Blogging is great fun! But why?

November 30, 2007 · Filed Under Blogging · Comment 

Well. I guess the reasons why people want to blog vary from person to person. Some blogs are corporate, some are of a professional services nature, some are newscasts or some clearly aimed at the big bucks.

My blogs aren’t of any of these types. Two are about books, and the third is this one. And since I want to give my own reasons, and not presume to know other people’s motivations, I’ll stick to what I consider to be the fun part of blogging.

For me blogging is first and foremost about talking to people – communicating. I read books, and have read lots of books. Some of those books have given me great experiences. So I write about that – more about old books than new ones. I try to tell people why this is a book they should read. I hope, over time, a few people read the blog and find my advice useful, and hopefully enjoy the books I recommend. So, talking to people about something I enjoy is a great part of the fun for me.

Naturally, I’d like people to talk back, so that I could discuss instead of just communicating. That would increase my fun. But actually there’s not too much of that, at least not in my case. I get some responses by email, and actually more of those than comments in the blogs. I don’t know if I am the only blogger that has this experience though, or whether it simply means that I am not good enough at involving my readers in dialogues. (Any bloggers out there with similar experiences? Any smart ideas about getting good dialogues going?)

The second most important thing for me, I think, is that blogging keeps me sharp. I read books that I am going to review differently than I do books I just read for fun. Or I go back to books I’ve read in the past and ponder over them. I read other peoples’ reviews, and form opinions both about them and on the books I am reviewing. Or, I sharpen up my knowledge about web site design, blogging, blog technologies, and the like. So, in a sense, blogging makes me sharper and more overall involved in stuff I am interested in. I may not actually spend the time writing, but will still be sharper. I like that. It’s good for my brain, and therefore, I think, good for me. And, as a consequence, I watch less TV and read less garbage. That’s good for me as well, I figure!

Also, I like to be net literate, and to learn about all the new technologies used by bloggers, and to check them out as well. There’s a lot to learn, and I really enjoy that. I read blogs, discussion forums and the like, and try to find stuff I like. Then I test it out. Often I find I don’t like or see much sense in the stuff I try out. Even so, that’s learing, and enjoyable.

Fourth, I’d like to make a fortune blogging. But to be honest, I don’t think that’s gonna happen. Not anytime soon, and most likely never. But I don’t really care all that much. I will still go on blogging. And I suspect this is the situation for a large number of my fellow bloggers as well. I mean, lets face it, if I really wanted to make the big bucks blogging, I should have been writing about celebrities, hot babes, or that kind of stuff, or about the upcoming American presidential election. Anybody who can read bloggers’ income stats, can figure that one out. It’s not exactly rocket science. But I’m not going to do that. It simply doesn’t interest me that much. Not right now, at least. So I write my own stuff, reflecting my own interests and my own perverse sense of humor.

Seems to me, the number of bloggers is increasing rapidly. And most likely, less than one percent of them will make significant money blogging. Perhaps only one in ten among the ones makng real money – that is, less than 0.1 percent – will make enough dosh to make a good living by blogging. For most, money will forever be a distant hope. That almost certainly is the case for me, I have yet to cross the magical 100 dollars limit :) . So, I think it is pretty important to have other reasons for wanting to blog than just the dream of making money. I do not think it is any easier to make money blogging than it is to make money on acting, tennis, photography or other professional type activities. The struggle for survival is intense, and only the smart and adaptable will survive. And, of course, the hobbyists – and that’s me! LOL

So, gals and guys, fellow bloggers: Why do you blog? Where’s the fun in blogging? What makes blogging worthwhile for you?

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Blogging is a messy business.

November 29, 2007 · Filed Under Blogging · Comment 

Blogging is great fun. But it is messy. For a number of reasons. There’s so much of it, and so much hype about it, especially about making money on blogging. Thousands of new bloggers are opening up new blog sites, or starting new blogs on some or other of the thousands of sites now offering free blogs and web hosting, many of them to get their share of the big money flying around. New business models are invented, and new opportunities open up for bloggers to make money all the time. Partly bloggers are inventive people, partly there’s inventive companies and individuals out there seeking to get a share of the action, that make opportunities available. But a lot of the bloggers will experience that it is tough, and many will not ever see their expectations met. It is tough to Bloggingsucceed. It’s a jungle, and only the fittest survive.

This blog is about blogging. It’s about the fun of it, about some of the nice experiences, about some of the great zen of blogging, and such. However, it is also about the hardships and the pitfalls of blogging, and about the many things, big and small, that makes blogging unnecessarily hard or difficult, and, of course, ways to deal with those problems. I am not even above a little bit of ranting, every now and then, about software and computers. In sum – it’s a blog about the small and large stuff that is blogging, and seeking to give hints and ideas about how to deal with or overcome challenges.

My ambition is to contribute primarily by asking some of the right questions, maybe at times even, if I get lucky, by looking in the right direction for answers. But my hope is that we – people interested in and concerned with blogging, together – collectively – can come up with solutions or apply pressure for change. There is so much experience, knowledge, and expertise out there that can be brought to bear on almost any issue that poses a challenge. I hope some of it can be mobilized right here, for the common good of bloggers around the world. So SUGAHS, wherever you are, join in!

Let the blogging begin!

– Peter –


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