When I started this blog a few months ago, it really served a few purposes for me. First, as I had recently been hired by a social media monitoring company, I felt some level of obligation to participate in said media. After all, to not blog, in my mind, would be like being a golf pro who didn’t own a set of clubs; a great teacher perhaps, but at the end of the day, hard to take seriously.
Mostly, I thought a blog would serve as an online diary. After all, this was really the original intention of a blog.
I have recently spent time with people who are serious and dedicated bloggers, and in some cases, well respected in the blogging community. I have noticed a few interesting trends in this short time.
Firstly, many of these people have a journalism background, both successful and failed. I guess this makes sense to me upon reflection. I can only imagine that if your current or intended occupation was a journalist, you have at least a passing interest in writing. A blog would satisfy your need to express your thoughts, free of editors, deadlines, story angles...and pay cheques.
However, this skewed demographic in the blogosphere seems to lead to my next observation: desperation.
Many of these people seem intent on announcing to everyone when they have finished their latest blog, while the “ink” is barely dry. With breathless inflection, I am inundated on Twitter and email with invitations to read the latest and greatest tome. I envision these souls, having pinged everyone they can think of, urging them to “read my latest blog entry here!!” checking back every five minutes, anxious for comments on what a thoughtful, fantastic writer there are.
Me? I write when the mood strikes and I have something to say. If you are reading this, you are in a very select minority, most likely family, or a friend. And that’s just the way I like it.
I work with a chap whom, I think, summed up blogs perfectly; “ Blogs are like the things in your garage. You don’t have room in the house , but you can’t bear to throw them out.”
