Calling all bloggers: Why do you blog?
To all my blogging friends, I’m very curious to know why you blog. Blogging is a commitment. It takes time and focus. Likely most of you don’t get paid for it (if you do, love to hear about THAT!). So its something you have to do outside of your job requirements.
So why do you do it? What gets you fired up about blogging?
For me, blogging does several things. I’m actually going to steal a paragraph from a previous blog I wrote titled, “Consume. Write. Participate.“.
I try to express my thoughts on this blog as much as possible. Sometimes they are shorter posts like this one and sometimes they are long, winding stream of consciousness posts, but they are my thoughts and I love sharing them and having discussions with people. The discussions are what fuel me.
It’s the conversations that fuel me, no doubt. Yesterday I posted a blog about passion and I can’t tell you how many people talked to me afterwards about their thoughts on passion, where they get their inspiration from and how they’re going to work to make their job something they can continue to be passionate about. As a matter of fact I had a conversation with a fellow Engauger just this morning about this and she pointed out to me that passion is what helps her take the bad days (because we all have them, no matter how passionate we are about our jobs) and wash them away. And I love that and hadn’t considered it.
So again I ask the question, why do YOU blog?
Well, I had this crazy idea back at the beginning of the year to blog every day for the entire year. So, I blog to make sure I achieve this goal.
However, the real reason I blog now is to stay involved to what’s going on in the social / emerging tech community. In my role at Arby’s, I’m in meetings most of the day, so it’s a bit difficult to stay on top of the latests trends/news. Blogging is my way of keeping me connected with what’s going on so that I can think about ways to bring it back to the business.
Jeff –
1st – began as an experiment
2nd – then as a way to learn about blogging
3rd – offer a way to sandbox/test ideas and new concepts in social media (or in the day blogging)
4th – exciting to be part of a community of people who thought there was a better way to market/engage w/ customers
5th – wanted to be credible so to be positioned as a thought leader in this new world
6th – developed a passion and can’t live on posts along for business development
7th – can’t forget for fun!
Love @tobydiva’s recap on why she blogs!
Since Jeff Twitter-yelled for us to comment, here I am ;)
I blog because
1. … it gives a voice to my company. My blogging takes shape on my company’s blog – and always has. Here at Engauge at one point, in fact.
1. … my knowledge is information to others. My perspective is information to others. And like Jeff said, it sparks conversation about important issues or industry happenings. Few good ideas came to fruition or evolved in a vacuum.
2. Another piece to this – and one Toby said in her oh-so-perfect summation – is that blogging helps me achieve a layer of credibility. In PR, I am the voice of a company. So it’s important that the people I work with believe that I am personally a trustworthy source on the topics that matter to them.
I blogged before it was cool to blog…years ago. I stopped because it was too “mainstream”. ;) Okay, maybe that last part isn’t true, I stopped because I got lazy and I felt like I was talking to myself.
I started a new blog within the past year for travel related content, but more as a personal blog. I follow a lot of travel bloggers that are doing Round-The-World travel trips and blogging about it. I thought it would be cool to blog, but then I realized it’s not as interesting as someone who is actually roaming the globe with cool stories every other day. I love when people blog related to things they’re passionate about (it makes it more entertaining to read). I’ve been slack, so I need to find my passion/interest again. I plan on using the blog a lot leading up to our trip, and hopefully while we’re there so friends back home can read up on what we’re doing, but until then, it’s kind of quiet. :)
I would have to second Josh in a way. Blogging is a really good way to make myself stay on top of industry trends. Not only because I have to read up on new stuff to be able to write but also because the writing forces me to form my own opinions and conclusions. Then have those conclusions agreed/disagreed with in the comments. Blog comments are a good learning tool for me
[…] Hilimire, President of Engauge (the awesome agency where I work) posted a call to others to explain why they blog and so I started to write a comment on his post and found myself writing a pretty long stream of […]
You asked for it Jeff. Here you go:
I don’t blog as much as I’d like to, but I’ve done it off and on since 1997. Why is that?
THE SHORT ANSWER:
I have a social personality and I like to engage others to share thoughts and explore ideas. I crave it. You might say social interaction is my drug of choice. Even without the interaction or feedback, just the act of personal expression is greatly satisfying to me. You might say everyone has this to some degree, but I even write (or create photographs) sometimes purely just to entertain myself.
I guess this is why I’ve blogged here and there:
* A creative outlet, a way to express myself (thoughts, ideas, whatever)
* I like to share
* I find it personally entertaining
* The bonus is that sometimes it rewards me with social interaction.
THE LONG ANSWER:
Why Do I Blog? It smells of rich mahogany.
https://tonykinard.net/2011/03/why-do-i-blog-it-smells-of-rich-mahogany/
I blog as a way to give back. Of course, there’s the other side of me that’s also looking for a small side income, but making really good money on a blog takes a lot of work and a lot of time. Expecting to make a full time salary is very ambitious and requires a lot of business know-how and planning. Right now I blog because I’ve learned so much from other blogs and wanted to give back in my own way. I also find so much cool stuff around the internet and learn something new everyday, so I want a way to share that, beyond just social networking.
I agree BF, blogging is a great way to give back. When I talk to most people that blog, the idea of giving back and sharing experiences is usually one the driving forces.
[…] and experience. Take a class, raise your hand for a new project that will teach you new skills, write a blog to push yourself to always be learning…whatever it is, you’ll need to find ways to […]