Google Plus is Not a Blog

Google receives a large percentage of my online attention. They host my jakeludington.com email as well as my calendar. Google deposits money in my company's bank account every month thanks to their Adsense product. I collaborate with people using Google Docs. I promote products and services using Google's Adwords. If I need to map directions, I use the Google Maps-powered navigation feature on my Android phone. And of course, I rely on search results from Google to find all kinds of information. Now I'm exploring (and loving) Google+. But I'm left scratching my head at the idea of pointing my blog at my Google+ profile.

While I did what was essentially blogging for LockerGnome back when we only published newsletters, I created my first personal blog as a place to share my thoughts on things that didn't really fit with any of the tech themes we wrote about daily. I setup an early version of Movable Type with a fairly ugly design and was off to the races. The type of personal blogging I do remains a largely personal affair. Sure I'm posting my thoughts in a public space and I welcome feedback, but I'm really writing for me.

When Kevin Rose announced on Twitter he was redirecting his kevinrose.com domain to his Google+ profile, my first thought was, WHY? Kevin is correct that the feedback on Google+ is more instantaneous, but I don't write for instant gratification. I write because I feel like I need to say something.

While my posting here is erratic and I should spend some time developing it out a bit, JakeLudington.com is 100% me. I chose the elements on the page. I can ban commenters if they offend me. I can swap in a new theme if I choose to. The various sidebar and header elements were handpicked by me as things I wanted to draw attention to. Google+ affords me none of that. I can add a few selected fields to my Google+ Profile, but I'm otherwise at the mercy of the Google UX team. Blogger and WordPress.com provide more personalization if you prefer to let someone else deal with hosting issues.

The other reason I won't be moving my blogging to Google+ is because someday it will be gone. Social communities on the web are nomadic, making the social camps impermanent. Yesterday's AOL became MySpace became Facebook and Twitter and now Google+. It's unlikely any of the places we are spending the majority of our time now will still be there ten years. While I may change my focus, I will very likely still be thinking out loud on the JakeLudington.com domain for as long as I'm able to communicate.

Of course, you will also find me on Google+, where I share interesting things I find that I don't feel the need to write about.