What I've Learned in 3 Years of Blogging

Is that I'm kind of over it. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

I keep writing and rewriting this post in my head—I have so much to say, some of it potentially useful, some of it just a tad self-indulgent. I'll try to stick to the "useful" stuff.

I'm sure by now long-term readers of this blog have noticed that it's not so much about my outfits anymore. I started this blog when I had very different priorities, when I was in a very different place in my life—literally, figuratively, creatively. Over the years it's been fun to have this as an outlet, but it hasn't really turned into...I don't know. Whatever I thought it could be. A job? A platform for my Personal Brand? It seemed, back in 2011 when I started Fruitpunch (née "*fruitpunch") that the internet was a great way to build an audience and Make It Big. Scott did it! Liam did it! Todd did it! Why can't I?

But I've realized that I do not need to conflate my success here with my success as a creative person.

It's not that a successful blogger can't be creative, but the "blogosphere," a term I use loosely to include pretty much anything published on blogs or social media at this point, seems to if not out-and-out discourage real creativity, be at least weighted to advance work that conforms before it disrupts. We're wading through a sea of socially aggregated links, each platform disseminating content to its targeted demographic, trying to figure out what matters and why.

While I think beautiful, original content can live online nicely enough, I don't think the Internet can sustain it.* A piece of content's perceived value is constantly diminished by the function of the Internet, regardless of how next level a site or app's UX may be. Hard work might resonate for a minority, but an increasing number of people who consume your content will do so outside of meaningful context and editorial constraints. It will always be seen—rather, vaguely recalled seven clicks later—as part of the whole, entangled mass.

As more and more people create more and more content, more and more people will think less and less of it—of the effort, funding, talent and know-how it takes to develop a story, a narrative, something that is complete, whole and complex. Standards will plummet and eventually plateau at some level I don't want to have to look at. At the end of the day, taste is not democratic.

Yes, the Internet is great because it allows for a lot of crap to get out there, but also makes it possible for someone like myself to have his say, to share his opinion freely. But the Internet is not "free." It is shaped by our choices, and our choices are shaped by increasingly complicated algorithms that determine what is and is not available to us to consume. It's why Facebook bought Instagram, why Google bought YouTube. Our clicks limit us, define us and determine our value. And this has all happened in an incredibly short period of time.

Anyway, now this is taking a dystopian turn, so maybe I should wrap up. (And yes, as evidenced by all of these pictures of myself, I initially thought this would be a cute "End of the Year #OOTD Roundup! LOL #NYE!" kinda post, but #YOLO.) My point is that I am dissatisfied with the Internet, and less optimistic about its future than some. Blogging is this weird thing that people do, and they do it in different ways, for different reasons. After a few years of doing it (I mean, Jesus, three years is still pretty much nothing, right?) I feel ready to change and evolve, and I feel that this is not really the space for it. So I'm taking my hustle offline. Into print.

Yes, this has been a long-winded-ass post about starting a 'zine. I don't have all of the details yet, because I'm still finalizing them, but interviews have happened, photos have been tooken, and I am putting it out there in the world so that it feels a little more real.

As for the future of this blog, we'll see. It's a shame to stop updating it just because I'm having some sort of existential Internet-induced crisis, but at the same time I am less and less sure of what it is, what it could be, what it should be. Which is overthinking it, to say the least, but again, other writers' blogs are the wind beneath their digital wings, propelling them to new heights as professional spoof Twitter account-havers and suggested Tumblr-ers.

So, long story short, now that we're officially 800 words deep, I'm going to keep it going, doing my thing, and allowing myself more time to do what I'm feeling most passionate about, which is not necessarily this. But not nothing. So keep an eye on social, where I'll be disseminating content to you, my target audience, about how everything is coming along ;p

*UPDATE: I had a nice Twitter chat with Haseeb that I wanted to summarize here to help clarify one of my points. I don't mean to say that there's no hope for the Internet, just that I don't think it's where quality content is born. If you have a great project then the Internet and social media can support it, but I think all properties, especially those born digital, can't exist solely as a blog or a site or whatever. The site is one place where content lives, but so is Pinterest, so is Instagram. Content creators need to account for that going in to make sure that they create a brand that's dynamic and self-sustaining, one that can grow and exist not just on the internet, but via the Internet, using the Internet purposefully instead of just parking your property there. I think a lot of people have done that and continue to do that because there's no overhead, but those people fail anyway because the internet isn't a foundation, it's moving and shifting constantly and that needs to be accounted for.