Soft Blogging

First I read something last Thursday on United Irelander. He seemed to be saying that the view held by non-bloggers that blogs were mere personal diaries was bringing down the image of blogging:

I personally feel blogs are let down with their reputation as being simply “personal diaries”. While there are alot of bloggers who talk about how Cindy was being a real bitch at school and pondering over whether Corey will take them to the prom, there’s a hell of alot of blogs which steer clear of the personal diary-esque style altogether and they need to be the ones who encompass the bulk of the blogosphere.

Oh really?

Then there was the piece by John Ihle in the Times just before the blog awards where the emphasis was all on blogs as an extension of the traditional news media and the whole “citizen journalist” slant and again wanting to distance blogs from the perception of them being just personal diaries.

Then Fiona deLondras asked once again why more women don’t blog (although I think there are loads of us and I think it’s one area in which we’re well-represented) and if they do is there a perception that they only blog on the “soft” issues. She did ask whether or not that would be a bad thing if it were true but I think that a lot of the time it is perceived as a bad thing as highlighted by United Irelander’s statement.

It is my opinion that this so-called soft blogging ought to be encouraged in Irish blogs. Why must we all go techhy or political with our blogging? Why should it be the majority as if the rest is a sort of embarrassment? We have plenty of hard topic blogs but the personal blogs…the ones that really talk in an honest and open and funny way about life…are thin on the ground in Ireland. Why are we Irish so scared about the personal stuff? The blogging I’m talking about is hilarious, poignant, thought-provoking and brave. It’s not just confined to women, there are men blogging in this way too. Unfortunately not a lot of them are Irish.

I think the question (that I’m asking myself too by the way) is not why more women aren’t blogging, or how to get everyone blogging about politics. I think it’s more why we Irish bloggers are so scared and intimidated about blogging about the personal stuff? Why is that seen as embarrassing or soft?

I’d also like to see more Irish shoe blogs…anyone care to try that one?

26 Responses to "Soft Blogging"

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  1. Fiona

    March 15, 2006 at 12:21 pm

    Can I just stress that I really like ‘soft’-blogging – I mean I love it. They’re the blogs that make me smile and give me fuzzy feelings inside. The ‘hard’ blogs are the ones that make me feel like I’m working (which I also enjoy). So I’m not saying that there’s something wrong with it I’m asking about our perceptions of ‘soft’ blogging and of ‘value’ when it comes to blogging.

    D’ya know what I mean? I love soft blogging and I’m all about challenging the perception that it’s of less value in some way.

  2. Colm

    March 15, 2006 at 12:30 pm

    Sure us men couldn’t be writing about our feelings, now could we? That’s not manly enough.

    You’re making an excellent observation here. The fact that not many Irish men write on “soft” topics is surely related to the Irish male treatment of feelings and emotions in general.

  3. gingerpixel

    March 15, 2006 at 12:32 pm

    Sorry Fiona, I did understand that you aren’t against “soft” blogging, I just didn’t express myself well enough. I was attempting to answer the questions on your blog:

    Is there a perception that women ‘soft’ blog?
    Is this accurate and, if so, is that necessarily a bad thing?

    with yes, that is the perception and it is perceived as a bad thing in a lot of cases. :)

  4. Sinéad

    March 15, 2006 at 12:35 pm

    Clare, some excellent points there.

    Personally, I’m not comfortable with even using words like ‘hard’, ‘soft’ or ‘firm’ to describe content, never mind what they represent!

    Quality writing and blogging is just that and it shouldn’t be pigeon-holed, tagged or deemed less meritorious because it doesn’t mention refugees, Northern Ireland or the war in Iraq. I HAVE views on all those things, I mostly choose not to blog about them.

  5. Fiona

    March 15, 2006 at 12:56 pm

    Claire – :D

    I agree it’s often tagged as a bad thing or a less valuable kind of blogging and really dislike that mostly because I wholly disagree. Whatever about places like the States there’s very little current affairs stuff that get on blogs in Ireland that you don’t get in newspapers or on the news (riots being the exception) so we engage in those for the debate. However I find that more personal blogs actually bring something to me, which requires a hell of a lot more talen and guts than talking about politics does.

    Sinead – yeah we couldn’t possibly blog on everything we have an opinion of, we’d do nothing but blog all day (speaking of which…ouch, work day half gone already). The classification of hard and soft blogs came from a conversation I had with a (male) work colleague – I think fence added firm (which I quite liked) but I think for conversational shortcut the classifications might just work

  6. Laughman

    March 15, 2006 at 1:40 pm

    Where would we be without “soft” bloggers – you know, like Twenty Major?

  7. JL Pagano

    March 15, 2006 at 1:58 pm

    “I think it’s more why we Irish bloggers are so scared and intimidated about blogging about the personal stuff?”

    Excellent point, and that is precisely the reason why I started a separate blog to aim at Irish readers.

