INSITEVIEW- - tom shugart's weblog

Wednesday, December 18, 2002

“Real” Voice vs. Blog Voice

Having left the RB brouhaha behind, Elaine opens up an interesting question in her blog today.

” I've been thinking a lot about the Blog arena as a place to exercise one's authentic voice. That's something that's discussed on and off all the time -- as is the idea of "writing oneself into existence." . . . .

Question: Why doesn't everyone use the same voice/behavior in the real world as they do in the blog world? Is it fear? Inhibition?”


I don’t think it’s fear or inhibition because one risks plenty of exposure in writing a personal blog. I used to think that I wasn’t risking anything because my readers are far removed from my "real" world.

Then, as my ranking in Google began growing, I discovered that people in my “real” world were finding my blog through totally unrelated searches. There’s no hiding through blogging.

No, I think the explanation may revolve around the issue of authenticity. Elaine makes the point that blogging is an extension of herself. She doesn’t need blogging for authenticity but as a means of extending who she is to a wider world.

Unlike Elaine, however, who was blessed with a healthy sense of authenticity from the get-go, many of us have had a huge struggle with this issue. It may well have been my number one demon.

For someone like me, blogging is a form of liberation. For Elaine, it's an extension of herself. For me, and I'm sure for many others, it's a welcome opportunity for re-invention--a pathway to the true self that one's demons have prevented one from expressing in the "real" world.

Thanks for the question, Elaine. It was a good one.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home