A lot of people ask me how I feel comfortable sharing my blog with so many people in real life. While I do feel like I am more comfortable being open and vulnerable than the average person, I think one big truth works in my favor: people don’t read.
I agree there mostly seems to be a natural separation between online writing and offline-first relationships — and really, I like it that way. I ran an online newsletter-based project for a year that only a handful of family members and friends looked at, which doesn’t bother me — I don’t expect people I spend time with in person / know offline to be as excited about what I write about online as I am 😉 What I talk about in offline relationships varies person by person to focus on our mutual / aligned interests, whereas I talk about anything *I* am interested in online on my blog(s). That means my writing has a lot more noise versus signal for most offline relationships relative to our in person conversations. (Think of the friends who you discovered were obnoxious Facebook or Instagram posters — people often present a different personality online, or use the internet in ways totally different from how you do.) Our online writing voice doesn’t necessarily match the way we communicate with people in person either, so it might not even sound “like you” to offline friends and family.
6 replies on “People you know from offline don’t read your blog”
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Absolutely agree with all this 🙂
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