Why Do You Blog?
Blogging has recently turned 20. Blogging is older than Justin Bieber. Let me just grab my mug of cocoa and a nice sensible book to read because I’m feeling old. It’s hard to believe that anything to do with the World Wide Web can have been going on so long but it’s true, people have been writing about themselves and things they find interesting all over the internet for 20 years now.
The idea of blogging is so weird and amazing. That you can be a published writer on a platform that is accessible to millions of people is mind-boggling if you stop and think about it. But just because we can do something, it doesn’t necessarily mean that we do it. I can wear high heels, my feet are physically capable of wearing them, and yet they never adorn my feet. So, are you one of the millions who blogs and if you are, why do you blog?
Do you blog rather than keep a physical diary? Is blogging just a way of letting go of whatever is on your mind, just blurting your thoughts out onto a (web)page when you feel the need, a la the early pioneers of blogging? I love blogs like this, the ones where things aren’t shiny, posts aren’t pre-planned, and thoughts aren’t edited. I think that people are so ridiculously brave to write like this because not for all the great “Waffle Day” presents Leslie Knope would buy me would I ever allow my unedited opinions to make their way onto the internet.
But perhaps you blog because you have a passion for something and you want to share that passion and become a part of that community. I’ve recently taken up sewing and there is just so much information out there on sewing blogs that people are willing to share. There are tips for how to do things better, honesty about how people have messed projects up and inspiration for new things to try. The same is true of any hobby – fan of photography, shopping, hiking? The internet’s got you covered. There are so many people sharing their expertise both to communicate with others and to help out a dame or gent they don’t know.
Or is writing a blog your way of making a non-monetary investment towards your future? I don’t need to tell you the statistics about young people and jobs because you’re having a good day, your hair looks swell and I don’t want to make you cry but, in a nutshell, they ain’t good. Is writing a blog your way of saying “Hey, potential employers, look at me! I’m so interested in clocks, look at all these things I know about clocks, you should definitely hire me as a clock expert” (replacing the word ‘clocks’ with your chosen field, unless your speciality does happen to be clocks). Of course the link between blogging and some careers, such as journalism, is quite obvious but showing enthusiasm for your chosen field is never a bad thing.
Or, do you blog because you really, deep down inside, want to be a full-time blogger? Let me just grab my blanket and shuffle on over to my rocking chair while I tell you that “back when I was a kid, the idea of writing about yourself or your interests on the internet and making money from it was unimaginable”. I still kind of can’t believe that you can do this, but I think that it’s great that you can. That it’s possible that a blog you started is loved by so many that you can pursue blogging as a job. So, is that dream of being a full-time blogger the reason that you blog?
Maybe, though, you’re like me and you do it for that most simple and complicated of reasons, you just love to write. That you feel that there should be more to say about it but there just isn’t. You simply have to write about things and to not do it when you have the possibility to do it would be weird.
Whatever your reasons are for blogging I don’t really think it matters as long as the content is good. I love that people share their expertise and enthusiasm. I love that people share books, TV shows and dresses that they like. I love that random people let me dive right on into their lives and find out so much about them. And I love that people have the tenacity to stick with these blogs that they write and update them week after week and year after year.
So I’m wondering, have you got any suggestions for blogs that I can get so sucked into, I forget to watch that show I’d been planning to? And if you’re someone who blogs, let me know, why do you blog?
Featured image via ShutterStock
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