    I reckon “soft” and “hard” are unfortunate terms. “Internal” and “External” maybe? Maybe a lot of people think that banging on about current affairs is the only “important” thing to be doing on blogs, but for me, Political discussion does for blogs what Football discussion does for blokes in pubs, in that it provides a safe topic for us to forget about what may be really troubling us. Having done both myself, I reckon I know what I’m talking about.

    I plan on going a bit more internal with my Irish blog soon.

  8. Damien Mulley

    March 15, 2006 at 2:37 pm

    Colm,
    When is the last time you cried (outside of watching some sporting achievement)?

    :)

  9. that girl

    March 15, 2006 at 4:00 pm

    Great post Claire – I’ve responded on my own blog

  10. that girl

    March 15, 2006 at 4:00 pm

    Colm – your honourary girl status is being revolked..

  11. Emma

    March 15, 2006 at 4:49 pm

    Funny that UI should write that. When he did his top ten women bloggers he included quite a few that were personal diaries, including my own (just had to throw that in there!) and Red Mum. Can’t think of others off the top of my head, and can’t be arsed to search through his archives!

    Although mine is personal, I do not think I would want it referred to as soft, though I suppose it often is. But for the most part, life and parenting itself is not soft, and I do talk about the issues I deal with.

    By the way, your daughter is lovely.

  12. gingerpixel

    March 15, 2006 at 4:59 pm

    I agree with you Sinéad, I don’t like the labels either. JL’s alternatives are better “external” or “internal”.

    Yep, Colm, I do think Irish guys are under a lot of pressure to not be talking about their feelings so they do what JL says, they discuss politics and sport.

    I’m looking forward to reading your more internal blog JL. I really enjoy your “1000 words on…” essays.

    Laughman, so true…the winner of three awards on Saturday night could be considered a personal blogger in a round-about way.

  13. Paige

    March 15, 2006 at 5:18 pm

    Claire,
    I like where the whole discussion and this blog in particular went. Couldn’t agree more with internal/external over hard/soft.

    On Fiona’s original post, I was one of the first to say “Thanks, but no thanks” to the idea of a female bloggers only club. I realise that Fiona wasn’t suggesting an exclusive club and that if it could encourage more women that would be useful. That said, I am interested in how quickly the discussion turned into a vociferous attack on all sorts of issues. That set me thinking. What if I held a minority view about an issue. Would I feel comfortable putting it forward if I thought that the response would be so critical?

    Then, Colm (half)-jokingly raised the issue of male sensitivity. I feel very strongly that as a society we do not allow/expect/encourage males to express their worries, concerns, fears. We condition them to be brave, hard and tough. And we see the consequence with horrific suicide stats. I’d be happy to participate in a female only discussion that explored how we marginalise men in this respect and what we could do to stop this oppression (suppression).

  14. John of Dublin

    March 15, 2006 at 5:39 pm

    “The blogging I’m talking about is hilarious, poignant, thought-provoking and brave”

    Claire I agree with everything you said along with the other commentators, and I’ve commented before on this elswhere. We need to forget about gender and topic hangups. Each blog is either “hilarious, poignant, thought-provoking and brave” or it’s not. Simple.

  15. Angie

    March 15, 2006 at 6:56 pm

    Well, lots chimed in on this one!

    From an outsider’s perspective: I think when a blogger has a more personal side (soft/internal), it actually adds more substantiative value to his/her posts on the more weighty topics. Anyway, I don’t really connect with views as much as I connect with the people who have them. I love the community and friendship that can be built through these connections!

    Blogging is different for everyone though. And I think there’s enough room in the blogosphere for all of us! ;-)

    I think it’s great to push the envelope in thinking about Irish blogs and why they are what they are… Great thoughts, Claire!

    P.S. Claire… Got your e-mail & I’ll be responding soon. That should keep you on the edge of your chair!

  16. John of Dublin

    March 16, 2006 at 12:03 pm

    Claire, I took a leaf from your book with the word “brave”. Have a look at my blog today!

  17. Fence

    March 16, 2006 at 12:31 pm

    The blogs that I read tend not to focus on “hard issues”. My own blog doesn’t focus on hard issues. It doesn’t focus on any issues.

    I don’t care that my blog doesn’t make me money. I’m not really interested in blogging for a political party. My blog is doing exactly what I want, helping me get to know other people.

    Once the writer is happy with their blgo then it doesn’t matter what they write on. You don’t ever have to visit again if you don’t enjoy.

  18. fústar

    March 16, 2006 at 1:36 pm

    Before I started blogging I had a definite aversion to ‘online diary’ style personal blogging (and my blog is still reasonably detached from my day-to-day life).

    I’ll try to explain why.

