It must be hard for a professional blogger like Robert Scoble. Working fairly flexible hours, getting to write about, shoot video about, and otherwise co-mingle and hob-nob in, a field you love, all the while getting paid for it. Now, I’m trying not to sound as cranky, cantankerous, jaded and jaundiced, as I probably do, but I’m failing. Robert Scoble is taking another break from blogging because he’s gotten disillusioned from the seeming triviality of it all.
Well, boo freakin’ hoo.
I think that its up to all of us to find meaning in whatever industry, field, or way of life we happen to participate in. For some of us, its easy to do, and for others a little harder. Professional blogging is no different. You have to acknowledge there are going to be times when you’ll be dealing with the unimportant, the seemingly trivial, and its up to you (and all of us, really, in whatever we do), to remind ourselves of why we’re doing what we’re doing in the first place.
And if you’ve forgotten or can’t remember why its important, maybe — *maybe* — you should stop and ask yourself why you’re doing it in the first place.
Now, perhaps Robert *is* doing this in favour of some other endeavor, but the cynic in me says that this “break” will probably be like a few others he’s taken over the past few years, in that it will last a few days, and where he’ll be back blogging before we all know it.
10 Comments
This may be a trivial question but what’s your point? Should Robert not be able to take a break? Should he not have said why e was taking a break? That he make too much time off or too little?
We all deserve breaks every now and again — but his rationale this time, what with his disillusionment with the blogosphere seemed a bit wanting for a professional blogger.
That is to say, dealing with the supposed trivialities of the blogosphere, the drama, the trolling, the blogwars, and the talk of the bubble — that’s all part of your job, man. But so is all the cool stuff as well. Robert’s got it pretty good as a super A-list techno blogger, who gets paid and is able to make (what sounds like) a comfortable living what he does.
To complain about what seems like a cool job and an otherwise cool life that other bloggers would drool over seems a bit unseemly to me.
Now tell us what you REALLY think, Tony! ;)
I get tired of blogging myself but it’s brought me so many rewards–monetary and otherwise–that I can’t imagine just ditching it. But if ever a job is non-stop, blogging is it. I’m going on vacation next week and would you believe that I actually wrote posts in advance?! Yes, I’m a star. lol
So, cut Scoble a little slack but it’s good to remind him that what he has going is pretty darn amazing.
Tony, if you’re running a pool, I’ve got $5 on the day after Labor Day. ; )
He puts himself out there, with all the wackyness –”There are 6 Billion people in the world and 5.8 Billion of them are my friends in Facebook. Woot!!”
Then the “think skin” postings. Let’s think about this: who experienced more animosity in his career. Robert Scoble or Bill Gates? Who experienced more press coverage, newspaper stories, etc. criticizing him and what he was doing? Call me crazy, but I’m going with Gates.
I know that now after 25 years or whatever, Gates is moving on, but at no time in the last 25 years did Gates make any “I’m so disillusioned, I’m taking a break from Microsoft!” speeches. Not even after he got pied in the freaking face!
If you want to be in the public eye, if you want a gazillion Facebook friends, if you really want to make a difference and change the world, you need a thick skin.
A couple of points. Scobleizer is not “part of the job, man.” No one pays Robert to blog. o one ever has. When he was at Microsoft, he did the blog in his own time. It is true that Robert seems to crave the public eye more than the rest of us, and thus gets more up close and personal than most people do. The stuff he wrote when his mother died, for example was incredibly revealing. I think you should cut the guy some slack. Either that, or you should just not read him anymore and he will be onme person less popular.
Shel,
Yes, I know he derives no direct income from Scobleizer, but he is using his blog in the smartest manner possible: an indirect level to grow (and maintain) his tech brand. In that way, it is very much part of his “job”, i.e. the Robert Scoble Brand.
Secondly, and lastly, he doesn’t need any slack cutting from me (I mean, who the heck am I?); he has loads of fans who are happy to do all the slack-cutting in the world.
Do I think everyone deserves a break every now and again? Of course. Do I think its unseemly to frame it in a “oh woe is me, the blogosphere isn’t talking about things that are important” when you’ve cultivated your online identity and brand through the blogosphere?
Yes, I do.
Robert (Seidman),
I got you down for $5 on the day after Labour Day. Who else is in? :)
He could have just said…Wow man…I need a vacation!
I subscribed to his Twitter posts for a while and I came off thinking that the guy was way too full of himself. (Oddly enough, Twitter usually turns me on to good bloggers; I guess Scoble doesn’t come off well in 140 characters or less.) And I agree with Tony — he’s got enough fans cutting him a load of slack.
I just think Tony might have had a slow news day (so to speak) if he bothered to spend the time writing this post. Ain’t worth the ink (so to speak).
Totally agree Tony.
All of us have shitty days and weeks at work. Hell, I’m a programmer and I often wonder what the point of it all is but at the end of the day I get paid and life isnt too bad. If you need a break then take it and just say “Im on vacation”.
Recently I have real problems identifying what his blog is. Some posts are good, focusing on what I presume the blog is about, tech. Some posts are borderline obsessive (read iPhone, N95 etc) whilst others are either emotional/family related which to be honest don’t really interest me. There’s far too much to read on the web than filtering through emotional posts about someones state of mind – hey, its a TECH BLOG!
Of couse, it’s his personal blog and he can write about what he wants *but* he has cultivated the blog on the basis that it’s technical and he also uses it as a vehicle to push his numerous (work) video postings so I dont believe his podtech work and the blog are as seperated as shel (above) said.