5 replies to this topic

[srburk]

I've had a blog for a few years now. I use Wordpress.

Honestly, with Facebook and Twitter, I've let my blog become inactive because the social networking sites let me do whatever I need. Why do I need a blog anymore? I've reduced what I need to say down to 140 characters or less.

My option right now is to shut down my blog and save the money spent on my domain and hosting. But, is there something else I can do with it?

One thing that I would like to do is to have a personal site for my immediate family. Something like a home site just for us. Would require signing in for each user to access. Once signed in, small message board, to-do lists, etc. Kindof like something that 37signals offers (Backpack, Highrise, Basecamp, Campfire) but on a more personal level. Kindof like Sharepoint that I use at work but at a minimal level with just immediate family.

Thoughts? Should I shut down my site or is there something else I can do with it? Please share.

Scott

[IBBoard]

You could always host a blog on it so that you've got somewhere to say something decent.

Yes, I know you said you do that already, but if you've got anything truly insightful to say then 140 characters isn't enough. A lot of people I see (ignoring all the inane and boring crap) use Twitter as a place to link to blog posts.

At the end of the day it is up to you. If you think your family could do with a Sharepoint-like area (only actually usable, instead of hideous and useless) then set one up. If you still want to have in-depth thoughts then keep the blog. If you want to actually have a proper place to call your own, keep some kind of website (since the grand sum of your ownership on other sites is about zero).There's any number of things that you could do, but it all depends on what you want/need.

[MacManX]

As someone else who has let his blog decay after joining Facebook, I strongly recommend that you keep it online.  As IBBoard mentioned, it's the only outlet you have for large postings, and it would also be a shame to throw away something that you put so much work into, especially if you plan on hosting a family website alongside.

If you wanted to go a slightly different path, there are various plug-ins that you can use to turn your WordPress blog into the family website that you're looking for.

[srburk]

MacManX, on 19 April 2010 - 11:46 AM, said:

If you wanted to go a slightly different path, there are various plug-ins that you can use to turn your WordPress blog into the family website that you're looking for.

What kind of plugins?

[MacManX]

There are thousands out there, and probably quite a few to do exactly what you want you. Your best bet would be to decide exactly what elements you want your family site to have, then hunt through the plugin directory for a few good matches. Star ratings and tagged support forum posts should help you to find the best ones. For a family network site, I highly recommend that you start with BuddyPress and fill in the rest with other plugins.

[Gilbert]

I think keeping a blog is a fine idea - but for true functionality in a site to be a family-oriented platform portal - why not simply convert to Drupal and have even more functionality than Word Press and build a series family-members-only-site?  My thoughts on this.

As to a blog, I would rather read insightful posts than inane crap all day, every day on Twitter.  Even my inane crap gets irritating on Twitter.