There is really no excuse for this great cessation of writing. All of my friends who met on Y360 know how prolific we were and how it suddenly stopped when they pulled the plug. There are some exceptions, but we don’t write they way we used to just a few years ago. We regrouped on Facebook, happy to come together again… but we didn’t write. No poignant stories of friends and family, no poetry, no classic rants, no travel adventures, no humorous stories… just status updates about the most mundane aspects of day to day living. It’s not because Facebook doesn’t provide vehicles for writing. Networked Blogs will link and post to Facebook. The Notes section allows you to write, include pictures, and allow for comments, just like 360. But still, there is very little of that.
We all have reasons for not writing anymore but have all our lives really changed all that much in the past few years? Perhaps… but I suspect another reason. Y360 was centered on the blog. It was a writer’s forum that grew to allow picture galleries, status updates, and other things that would look familiar to the casual Facebook user... but it was always about the writing. Facebook, on the other hand, is not. It is becoming more of a business network tool than a place for meaningful social discourse. It encourages sound bites rather than stories, mundane rather than meaningful. Tell me your deepest thoughts in 25 characters or less but remember, your boss is watching. So are your relatives, coworkers, business contacts, prospective employers… and the people of Facebook.
I used to write frequently before 360. My writing exploded when I gathered friends there who were (and are) likeminded. I can still write and I can post to Facebook… but it has to be guarded, edited. I cannot do that.
Any suggestions? Remember before you answer, the eyes of the world are watching.
