started it all. It wasn’t too long before I got heavily into meta blogging - which would be blogging about blogging, blogging about bloggers and generally blogging, blogging and some more blogging.

The echo chamber was still an infant but was growing fast.

2005 was pretty much a wasted, but fun-filled, year. It was spent totally immersed in the blogging scene. There was an innocence there but nothing stands still.

And as blogging moved from its growing pains and into adolescence, blogging about blogging started to put a drain on me. I lost my passion for it. I, like many others, spent way too many hours in our own little ’sphere probably to the detriment of our businesses, our jobs and our family lives. Something had to give.

Once I finished my short stint as a columnist at The Blog Herald, I had pretty much made the decision to step back from this scene - going cold turkey. And that’s what I did in 2007. And surprisingly, that very year was my most successful on a number of fronts. So I have no regrets.

But lately, via my rss reader, I’ve noticed that items are getting through to me that I just don’t want to know about.

How many times do I have to see another post about THAT New York Times article about blogging being a killer of a job! One, two, three …No! Eight times.

I didn’t unsubscribe from those blogs because I value their views. It was just a stark reminder of how much the echo chamber is still among us.

So be warned, all you wide-eyed newbie bloggers: if you’re not careful, the “blogosphere” can drag you in and chew you out and before you know it you’ve wasted month and months of your life.

In my planned mentoring program, I talk about such issues and how to deal with them. In fact, I’m doing a module on this very topic this week. I’ve just finished a 20 minute audio on the topic and later this week I’ll be doing a detailed screencast.

Okay, enough of the plug :-) just be careful not to get too attached to meta blogging to the detriment of your business.