You’ve likely seen this article already, but it’s worth revisiting a few times. I enjoyed Cal Newport’s comparison of the social internet and social media, but this specific post hit home more for me.
Not only does he offer some practical ways to embrace the social internet, but one of those tips is dear to me: own your own domain. He sums it up well:
I can tell you from experience that this approach is harder than simply setting up a Twitter handle and letting the clever hashtags fly, but it’s immensely more satisfying to produce things when you’re not a data point in some Silicon Valley revenue report.
And:
When you run your own site, reality is harsher. If people don’t truly care about what you have to say, or don’t truly care about you, they’re not going to stick around. You have to earn their attention. Which can be really, really hard.
Add to that, he quotes Alan Jacobs a couple of times. Alan is quickly becoming one of my favourite writers and happens to own his own domain as well.
