Are we having fun yet?

As blogging continues to mature, the days of blogging as a fun side job has been replaced by new hierarchies of power, and with it more and more parts of the blogosphere reflect the mainstream media structure of work first. There’s nothing wrong with a new wave of bloggers turning the internet into a source of income, full time jobs that offer a freedom often missing in a traditional corporate structure. And yet, with serious money has come serious stress, the need to be first, to publish the next post to keep your readers coming back, sometimes a monotony of noise that isn’t always fun.

But wasn’t blogging suppose to be fun? How is it that for significant numbers of bloggers, the fun has been replaced by the very things we attempted to escape as worker bees in the past?

Balancing act

Having worked at the blogging grind in the past, I know how easy it is for blogging to cease becoming fun. The irreverence that helped define blogging is for many blogs a thing of the past, instead our growing status as outlets of news has delivered a serious blogosphere, that struggles to laugh at times. It’s one of the reasons I started The Inquisitr: there’s a place for serious tech news and thought, but I was tired of frying my brain looking for a next Crunchmeme headline when I knew others were having fun. It’s why you see celebrity stories next to Jesus sitings along with the serious stuff here at The Inquisitr. To me, this is fun, because I can be writing about a Microsoft acquisition one minute, and big foot the next. The key for me is the mix.

But not everyone can deliver balance in their blogging lives. The economics of blogging dictates that we should remain focused on what drives the next page view and ad sale.

Are two blogs better than one?

We can’t all start a site like The Inquisitr, and I’m fortunate to have been able to start it, but you can offer balance by starting another blog. That could be your personal blog, or a new site, where you can be yourself, post on what ever tickles your fancy, and bring some fun back to the mix. My personal blog for me has long been completely unfocused and all over the place in terms of what I write. It doesn’t win any records for page views (although occasionally it actually goes well), but it’s exactly the way I want it. A site where I don’t care about traffic, a site that allows me to speak my mind on what ever subject, no matter how boring it may be to some. It was my fall back during my darkest hours, the one place where I was usually me, and it even served to notify me when I was near breaking point. It was a barometer of me, and it can be for you. We may love writing, but freestyling it without care can deliver a balance that many of us lack.

Anonymity is a Blogspot blog away

Naturally not everyone can afford to be as open as they’d like, and often we are restrained on what we can write about away from our main blogs, legally or because of the damage our thoughts may sometimes cause. Aaron Brazell once told me that the best therapy you can have is posting anonymously on a Blogger blog. No one may read you, but there’s nothing better than letting go. Anonymous blogs can deliver the fun quotient you are missing, they may service as a platform for experimentation, or simply they may help you remain sane.

Conclusion

Blogging is still fun, even if more and more people take it more seriously. That I can write a post in my underwear in bed on any topic I please is fun compared to the corporate restraints and structures in my past working life. It’s fun meeting new people, sharing ideas and learning, and yet for some drudgery is only a post a way. Keep mixing it up, try new things, experiment, take a day or two off and always remember that blogging should be fun and not just another job.