When to Liveblog?

I am going to try and live blog the Google press day event. It is packed room, and tons of journalists are in the room. Despite all that, we are all disconnected.

Complains Om Malik..along with everyone else in the room; I know because, hey, I was there. But while actual journalists and real googlers were locked-out of wifi on half the campus, magically, I stayed connected the whole time and live blogged. The content-rich results will show up on SearchBlog tomorrow. In the meantime, this space is dedicated to my content-free musings. And sticking by that motto: When is it okay to liveblog?

Traveling to the googleplex is a day-long affair--especially when you have a baseball game strapped onto the end of the journey in San Francisco. The Giants fans, hoping to catch Bonds tie-up his record with Babe Ruth, were as jittery with excitement as Cubbies on any pre-season home game. That was fitting because the Cubs were playing---and won by a wide margin, 8-1. Woo-hoo!
My loyalties are divided, as a Bay Area native with a hankering for Wrigleyville. So, sporting both my 1989 (earthquake) Giants-T and my Cubs cap, I settled into some fantastic seats near Barry Bonds left field. It had been such a longtime since I was exclusively juiced-up and wired, plus I was just curious to see if I could get wifi in the stadium (expected SF-wide soon enough): so I pulled out my laptop to see. My friend tried to warn me not to, even for a second, but I paid no heed. Curiosity killed...Well not quite 'killed' but I did get a friendly hollering-out from a burly guy with the pink glow of sunburn a few seat back, "Oh-no-no! C'mon, you've got to represent the Cubs Fans here!" I wasn't really contemplating liveblogging the game...though of course if Bonds had hit to tie or pass the Babe, who knows? I'm honestly, not that big a baseball fan, I just consistently get dragged (quite willingly and happily) to games.

Two Sundays back my friend Sam invited a bunch of us to a "luxury" box he randomly won for an As game. Sam's not that sporty and neither as his nerdy friends, so clearly we were going to makes goofs of ourselves in the exec box knitting, debating politics, trading notes on diseases and Harvard Law, and whatever else friends of his do. I brought my laptop because it's my new arm rest. With the box devoid of complimentary champagne (apparently, a figment of my wild imagination), I did consider liveblogging this totally random occurrence of even sitting in an exec box, just because.
That probably would have been fine, because we were isolated from the 'real' fans and my friends didn't mind (although I don't think I'd have much to say about the actual game, which was pretty slow except for a grand slam that still left the As with a loss).

In summary: Live blogging a major press party when everyone else can't get online=good. Live blogging baseline seats at a potentially-historic baseball game=bad (unless your skin is as thick as a steroid syringe is long). Live blogging an exec box experience at an insignificant game=okay.

Conclusion? Quality control concerns aside for the moment, live blogging is still something of a extreme dork sport and proper social cautions should be exercised...helmets, knee-pads, auto-save. I don't really ever liveblog---these were my first few experiments. In fact, I have silently objected (conscientiously of course) when some other unnamed friends have partook of that sweet, false fruit that is illusory internet fame. Om Malik liveblogs, but he has an audience. If I live blog for myself, it better be rewarding in itself because it ain't exactly reporting.

When SF and other US cities go wifi crazy, I expect there will be many more liveblogging issues. New social laws will be writ on those fabled invisible stones. Just as norms for cell phones, skateboards, and tall hair-dos emerged and were sequentially ignored, except where the crowd's sheer pressure prevails. This is probably the longest post I've ever done. Note, this is why I don't usually write about or directly from my own life. Junk pages! this is where liveblogging is bringing us. Oh Google, where is the search quality now? (but, that's for another post...)