I have always been a pack rat. I like owning my stuff, and though I could be better at it, I keep physical backups around .
So now, people are flocking back to blogging. If it’s all about "owning your stuff," is that the best reason?
I thought about services I use, and whether owning content is relevant. Mostly, the answer is that the content is momentary. I won’t miss my Tweets if Twitter goes down, and some form of the network of people will exist somewhere else. It’s not like I can find old Tweets anyway.
The mad mob rush to blogs will likely yield some great content. But these "cloud" services- if we use them with impermanence in mind, there isn’t so much to worry about.
*I know I’m using Utterli to post this, but they do allow backups, thankfully.
Mobile post sent by DougH using Utterli. 
Replies. mp3
Got a great response over on the Utterli version of this post that was worth copying here (with permission):
It’s from “Maharet” on Utterli
(http://misbroadcasting.blogspot.com):
hmmm, “impermanence”…opening thesaurus now…
oh, and if facebook shuts down the main friend feed i’m closing the account. no questions, no feedback or complaints from me…nope, just up and quitting the second i find out. why? the site is otherwise useless.
do i really give a crap what my high school friends are up to these days? do i really want to keep in touch with co-workers i no longer work with?
do i really want that many people knowing what i’m doing every minute of every day? neh.
i blog because i like being the master of my own domain and not having to pay for it. in fact, i’d rather be paid for it, but that’s another issue altogether. would i give a crap if suddenly sites like facebook, myspace or the like decide to tell me what i can and can not do with the content i add to their site? no…not really. oh, but that’s the price you pay for “free”. no. they can suck a fat one and choke on it. what’s the price you pay if no one goes to your website to see your adverts because this other site over here is a brand new “beta” startup and people are flocking to it in droves i wonder? holy, that sentence made my head hurt when i re-read it, but i’m leaving it alone. LOL
now back to the impermanence issue. content on the web is fleeting and ever changing. back yourself up or shut up. if facebook kicked the bucket and twitter gasped it’s last tweet from one day to the next you should have been prepared. now if utterli gave it’s last utter right now….i would poop myself, all my hair would fall out, my nails would suddenly embed themselves into my desk and my eyeballs would steam themselves right out of my ears. i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again…i really should back this site up.
[…] This thinking is a nice companion to the recent reminders (or warnings) that your stuff is on the cloud, and could go away without warning. […]