When I first got into blogs and blogging 2 years ago, I used to read Robert Scoble religiously. He was interesting, sometimes funny, fairly informative, and casual. It definitely seemed like he was just a normal guy - who happened to work for Microsoft.
I especially liked some of the stories he used to tell. Like how he was on a plane the other day, and wouldn't you know it he was sitting next to the CEO of WhateverTech and they're really doing some cool stuff over there. Or how he stopped some guy in the airport because he was wearing a jacket with a Cisco logo on it. Perhaps I even admired his ability to just go anywhere and meet people, and come away with a name, an email address, and an interesting story...
Over the last year or so, something changed. I found myself spending less time reading what he was writing. I would immediately skip over topics that didn't interest me. The tone of his writing changed. I don't want to jump to conclusions over what exactly happened, but once he developed a “link blog“, I guess he had more space in his main radio blog to express his opinions on things.
Many of the things he expressed passionate opinions about, I just didn't care one way or another. He would simply lambaste a company repeatedly (like Google) for something completely inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. He became like my uncle, who writes letters to the government, outraged over the 30 minutes he had to wait to get his drivers license renewed every 5 years. Save your anger and indignation for something important, I say.
Several months ago, I just stopped reading. I still sometimes stumble upon his blog - once per month maybe - in my RSS reader. I can't bring myself to delete the subscription just yet. But almost.
Maybe the worst thing I am noticing is that many of his entries are about him. Like this example from today, with all of the self-congratulations. “Google did something good today. Hey I work for Microsoft? Why do I talk about the competition? Because we all win. Yay!” Ugh. Scoble, please, stop congratulating yourself for being different. It makes you look like the only reason you link to non-Microsoft blogs is so that someone will notice how you link to non-Microsoft blogs.
When he's not telling everyone what a great example he makes of corporate blogging, he's talking about how he fits in to important stories. He'll start talking about web standards, but then the real story he's telling becomes about how the commitee asked him for his help, and he was able to introduce them to someone on the IE team, and more people should come to him because he knows people. He actually questions the motives of standard commitees that don't come to him for help, because that proves they're not genuine...
“Call me. Here's my cell number. I am the only person who publishes their cell number on the Internet. This person linked to me. This person hates me, but I am linking to him anyways. I was intereviewed for the New York Times. I'm taking a 5-minute blogging holiday. I read 2,000 blogs a day.”
Don't get me wrong. I don't dislike him. I don't even know him. Maybe once I admired him, but now the annoyance factor has gotten really high. Scoble and I have grown apart. If he ever gets back to talking about interesting stuff that he reads, hears about, or even things happening in his personal life, AND can figure out how to tell these stories without it sounding “all about him“, I may come back.
I'm prepared to wait a long time though.