Tweblog - Toby Getsch

I recently took a break from blogging (both writing and reading).  To put this into perspective, I follow about 160 blogs.  About half of those are very much work related.  I was probably spending about an hour per day reading and maybe another hour per day writing my own blog posts or responding to others.

(If anyone is paranoid about time spent at work, don’t be.  I put my time in there, and I also can read from my mobile phone from anywhere, like on the bus a couple times a day.  Also, some key learning for work has come from those blogs.  By far they’ve been the biggest resource with most direct help for my exact projects, right now.)

The break lasted about 2 weeks.  In the middle of that break, I did need to do some reading to find some work related resources.  I also cheated a little bit towards the end of last week and through this past weekend because I just missed some of the reading.

Here are some of my takeaways.

1. I get a lot of my news and info from blog reading.  Other resources are not as efficient for me.  (It’s probably better to say “feed reading” because not all of the info is in a blog format, but it is published using a feed that I read with Google Reader.)
2. I didn’t really miss writing my own blog posts and responding to other’s.  So, maybe it’s just not that important to me.
3. I enjoyed the time gain.  I used it to get good exercise and spend more time on other things.  I even lost at least 5 pounds and now have to buy new jeans so they don’t fall off!
4. I’m going to trim my reading list and probably cut back on writing my own posts and responding to other’s.  I do have some books I want to write, so I’ll still have avenues to write and express myself.
5. There is a social aspect to blogging.  I found myself still investing in and getting some social gain via other means and other social networks I’m part of (online and offline).  My About Me page on this blog got updated.
6. I know this one will sound absolute, but it makes my point.  While not blogging, I went back to some regular news watching and reading the paper (online).  Everybody else still doesn’t get blogging and how it can be used.  They don’t get RSS or feeds.  They don’t get social networking.  And, they don’t care to, mostly because they just don’t understand, not because they dislike.

There are probably more takeaways that will surface, as I make some changes and apply some of my takeaways.  If you want to know more about where I’m going with all this blogging and social networking and Web 2.0 thinking, just ask me, or leave a comment here.

I think that there is a lot of work to be done to get our American culture to be more flexible and accepting of other ways of doing things.  I see this being most prevalent in our attitudes and in the ways that we work (or don’t work).

Now, back to work!