Why indeed, Darren. Why indeed.

Darren Barefoot's getting lots of link love today for his latest (very funny) meme grenade, but I'm here to tell you all about something else he's working on.

In preparation for his talk at Northern Voice, Darren has posted a short "Why Do You Blog?" survey at, appropriately enough, whydoyoublog.com.

I just filled it out myself and I found it to be very interesting excercise. In the spirit of true confessions, here's my answer to one of the questions. I share it because I think the last bit is a very true and very worthwhile lesson for anyone who's on the fence about keeping their blog alive:

Q: If you've ever stopped blogging for a long period of time, or abandonded a blog, why did you?

I started the blog at the beginning of February 2005. Eleven posts and thirty days later I stopped and didn’t write another post for over a year.

What was going through my head when I decided to quit? There was a little bit of “What do I know and who would want to read it?”, definitely.

And I think I found the freedom of it very appealing on paper but scary in practice. I had worked for years as a writer, doing tech docs and marketing stuff. I was used to going through multiple drafts and reviews before publishing anything. A direct channel to the world made me feel sort of naked and unprotected.

But eventually I started it up again because I felt like I was missing out on connecting with interesting people who were interested in some of the same stuff I was. This turned out to be absolutely true.

Tags: blogs blogging darrenbarefoot northernvoice northernvoice07

Web 2.0 apps I couldn’t live without

A few weeks back, Mike Arrington posted a list of the Web 2.0 apps he couldn’t live without. I haven’t noticed it developing into a meme but it sort of deserves to.

I mean, we love to talk/blog about so many of them, but which of these apps are actually being used daily? Which are actually being loved?

So, here’s my list. I encourage you to come up with your own and leave a comment linking to it.



What if you could search hundreds of Mp3 blogs through a single, friendly interface. And what if you could then take it a step further and turn your favorite searches into RSS feeds? If you are serious about new music, the Hype Machine is paradise. I can honestly say that I use it pretty much every day and would really, really miss it if it suddenly vanished.



Bloglines is still my one-stop destination for fresh bloggy goodness. I switched over from NewsGator about 9 months ago and I’ve never looked back.



And incredibly intuitive re-imagining of email. The more I use it the more I love it.


In the past year I have used YouTube to:

1) Discover all kinds of crazy random shit that made me laugh
2) Watch video footage of breaking news stories
3) Watch passionate customers assert their power (sleep on, oh weary Comcast technician, sleep on)
4) Track down rare content that I can’t find anywhere else
5) Introduce my son to some of my all-time favourite bands
6) Share videos of my kids with family and friends

That about sums it up.



I always saw the value of del.icio.us but try as I might I was never able to turn it into a regular habit. Then came Ma.Gnolia. More usable. More beautiful. More social. And I never get tired of using their Roots bookmarklet.



I still haven’t switched this blog over from Blogger to WordPress but it’s only a matter of time. I use Wordpress for two other blogs I write and I love it.



Always raising the bar for usefullness, simplicity and elegance.



Loads of fun. I click on my StumbleUpon bookmarklet at least once a day and I am constantly discovering interesting things.



Full disclosure—I am very, very involved with Sutori. In fact that’s why it’s here. Leaving it off this list would be like leaving one of my kids out of my will.


So what about you? Which Web 2.0 apps have become an indispensable part of your daily life?


Tags: web2.0, web20, lists

Look ma, I’m a Z-lister!

(image snagged from paulfrankenstein.org)

Thanks are due to Kate (of "My Name Is . . ." fame) for adding my to her Canadian appendix to the Z-list meme. Her post is a few weeks old but I have been off the radar.

It’s a great honour and I will do my best to live up to it (sob!).

Here’s Kate’s full list -- great company all around:

• AdHackalexandrasamuel.com
• Bill Sweetman
• Blogging Me Blogging You
• Boris Mann
• Boyd Neil
• Brendan Hodgson
• Canuckflack
• Client Side Blog with Michael Seaton
• June Li
• Leesa Barnes
• Leigh Himel
• Lisa Walker
• Michael Fergusson
• Mitch Joel
• Obviousness
• The Other Bloke's Blog
• Peter Mosley
• PR Girlz
• Rob Cottingham
• Stephanie Rieger
• Tamera Kremer
• Uninstalled

Tags: katetrgovac mynameiskate z-list zlist marketing canada canadian bloggers blogging pr