Hitting a Wall

Something's been in my head for a while but I've not given it any space until now. I'm on the train at the moment, heading into work very early this morning, so I'm going to try to articulate some thoughts now and intend to pick this up later to give it full form on the train coming back this evening. In between there is a rather a lot to be done at the office. I have just two small creative windows today.

It feels to me like blip is undergoing something of an identity crisis. Joe's original idea, brilliantly conceived and designed, grew organically by word of mouth over several years into the site that I joined 750 days ago. During my period of membership it has barely changed at all. The design has remained more or less constant, the only new feature of note being the ability to reply to comments, something which newer blippers may be surprised to find out it is relatively recent. The site has also grown in size, although by nothing like as much as most people would probably think. In terms of the number of blips being posted it hasn't even doubled in numbers in the last two years.

In internet terms that is underwhelming growth. Blipfoto started out as a tiny hamlet on the web and has still barely reached the size of a small village. I could easily imagine that it has more members in both Finland and New Zealand that it has in the United States. That's a bit of a problem for the investors who have pumped money into the site and are looking to see a return on that investment.

Clearly the membership has to grow to secure a future for the site, and for us as blippers, to keep it advertising free, fund new developments such as apps for smartphones and all the plethora of new devices that are inevitably going to be appearing in the future. I understand very clearly how much work is involved in just keeping up with the pace of technology. The problem is, though, how do you grow something like blipfoto without undermining the very qualities that make it special, the cosy homespun feeling of a site born out of one man's hobby and enthusiasm, and the community that has grown around his and his friend's almost evangelical passion for blipping. Does the concept scale?

This is the identity crisis. The roots of Blipfoto are indeed in the concept of "Saving your life" but the trouble is that if we did all actually post such personal moments each day, pictures of our children and family and workplace and hobbies, then I'll be brave enough to suggest that this site would be of very little interest to anyone. It's a throwback to that old horror of horrors, the slideshow, when the lights were dimmed and we had to endure sitting through hundreds of pictures of people and places of very little interest to us.

What makes the site so very special is the community that has emerged, a community which blips in countless different ways, relatively few using it as perhaps intended, to actually save or make a record of their life. It's often about the photography and the writing and the sharing of ideas. Most of all, it's about communication. We use the site to communicate with each other as blippers, and with friends and family outside this community. It's all about sharing our lives. We feel an empathy with people through the images that they post and make friendships. This could not possibly have been predicted at the outset. It's a kind of magical emergent phenomenon.

A big part of it (for me at least) is also about improving one's photography. Many of us are aspiring to take interesting or pleasing photographs and look forward to a bit of positive feedback on them. Those 'strokes' are what fuels this site and keeps it humming. This is fairly integral to the culture of the site too, the system of stars and hearts (and also the staff-picks) promoting the importance of the photograph over the journal and personal aspect. I suspect most of us recognise the dilemma when a choice has to be made between a run of the mill photo which works best for the journal and an eye-popping photo which bears little relevance to the day but is likely to earn lots of plaudits. I'm invariably seduced into posting the most pleasing image, although perhaps less so of late. It's another part of the identity crisis. Is blip about the photography or the journal? There has never, to my knowledge, been a staff pick for the writing on a blip.

Even though the site has less than doubled in size since I started I do feel that the culture has changed quite a bit. I think it's less easy for new blippers to get noticed. I think people get locked into circles of friendship and get to a point where they can't cope with following anyone else, no matter how interesting a new journal might be. I'm guilty of not visiting all new subscribers to my journal. It just isn't possible. Blipcentral have been very disinclined to tweak the site in any kind of way but I think they are going to have to do so as the site grows. Most importantly of all though is that they need to engage with us more, the people who are supplying the content. We are the very heartbeat of blip. It is we who really dictate the ethos of blip and lead by example. We are the ambassadors. I would like to see more dialogue. I think we deserve that.

I've been a huge fan of the work that the team at blipfoto have done and I'm still trying to be a fan of what they are currently doing, despite it not being very clear exactly what that is. A few weeks back I blipped my indignance when, without any warning, people viewing my blips from outside the community were blocked by a registration screen after looking at only 3 images. Following an outburst of reaction on the forum this was increased to 10, with an apology from Joe. I found out yesterday that it has since been cut back again to the viewing of just 5 images. I'm both astonished and disappointed that this happened, again without consultation. And I'm not the only one. There is much angst on the forum today. It may not seem like a very big issue but it's served to sever the trust and the feeling of cosiness that we've always felt here. I don't want my journal to be placed behind a wall, regardless of how simple it is to climb over. I'm not aware of any other such blogging site that imposes this kind of restriction.

Thus my blip for today. I've not got as much done in the office as I'd hoped. It's felt like I've been hitting my head against a wall all day. It's a dual metaphor. Off now to grab some food. Back a little later. Share your thoughts and visit the forum.