Buzz
Whenever social media drains me, I find relief by shifting to one-on-one or group conversations. However, I never considered this approach, inspired by Gareth’s Tips: crafting a 'blog post' in a cloud document and sharing it with a chosen circle of friends. Inventor and engineer Star Simpson refers to it as 'lazy blogging,' while investor Kevin Kwok labels it 'private memos.' It’s akin to creating your own tightly controlled, temporary social network, and it’s as simple as sharing a Google Doc.
Simpler Than Traditional Blogging
To create a lazy-blog, simply open a Google Doc (or a Dropbox Paper doc, or any cloud-based document service with sharing capabilities), jot down your thoughts, and invite friends or colleagues to read and comment. You can manage whether others can comment or even edit your document, and you can track who accesses it. You retain all the control features inherent in collaborative tools like Google Docs, and you’re already familiar with how to use them.
Lazy blogging requires minimal commitment, unlike maintaining a blog or email newsletter. You can try it just once without feeling obligated to create a series or 'build an audience.' There’s no need to learn a CMS, design a webpage, or figure out what Medium is.
There’s no stress to gain likes, reposts, subscribers, or 'claps.' However, there is a gentle push to spark a discussion—a more meaningful kind of pressure focused on genuine interaction rather than seeking approval. It’s the type of 'conversation' social networks claim to foster, though their true aim is often your personal data.
If you wish, you can revisit and expand the same document or leave it behind and start a new one. It might even be enjoyable to have multiple documents going simultaneously. Hopefully, your efforts will inspire a friend to invite you to their lazy blog. (Much like parties or game nights, everyone loves an invitation, but few want to take the lead in hosting. That’s just how it goes.)
More Fulfilling Than Chat or Email
While chats and group messages are valuable, there are times when you want to gather your thoughts and express more than a few lines at once. You might desire a space that feels less reliant on immediate responses. Or perhaps you want to steer the conversation in a specific direction, something that’s harder to achieve in text-based chats. Sometimes, you just want to monologue.
You could achieve this in an email thread. Group email threads are fantastic, especially since they bring at least one positive element to your inbox. We suggest sending an occasional email to all your friends and family. However, you either keep recipients hidden on BCC, which can feel overly formal, or risk fragmented discussions as people selectively reply to parts of the group. This can lead to replying to the wrong part of the thread and unintentionally offending someone.
More Confidential Than Blogging or Social Media
There Are No Rules
If you’ve ever joined a smaller social network like Ello, Secret, or Mastodon, or found yourself in an accidental reply-all email thread, you’ve experienced the liberating 'anything goes' vibe of an online space without established norms. It’s like the digital version of a slumber party.
Lazy-blogging offers that same feeling. It’s a social network limited to the people you invite. You can write for a close-knit group of friends, mix ideas from different friend circles, or even draft a professional memo for your colleagues.
You can keep it entirely private, allow others to invite new participants, or even open it to anyone with the link. We suggest starting with a highly private setting—that’s part of the charm. And still, be somewhat mindful of your words. This isn’t the place for sharing classified information. Perhaps begin with a private document discussing which TV shows are worth watching and which aren’t! Choose a lighthearted topic where everyone can enjoy themselves. Host a small gathering in the cloud. Otherwise, you might as well stick to traditional blogging.
