(I wrote this post back in October and forgot about it… oops. But I think its still relevant. So here it is.)
Both Chris Penn and Chris Brogan said it beautifully. Not that it wasnt true before, but consider for a moment how important it is to have a home of your own online. When I was starting off in this industry, I remember very clearly a conversation I had with my friend Ryan who said to me “we will talk when you get to Chicago, but in the mean time get a blog, create your presence online.” And that’s exactly what I did.
Its been a long journey to get where I am today, and I am far from done. I started with my blog spot blog, then moved on to buying a domain and hosting it, finding a free template, editing it to my liking, breaking it, fixing it, and then ditching it and starting all over here at DigitalHighrise with the Thesis theme.
Its been a long haul with the blog, but without a “home” that I felt comfortable in, none of this would have ever happened. I would never have learned HTML, CSS, how hosting works and even technical parts of SEO which I am able to control on my own terms and implement changes as I see fit.
When Steve Rubel deleted both his blogs I didn’t even give pause that he might have actually been on to something. Forget about all the lost content , which is tragic in and of itself, and other things he gave up in the process. To give up that control to a service which can change anything with the flip of a switch frankly is not interesting to me.
A perfect example which Chris Penn calls out is the “Google+ vs. Facebook” battle. With all these changes flying around, plenty of brands are getting caught in the crossfire. The latest posts I have seen are all about “Why Facebooks Timeline Might be Bad News for Brands” and ” Why Is Facebook Punishing Highly Engaging Brands?”. Google+, as far as I can tell has dodged the bullet on that one, except, oh wait, they dont even have brand pages yet. When they do, I have no doubt users will be complaining about the same things (this all happened between when I wrote and it and now).
My point is, don’t sacrifice the opportunity to create something awesome online for the social media element. Social Media is NOT meant t replace your own creativity or identity.
Make a digital presence with no restrictions and take pride in it. Keep control in your own home.