Blogging

Blogging is the metaphorical water-skier: slow down or stop moving and you sink completely. With the wind thoroughly in the proverbial sails, having posted more in the last few days than in the last month, I shall keep it up. Andrew Sullivan, the now legendary blogger, here, and former editor of my beloved, Slate, has written a piece for The Atlantic entitled, 'Why I Blog'. It's a fairly banal title, indicative of a fairly lengthy and generalised article, but it is, nevertheless, an Orwell reference. By exploring the various motives and perks of blogging, he regularly stumbles upon the very reasons that blogging can be so gratifying. The hyperlink, it is noted, has revolutionised not just the blogosphere, but the online news world total. From the comments I've received about this blog it's obvious to me that my readers have, in fact, taken the time to click the articles or snippets I link to and read them front to back. I shall not for one instance suppose that this is because I rouse so much enthusiasm that it is simply a reaction to provocative blogging. However, it may have something to do with the immediacy of blog posts, and the shorter length of most posts. It's true, most bloggers will simply insert a handy link rather than articulate the overall gist of a piece they have read merely to appear complete. A link is much faster and takes up less space, plus the reader will otherwise be forced to take your word for it if they were not directed to the piece themselves. I wonder how often people do, for instance, click a link embedded in lengthier online articles at Slate. It seems to me that people would like to read to the end of the article before jumping back and tapping a link. If they haven't understood the point of the piece then this seems more likely, but would that not, therefore, be a failing on the author's part? Yet for the blogger the opposite is true. If someone hits my hyperlinks, I must have done something right. By the way, don't bother with Sullivan's article, I've summed it up perfectly.