The Pitfalls of Blogging and Social Networking Sites

In the essay "How to Waste Your Life on Facebook" the author makes the claim that, "In a matter of a couple of weeks, you'll be surrounded by 'friends' you've never met and failing most of your classes - but you won't care!" In too many cases with social networking sites, on-line journals or blogs, and chat rooms this can be all too true. For the purposes of this piece we will deal only with blogs and personal net-working sites i.e. Facebook and Myspace, as these types of sites are derived from blogs. It is quite easy to become rabidly obsessed with blogs and their derivations. Web-logs or blogs were originally created as a way for people to gather and share links to sites that they either found helpful or that pertained to their particular interests. Around the late '90's they began morphing into personal on-line journals as sites like Blogspot, Homestead, GeoCities, and Angel-Fire created some of the first user friendly, prefabricated web-sites. Developing a web-page whether garish or sophisticated no longer required knowledge of things like HTML coding, or domain registration... not when these services took care of these things for you with a few clicks of a button. Around 2003 blogs officially became a fad, much to the chagrin of those who had been traditionally blogging all along. With the new-found popularity, came an influx of new audiences, and no corner of the internet was safe from prying eyes any longer. One now only has to sign up for an account with their preferred blogging service, choose a name for their site, choose a prefabricated template, and choose their settings. Once those small hurdles are cleared, the proud new owner of the web-page is free to begin posting and adding things to their site to their heart's content. The first addiction comes in having a platform from which to speak and the "anonymity" that comes with the medium. One can have the sense that they can say anything they wish and get away with it. The second lethal pitfall of blogging comes when a blogger is actually fortunate (or unfortunate) enough to attract attention to their on-going saga and receives feedback from their audience. The attention can inflate the ego in any hack with or without talent. The third snare of blogging can be found in the visual aesthetic quality of the site. Most blogging or social networking sites have standard designs that can be put up in a couple of mouse clicks. But once you've been blogging a while the desire to stand out from the crowd sets in and you begin looking for that little bit of individual flair. That flair can be costly. So how are bloggers baited, and the hook set when it comes to enticing them to spend countless hours of non-productive time on these particular kinds of sites?

The first addiction is one that unfortunately most of us find called to... that "Pied Piper" of the need to have a voice. In this case many people start a blog or on-line journal as a personal space... something cozy... anonymous... A place in which they can say anything they want without worrying about anyone else's feelings or personal repercussions. A person may be able to express their political views, their religious views, or maybe some things they would not dream of sharing with someone in person such as their views on their spouse or their sex life... or perhaps their sexual fantasies or extramarital escapades. In many cases to start out a blog can seem like a refreshing and creative outlet for the daily struggles each of us undertake in human life. But... many times this creative side is also begging to be recognized and validated... and so it goes that the URL gets handed out to a friend, or maybe a chat buddy, and before you know it, your blog is not quite so private anymore. Suddenly what you say may in fact hurt someone's feelings, even if you have never met them nor seen their face. On a more personal front some bloggers who are blogging about their marriages... or in some cases their affairs are being found out by their spouses. This happens because they either stumble across the blog, they look through the history on their computer, or a friend or acquaintance tips them off to the site. So this space is not quite so private anymore and has the potential to obliterate relationships and friendships. In the case that the blogger is able to remain anonymous, and obtain an anonymous audience, they are often in a position where they are exposing their most private thoughts and emotions to the criticism of people who may lack concern because of their lack of personal involvement with the author. This can also cause the author to become emotionally wrapped up in the blog, either feeling a need to defend themselves or to censor themselves. In some cases the criticism is so intense the author may choose to move or shut down their blog, because they give too much credibility to the commenter/s, and can not emotionally withstand the intensity of the verbal barbs.

