“Much of what constituted blogging in the early days has now become commonplace on the social web,” writes Om Malik. “However, what has not been replicated is the ability to create a map of one’s thoughts.”
What he’s talking about as he tries “to rekindle my love for the only form of writing that makes sense” to him is what I and some others have been bouncing back and forth lately: the idea that introducing friction into the process of interacting online helps produce context. Social media, to date, is bad at that; blogging good at it.
When he ponders “what sparked this renewed interest” in blogging, he’s pondering what a lot of us are pondering, about ourselves, these days, both old-school bloggers and the newly-enrolled.