Do you think blogging is dead or dying? If not, this particular piece by Paul Boutin at Wired might challenge your opinion, especially if you just started blogging like my friend here, or like myself, just resumed blogging after a long hiatus.

My advice though, when you read it, make sure you read it with a huge bag of salt, maybe some sambal and kecap (soy sauce) if that’s your thing. I don’t believe Boutin wrote that sincerely. I mean come one, Boutin is a professional blogger at Silicon Valley gossip blog Valleywag.

He mentioned how blogging has become impersonal, that the scene for personal expression has turned into a professional paid gig and how the whole scene is becoming big media or being taken over by existing mainstream media. If that’s not self serving or satire, show me a dictionary that says it’s not.

Sure, everybody and their dog use Flickr, YouTube and Facebook, oh and MySpace too. The great thing about Facebook is it incorporates all elements of blogging plus being able to connect with your mates, which means anything you post will have an instant audience.

What am I talking about, you ask? Well, Facebook has Notes for you to pour your hearts out and you can also upload photos and videos directly. It’s quickly becoming an alternative to photo sharing sites such as Picasa and Flickr because it’s so convenient. It’s got all the necessary parts to having a great blog without the content. And with the recent changes, it now puts status updates as the primary interaction method between friends.

So why hasn’t everyone stopped using WordPress, Blogger, Flickr, Picasa, Photobucket, Twitter, and everything else and move on exclusively to Facebook? Because people still like to be able to choose their methods of delivery, their exposure to their audience, and they like to be able to customize their layouts. Facebook, despite its near ubiquity, does not necessarily allow non Facebook users or anyone who’s not on your network of friends to see your updates.

So why have long-time senior bloggers like Jason Calacanis and Rober Scoble taken a step away from blogging? The question almost answered itself. They are long-time bloggers. They have been doing it for years, it may not suit them anymore. The scene in Indonesia is not so different. We have senior bloggers such as Enda Nasution and Boy Avianto who very rarely update their blogs these days because they have been blogging since the beginning of the decade. In Avianto’s case, since the last century!

People don’t blog to become popular. At least those who are real bloggers. Those who do it to gain popularity are not bloggers, they’re spotlight seekers. Blogging is a way to express yourself, a way to channel personal opinions and thoughts. If people happen to enjoy what you publish, that’s great, It’s a bonus. If people don’t pick up on your ideas or disagree, why should it be a reason to stop unless you’re a spotlight seeker?

When you blog, post pieces that you feel passionate about, don’t blog about what people want to read because people can find what they want read anywhere. Publish about issues you care about, spread it among people you know. If they like it, they will let you know, they may even tell their friends about it. There’s no pressure to blog and you don’t even have to do it regularly.

People discover who you are from your blog. They may even see a different side of you that you don’t project when you meet people so they can understand you a lot better. Blogging can also connect you with people with similar interests. Sometimes it leads you to a job.

So why have I started blogging again?

It was August 2007 when I decided to stop blogging after several months of irregular posting. I still posted a few entries afterwards but I’ve lost the passion to do it. There was a time where you can find three to four new posts in a single day for the entire week in my blog.

After three years, it had become a chore. It stopped being fun and engaging  anymore. I also couldn’t find the time to blog with my increasing work load. After finding a new job and it’s a writing job, I figured why not kick start the old machine, get things going again? After all, since I need to write for a living, I also need to practice writing more.

So here I am, back blogging again. In two places! This one for my personal thoughts, and my TechWeek blog at Posterous. My Posterous gets pushed to my Facebook Notes where it can find a whole different set of audience because my friends on Facebook do not necessarily go to my Posterous.

Since I haven’t configured tumblr to have comments, if you wish, please leave your comments on Twitter, if you’re on it. Send it @aulia.

See how that works out?

Linkage to Budi Putra re: the same issue