This brings us to the next pitfall of blogging. When even the most talentless hack actually attracts the attention of a few people, and starts receiving comments, it can be addictive. Not only are you able to talk about things that normally you wouldn't reveal to other people, but you have people responding... relating... contradicting... validating. You may find that you are receiving encouragement, criticism, or advice. Whatever the response; there comes a certain satisfaction as writer in knowing that someone found what you wrote, worthy enough to merit some sort of response from them. Some people can become so wrapped up in this validation that they may not only become obsessed with which readers are responding, and how they are responding... but also with how often. The worthiness of their art becomes measured in how many comments they receive... and the hopeful author may spend cumulative hours out of their day checking and re-checking to find out if there have been any new responses after they've posted. If not enough comments are received a person may resort to more sordid and salacious content in order to invoke a response. Tenuous 'friendships' can be formed and with the first disagreement instantly dissolve. Situations like these can spill over to work and personal lives as a person begins placing significance and importance on these on-line interactions. It's easy to become obsessed about these interactions, and to allow them to become the only topic of conversation that interests the blogger. This can become annoying and otherwise a concern for friends and family members. It can cause arguments and alienation in the blogger's off-line life. And as the first and foremost interest in the person's life... the blog may take precedence over domestic and academic duties.

When checking and re-checking for new comments, and trying to post salacious content is not enough to bring a satisfactory amount of comments, the blogger may resort to more drastic measures...They may begin to spam other blogs with a link to their own... or they may spend hours on blog promotion sites such as Blog Explosion, or Blog Soldier in order to drive traffic to their blog in hopes of generating more comments. The requirement of these blog promotion sites is to spend time surfing other people's blogs, usually having to wait out a thirty second timer, in order to earn credits toward promoting your own site. This becomes quite time consuming. Each comment received is like a hit of an addictive ego boosting drug that wears off very quickly, and leaves the comment junky in constant search of a couple more.

This can lead to the next pitfall... the need to stand out from the crowd... because no one wants to read a site that looks like everyone else's no matter how great the content may be. A blogger generally has one of a couple choices in spicing up their personal space. They can pay a service to do it, which is not in the least cheap at all. Or they can do what I did, and spend hours trying to teach themselves how to read CSS and HTML coding in order to create their own blogging template. Both are costly... one in money, the other in time. And where learning web-design is a handy skill to have, unfortunately in today's world it's of little more use than as a hobby. This is now the case with a flood of people in the field of graphic and web design, and the numerous advancements and variety in design codes. The other reason a person might decide to change the look of their site is because they do have more of an artistic side, and they may wish to do it as a means of self expression. But again it's time consuming, and/or costly. The hours put into the customization of a blogger's site can be a sore point with close friends and family. In the same way that having conversations monopolized by the blogger's interest in their own personal soap box can be annoying or of concern, the time and resources design customization consumes are viewed as commodities that would be better invested in building those interpersonal relationships. In the case of a student, it would be better invested in homework and study in order to challenge and advance themselves towards their long term goals.

So is the time spent on these sites a complete waste? For the most part, yes. The friendships developed as a result of social net-working sites and blogs are tenuous at best, and generally do not carry on for more than a few months. So putting too much time and effort into these relationships can be quite wasteful. Especially when there are people in the person's off-line life, that are able to interact with them daily, and form stronger relationships with more longevity. The time and effort put into trying to personalize the site's design could be better utilized for work or for school. This would be a more useful way for the person to spend their time, and would have better long term benefits financially and academically speaking. And then also rather than seeking the validation of anonymous handles on the internet, the most satisfying validation comes from the people surrounding you... the people that will stand beside you even when they disagree with you or are angry with you. Their input on your most personal thoughts is far more valuable than that of someone who has no personal investment in your day to day situation. Some people are able to utilize a blog as a decent hobby, and are self disciplined enough not to let it become anything more than that. For the rest of us poor suckers who get drawn into the hype of it all, it is better to avoid it and focus on more important things, such as our academics, our jobs, and the people we care about, or more importantly... the people who care about us.