Content production aka shouting into the void

I have been blogging for a very long time, in a few years it will be three decades. I registered my first domain in the late 90s. Back then it was meant to become a knowledge base for WiFi. It might be hard to imagine for some of you, but back then getting a wireless network setup that covered more than a single room was not that simple, nor available except in the most nerdy homes. Somehow it slowly turned into a blog. A bit later I added a second one talking about work. One day I decided to write a static site generator, left fintech and started a blog in English.

I still have a backup of my old content written in German, but I have been telling myself for so long that I might re-publish it on a subdomain one day that I can say fairly certain it will not happen.

"Back in the day" we had blog rolls, aggregators, webrings and more. It felt personal. You could read about someone's breakfast a decade before Instagram came along. You knew what their kids were up to. Then social media became more and more relevant, Google killed one of the most useful products they ever had and Geocity sites titled "I love Justin Timberlake" slowly vanished, replaced by self promoting extensions of professional personas aiming for business opportunities.

Fun fact not many know: This blog post caught the attention of a small startup right out of YC. It lead to a call, an offer and one of the most fun, chaotic and rewarding gigs I ever had and let me meet many amazing people, some I still talk to on a regular basis, some I call close friends.

But perception can be deceiving. There are still a lot of blogs out there maintained by people talking about things they enjoy. We got a bit smarter and do not live blog our weekly schedule anymore (including addresses where to find us), but still personal. There have been many bloggers musing about this or closely related parts of blogging. Benjamin Hollon, JetGirlArt, Manuel Moreale who is also running a "People and Blogs" series or Jay Hoffmann. There are a large blogrolls and community aggregators like Djangos.

The web is large. Very large. And there are so many people producing random, endearing content every day that hits the "good old days" cliché, some write newsletters and others produce 10s videos for their followers. Sometimes for a different audience, sometimes for the same audience on a different channel. But all have one thing in common: Content production, no matter which form, will sometimes feel like screaming into the void, lonely, not getting anywhere. But that is something everyone had to overcome.

This was a very long intro to get to the point (see, you do not have to be a good writer to write a blog!): If you want to produce content, just pick your favourite medium and go for it. If you do not try to build a business around it and make a living it is more important that you enjoy the content production and stick to it. That is how you overcome the "void".

Do not worry too much about the platform you are on. You can always move, bring your followers, establish something new when you already have an audience or simply go multi-channel. I will always advocate for owning as much of your digital persona as you can, but if you do not like that aspect of content production or do not feel like going through the hassle, do not let anyone talk you into believing you have to for "moral reasons", "the greater good" or to "fight soulless, content creator exploiting big tech".

Friends decided I need to finally get into Valorant. I know them from back in the day when I was planning Quake 3 on LANs and ranked. I was pretty decent at Quake 3 - we are talking no jump pads for red armour or the railgun on DM6 decent. Not as good as they were, because I did not end up pursuing a pro career in esports, but decent. They came up with the idea of me starting a stream series "Washed up Q3 pro goes Valorant". And I kind of like the idea. Especially as they will coach me, so it might be good educational content if it does not get banned for swearing.

I do not expect any people actually subscribing, liking, following or watching the live stream. If you want to see washed up pros play Valorant tune into VCT Americas (hey, we have to honour the meme!). But it will be a fun experience. I never did any live video production or streaming. I am sure it will be a bit awkward and uncomfortable. Especially because I am very vocal at myself when I mess up a play. (It took my wife a year or so playing Overwatch together for her to figure out I am not actually angry, and to this day she’s sometimes not quite sure.) Also, did I just announce that you will soon have a chance to see me embarrassing myself to an audience of one? Maybe. (I am sure my wife will tune in and then switch browser tabs.)

Believe someone who read all about "why Britney is THE BEST OF ALL TIMES <dancing word art gif>" when I say: Do not feel like you need to be professional. Do not think you have to get everything right from the beginning - you will not. Maybe you never will. Do not sweat too much about how to produce the content you want to produce or how to make it discoverable. Things will fall into place when you are in the game and spend more time with it. The Internet is a large place and there will be people who want to see what you produce. Just go for it, learn and enjoy the process.