Tuesday reads

Each Tuesday this year, I’m going to share some of the things I’ve been reading which I have been inspired by or learnt from.

These people are nothing like me – on reading blogs written by a diverse group of people:

“I mean, it’s sort of like the difference between looking in a mirror and looking out a window, you know? In a mirror, what you see might be beautiful, but are no matter how long you stare at it, the view isn’t likely going to change.

…it’s human nature to seek out community with those who share common interests and attributes. That’s actually one of the things that’s awesome about blogging: it allows you to find people who make you feel a bit less alone in your ideologies or interests, or even cultural background. If there’s one big bonus to blogging, it’s its ability to make people feel less alone.

But on the other hand, the beauty of blogging — the magic of blogs, really — is their ability to open your mind to people and places and worlds that are vastly different from your own. Blogs have the ability to do this more than any other form of social media, I think: sure, Instagram and Facebook and Twitter can all give you brief, pithy insights into people who are unlike you, but blogs can offer longer and more well-thought-out personal narrative — bloggers amplify their thoughts and beliefs and rationales far more fully than most people do on other forms of social media. Blogs can connect and educate about what’s different — not simply amplify what’s the same. And frankly, I think that if you’re only following people on blogs who are very much like you, well, honestly, you’re missing out.”

How young is too young for a digital presence?

Dave Winer on blogging in image form on Twitter:

I’m seeing this more and more. Twitter is broken, so people “innovate”. If only they had their own blogs…