The point of blogs: A reply to our own columnist...
November 5, 2009
I don't flatter myself that readers pore over our Thursday email alerts in search of contradictions.
But if you were so minded, you would have spotted this today:
On the left, our travel agent columnist decrying blogging; on the right, five posts from Travel Weekly bloggers.
A contributing columnist and a web editor are not obliged to agree, of course. And we don't.
While I don't know the family Maureen is writing about, it strikes me that you could take the same scenario and give it a positive reading. Like so:
A couple go on a road trip. Travel excites them so much that they want to document it. They write and post photos, which allows the family and friends left behind to feel closer to them. This seems to work, because their parents knew what they're up to, share their enthusiasm and want to pass it on. A bit annoying, but heigh-ho - we all know what Proud Parents are like.
For me, the main misapprehension in Maureen's piece is that bloggers expect everyone to read their every word. I don't know a single one that does (and I know a lot).
Did any TW Blog readers see the column? Thoughts?
Nathan Midgley
Comments (2)
To be fair to Maureen, I don't think she was 'decrying blogging' in general, she was just saying it was annyoing that these people expected her to follow their daughter's trip in such detail.
Of course bloggers don't mean for people to read their every word, but in this case the family of the blogger clearly did.
And let's be honest, some people's travel blogs are really boring.
Posted by Emily Ashwell | November 6, 2009 11:03 AM
Posted on November 6, 2009 11:03
Nathan/Emily.
The moral of the story:
If you think something is going to be frighteningly dull, self-serving, a waste of time or just consistently different to your own opinion and therefore really irritating, just don't bother reading it.
It's an approach I - and millions of others have as well, I suspect - have taken with travel blogs and columnists for years.
Posted by Kevin May | November 6, 2009 2:41 PM
Posted on November 6, 2009 14:41