Are Blogs Just A Form Of Reality TV?

I received an interesting message from my friend and former co-worker Dean Burney (he now lives in Maryland) via Facebook. Hopefully, as a fan of this blog, he will not mind me sharing this email because it got me thinking and ultimately lead to this blog posting.

Tom,

I've become an addict of your blog. You ever watch the show Little People Big World? Maggie and I watch it all of the time. We laugh, that other than the fact that they are little people, there really isn't anything out of the ordinary going on, but we still we could sit there and watch it all day. Not to say you aren't interesting, but I am fascinated how I now need to know what is going on in your life every day, and worry when you said you had a bad one. Hope everything is ok.

Your fan,
Dean

It is funny (and not just the photo of Dean), but are blogs just another form of reality TV, especially a blog like mine, where it is mostly what is happening in my small world from day to day. I think in many ways this is a fair comparison, as I read close to 50 blogs a day through RSS. Most are work related tied to social media, search engine marketing, public relations, marketing and oddly enough blogging. Yes, I read blogs about blogging (the true sign you are addicted to blogging). However, the most interesting and addictive blogs are from the people I know or the people I sort of know. Let me give you some examples.

I am a big fan of Wayne Rodger's blog. He is a co-worker and has created a blog dedicated to his first home and the repairs/changes he is making throughout the house. Now, I am not a handy person, but I find Wayne's blog very interesting. I like it because it is nice to see that excitement of a first homeowner and see Wayne overcome home repairs struggles. The blog is something straight out of HGTV. So I guess in many ways it is just like the home shows that Dale watches on TV (and I mock him for).

Another blog I love is A Likely Story. It is by a person I have never met, but in many ways through her blog I have grown to know, like and respect. Kath, the author, commented on my blog several times, which got me to start reading her blog. I even follow her on Twitter now. We are separated by six degrees of separation in a bit in that we follow common people. She is friends (or an acquaintance, I am not actually sure) with Micah Baldwin, who is my former co-worker. I assume she found my blog though a posting on Micah's blog, but oddly Kath and I have now become social networks friends of sort. What I like best about Kath is that she is very genuine. She writes from the heart and best of all seems to have a great sense of humor. I could see her having a reality show each week as we watch Kath try to deal with the struggles of family, work & life...the fun part would be that she would do it with humor and grace. I would put her on Lifetime, since it is for woman (and gay men).

One of my favorite blogs is from my sister, Rachel. I set up the blog for her in the hopes of encouraging my four nieces and nephew to dive into the world of blogging. With relatives across the country, I thought it would be a great way for their grandparents, uncles and aunts to keep up on their latest happenings. However, the blog has mostly turned into my sister blogging, but I seem to like that even more. She is truly finding her voice and her posts have evolved. She has only been blogging for a few months and early on her posts were YouTube clips of her kid's favorite movies, but now the blog has evolved into so much more. Her entries now talk a lot about what they are doing as a family (like kicking mine and Dale's butt at Wii), but also reflections on our childhood, whether or not the new American Gladiators is as good as the old and what life is like when you suddenly break your cell phone and have to wait 3-5 days for a replacement. It is great. For my sister and her family, it would have to be an MTV reality show because they are fully of far too much energy for one group and things get crazy.

So Dean Burney is right in his comparison of my blog to Little People, Big World. I guess in a way my blog is just a reality TV show...with me, Dale, my family, my friends and my co-workers are all characters you get a glimpse at through each post.

Great, now I feel the pressure to be wackier in my postings to keep the ratings and get picked up for next season. Thanks Dean.