Own your identity!

  Marco Arment wrote a post that he was sure I'd like. He was right about that. I did like it. Very much. Go over there and read it, and thank him and David Karp for making a Tumblr good blogging silo, one that allows users to own their identities.
  In comments on TechCrunch, Anil Dash explains why he blogs. As does Fred Wilson. I am their brothers on this. I blog because I have an impulse to write. I also do short linkblog posts because I have an impulse to share what I find, and a photo feed, and a subscription list and a river of news.
    I didn't link to Anil's comment because it's on Facebook, and I have no idea if you can see it if you don't have a Facebook account. It would be wrong for me to promote Facebook as a blogging environment, and unfortunately Anil posted some very good thoughts in their silo. A GIF though is an export format of last resort. Works. But it's non-optimal.
  I gave pointers to all these things to Google, in my profile. It'll be interesting to see if they have or write crawlers to use this information and distribute it to others.
    Sad to say my profile is now the first thing you find when you search for me on Google. See what they're doing. Trying to take over my identity. I probably should delete my profile (if such a thing is possible) to force them out to the web. But I would be surprised if it actually works that way. I bet once you've entered the data, it's there for good, no matter what you do. That's why I'm leaving my profile as sparse as I can, for as long as I can (as long as I have any say what's in it).
  Also, many years ago, I wrote an invitation called the Googlish Way to do Directories. It would still be a good idea if Google found a match in an OPML file to display it as a directory. But I suspect that since Google didn't invent it, they won't support it. They're a lot like Microsoft in that regard.
  Not like Apple, though. I don't like a lot of things about Apple, but one thing I do like is that they've generally embraced formats I've created when they gain traction. Probably mostly because they employ <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=2124436&authType=NAME_SEARCH&authToken=BWTb&locale=en_US&srchid=29658739-1dd8-4171-a43d-11ebebe49a91-0&srchindex=1&srchtotal=12&goback=.fps_PBCK_*1_Steve_Zellers_*1_*1_*1_*1_*2_*1_Y_*1_*1_*1_false_1_R_true_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2&pvs=ps&trk=pp_profile_name_link">Steve Zellers. :-)
    I exaggerate, a little. Apple supports RSS because they have to, if they want to do podcasting, which they do.
    And I totally dislike what they do to RSS in Safari. I can't view the feed any way other than through their feed reader app, which they haven't updated in years, and appears to be horribly broken. Thanks so much for getting in the way. (And sorry for the sarcasm.)
  There are a handful of people in our midst, I think Apple called them round pegs in square holes, that may make a difference in the rush to corporate blogging silos. Marco, Fred, Anil, Steve are some of them.
  Own your identity.
  Have the courage to stake out your spot on the open web.
    Help save the web from the death that many predict.
  Fill it with delicious treats, and connect it to others.
  That's creativity.