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.