    The little experience I had with ‘online diaries’, previously, gave me the impression that those who composed them were (in many cases) needy, “I want your attention”, “Listen to my woes” types who saw themselves as the centre of the universe. There was a performative, forced, and insincere aspect to such blogs that I found a bit hard to stomach, and it really put me off the whole activity.

    Since I started blogging myself, and started reading other people’s blogs on a daily basis, I’ve realised that there are some wonderful ‘personal’ blogs out there that are honest, witty, inclusive etc. That, however, is only because I’ve delved relatively deep. Like anything else, you don’t find the ‘good stuff’ unless you’re prepared to be a bit of looking.

    There still remains, I would say, a general perception that ‘personal’ blogging suffers from excessive attention/sympathy-seeking…and that’s a shame.

    That type of thing, for me, constitutes the ‘immature’ end of the ‘blogosphere’ and is, of course, only a small part of a much bigger picture.

  19. Liv

    March 16, 2006 at 6:39 pm

    Hi Claire.

    I really do agree with you. I haven’t been around the Irish blogging circuit for long, have read a few dutch blogs though and read a lot of so called lifeblogs that were written by men (majority of lifeblogs even!)

    My opinion is just that everyone needs to blog about whatever he/she feels most comfortable writing about, whether that is politics or your weekend. Blogs that have been written with passion and enthousiasm are the best, unspite their theme.

  20. Colm

    March 17, 2006 at 4:02 pm

    Colm,
    When is the last time you cried (outside of watching some sporting achievement)? :)

    Terribly unfair Damien; you’re trying to answer that question yourself! In fact, ah I came close to it when reading a particular news story this week about a tragic accident.

  21. Omaniblog

    March 20, 2006 at 10:30 pm

    What a lovely collection of comments after your fine stimulation! I love the appearance of your blog, the way it is laid out, and your colourful top. I bet you wear good shoes.

    There is a chance that I am the oldest Irish blogger (says he hopefully)and this set me thinking about what younger Irish men are like nowadays?

    When I was growing up in Ireland (born 1950), I made a point of never crying. As the oldest in my family, that was for the younger ones. I would be big and manly like my father. He never cried. Neither did my mother. I used to think that adults never cried. I wanted to be grown up and that meant not losing control of my emotions.
    To this day, I find it hard to cry. When my dad died, I vomited up some awful stuff (literally), so that it was hard to go to the funeral.
    Something happened to me while I was living in the UK for over 30 years: I got soft.
    Now my blog is a marshmallow.
    You can find me writing about to give my daughter a bath without drowning her. You can find me complaining madly about the lack of proper public health services in Ireland (after all it’s only women who get cervical cancer!). You can find me guessing who’ll win the next election. You won’t be surprised to find that I am inclined to write about my personal experience of mental illness.
    Am I a complete oddball?
    Thank you for encouraging me to wonder.

  22. gingerpixel

    March 21, 2006 at 12:02 pm

    Thanks Omani, I used to wear nice shoes but now everything I wear seems to have Liga all over it. I’m sure you know what I mean :D

    Thanks as well for the point to your blog, I couldn’t agree more with your views on our health service (did you see Brendan Gleason on the Late Late? I was cheering him on). I’ve also recommended your blog to my husband who has similar fears about bathing our daughter. I think it’s every parents nightmare.

  23. United Irelander

    March 22, 2006 at 5:56 am

    I guess I’m joining this a bit late but I’d like to point out that I have no problem with personal or ‘soft’ blogs at all. My comments were in relation to the notion of blogging being taken as seriously as journalism rather than as simply amateur or wannabe journalism.

    I link to alot of personal diary-esque blogs and feel that they bring welcome diversity to the blogosphere.

  24. gingerpixel

    March 22, 2006 at 12:30 pm

    Thanks for commenting UI, I think for blogs to even come onto the mainstream radar (let alone be taken seriously as journalism) more people need to be doing it. If we push the diversity of blogging that you’re talking about it will attract more people to start writing their own.

  25. Omaniblog

    April 1, 2006 at 1:31 pm

    Liga: now there’s a topic I’d like to read more about. Is it good enough for healthy children? Is it an artificial sugar hit? Isn’t it a mess? Aren’t there better alternatives? Surely it’s not right to feed your child liga off your new shoes?

    I missed Gleeson on the Late, Late. But I heard grown men say that they’d cried through his input. The joe duffy show… Someone even said Gleeson should be made the A&E Czar.

    As regards bathing an infant being a nightmare, I don’t agree. I do it with my eyes open. But I must admit to being reluctant to transfer her into a big bath. I’d like to hear from your husband on my blog. Thank you v much for recommending it to him.

    I agree with you about the tiny number of bloggers.

  26. gingerpixel

    April 3, 2006 at 9:56 am

    Liga manages to give off the appearance of not being as bad as a biscuit or a rusk but I’m sure the sugar hit is just as high. Anything that can form such a rock-hard consistency can’t be good. These days I try to give her raisins and grapes to munch on.