Blog Envy

I'm experiencing a little bit of blog envy.  Take a look, for example, at White Courtesy Telephone.  I think it looks pretty cool.  Or even Future Leaders in Philanthropy, which is less flashy, but still customized and slick.  And I begin to wonder, is my rather un-customized blog....boring?  Does it matter?

I'm also wondering about my wiki (which is in development, but soon to be released).  I was tweaking and tinkering with it the other day and realized that it's not even half as cool looking as the Davis Wiki, or even the Tax Almanac (which, by the way, did an excellent job at formatting a MediaWiki software driven wiki--doesn't happen often).  And now I am suddenly concerned that my humble wiki will suffer from its lack of pizazz.

Now, you may remember my musings on identity earlier.  I still wish that we could shed preconceived notions of one another that are based on appearance, but I am still grappling with the concept of the role that apperance-based identity plays in life.

The thing with appearance-based identity is that is part of branding, which in turn helps signify content.  By understanding what content is being offered, people are able to make the decision as to whether or not to interact with it.  And quite frankly, if you are interested in social issues, then you definitely want people to interact with you.

Plus, when you are able to customize your wiki or blog, it offers a unique-ness to your product.  Since we are all unique people, shouldn't our communication vehicles reflect that? 

So, if my wiki looks cool, looks slick, looks professional, is it automatically upgraded in the eyes of potential users/readers?  Is it important to maintain a unique brand to differentiate your conversation from the rest?  Will my blog or wiki be overlooked because does it not look the part of the cool-kid crowd?   

Comments

[Albert Ruesga]

Welcome, TheIncubator, and thanks for the nice mention. (I've added you to my blogroll.)

I urge you to be patient. For a long time your blog will be P2V (person-to-void), but use that time to hone your writing skills and explore the artistic and literary possibilities of blogs -- there are many. Over time (many, many months) people will begin to discover your blog and you'll begin to build a small community of readers.

Worry much more about your blog's content than about its appearance. My favorite blogs are rather plain or downright ugly.