Norway’s most read blogger, fifteen-year-old Voe, has announced that she’s quitting. Voe has had a lot of media attention – in her end of year summary (posted two days before her “this is the end” post) she ironically writes that the “huge and terrible” blog fight between her and another top blogger, Ida Wulff, was made more of by the media than by the bloggers. I’m not surprised she’s ready to move on.
Philippe Lejeune is one of the great theorists of traditional diaries, and his article about why people stop writing diaries is very useful for thinking about how blogs end as well. Cleverly enough, I wrote a post about this back in 2006 when I still had time to think and blog and didn’t have a toddler and a baby fighting over dummies and asking for my continuous attention.
I haven’t quit blogging. It’s certainly on the slow burner for me right now, though….
M-H
How did your Australian trip go?
Lohan G
when bloggers quit blogging http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Jilltxt/~3/0a0sz61kxK4/
Jill Walker Rettberg
Twas excellent. And too short.
KDS
Who cares about VOE? She was neither interesting nor funny. Fortunately, we still have http://blogs.herald.com/dave_barrys_blog/
Jill Walker Rettberg
A lot of people found Voe very interesting, Koenraad! Have you read Marianne Westerlund’s kronikk in BT about the way we systematically patronise and ridicule teenaged women who blog?
KDS
I concede that whether one finds a blog interesting or not depends as much on the reader as on the blogger, and it is obvious that different blogs have different target audiences. But notice one important comment on Marianne Westerlund’s article which pointed out that the loads of negative comments on Voe did not come from old sods like me, but from her own age group.
Jill Walker Rettberg
I have heard my own 14-year-old criticise Voe and her ilk pretty vehemently – it certainly sounded like a harsh but genuine critique coming from Voe’s peers. It would be a pity if the “rosabloggere” came across as the ONLY expression of teenaged girlhood, or if there be an assumption that any girl who blogs is covered by the certainly patronising expression “rosablogger”.
The Story 2011 part 1 « Remember What The Dormouse Said
[…] Matt had a fascinating presentation on the narrative through SMS in ivy4ever. It was truly inspiring learning about how they used the medium. What fascinated me most about this talk was the way that the teenagers engaged with the character. Although it was evident that she was not real, the conversations were open and real. Matt talked a little about the realism and the troubles that come with it. When it comes evident that this is a bot, does it ruin the narrative. He drew out some beautiful examples that it indeed did not. I kept thinking about the Norwegian phenomenon of the “pink” blogs. ?òyvind Solstad once gave a presentation where he mentioned that some of the girls were acting as counselor’s to young girls struggling with growing up. We all know that advice is taken more seriously by those our own age and the example that Solstad gave was heartwarming and quite honestly brought a tear to my eye. But I suppose creating a narrative that is about teenage pregnancy and is made specifically to engage these teenagers in conversations, such counseling is needed. – hmm – my thoughts may be straying away from what Matt actually talked about here, but this is what I’m thinking about after learning about ivy4ever. I’m really looking forward to learning more about sms narrative and Blast Theory. Will be paying attention! […]