Scoble on Sabbatical

Of the many things that makes Robert Scoble among the most remarkable people I have ever met is his sheer output of social media work.  He is a pioneer in blogging, online video, Twitter and whatever tool has come to market.  He got Facebook's importance while I was still ignoring it. Few people in few areas have ever been as productive as Scoble has been.

Yesterday he wrote an amazing post, in announcing he would take a sabbatical from posting. He said his blogging has gotten shallow and argumentative and it has. He gets like this from time to time, the same way, Barry Bonds gets for weeks at a time when he too cannot connect to get a hit.

An expectant father, he wrote a powerful truth "holding a 19-day-old baby in your arms is a cathartic experience."  This is true in so many ways. Essentially, it makes a point that sometimes is hard for Robert to remember:

Real life is more important than virtual life. The lives we are immediately responsible for need more attention than the audiences that expect us to entertain or educate them.

Robert is taking some time off and reflecting. I spoke with him last night.  His voice is hoarse.  Gnomedex has burned his candle down.

At the same time, he is on fire.  Robert is playing with a new concept, an idea that ties together the shred and bits that are social media. Robert is not just resting, he's reflecting and when he comes back, I am pretty sure he will have a really good, fresh idea to share with the world. And it is a really good idea that the rest of us will embrace and debate.  We willflatter and insult him as we always do.

I just hope he keeps in perspective that the idea and the contribution will not exceed the importance of one new, little life form named Milan.

Comments

[Bruce Keener]

Wise words, Shel. When my wife passed away unexpectedly six years ago, it caused me to see, among many other things, that life is short. So very, very short. The earlier we learn that the real life is more important than the virtual, the better. But, even though I learned that lesson in spades, it is still so easy to drift, and I have been so guilty of letting the virtual world take over recently. It has taken you and Robert to help me see again that the virtual world is a communication tool, not our real life.

[Kevin Hillstrom]

I never read the comments in his posts ... until last night, when I clicked thru Google Reader, and found 50+ comments to one of his posts.

Of the 50+ comments, the majority were simply folks ripping on each other.

I thought to myself that these people were either really burned-out, or the concept of "conversations" had gone absolutely sideways.

[shel israel]

Bruce,

I am touched by your Comment and very sorry for your loss. It is nice to know that the friends we make in virtual places are real, and I am happy that you are becoming one of mine.

[Bruce Keener]

Thank you, Shel, for your kind words and thoughts. I am also glad you are becoming one of my friends. I appreciate your insights.