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Why do people blog?
For her own answer, Kimee cited personal reasons for blogging. She wasn't blogging for anyone in particular, but herself. Her blog was a record of events gone past, thoughts once mulled, it was full of bad spelling and bad grammar. Kimee even admits that if one were to read one of her posts at random, it would probably be boring. But what drives this woman to continue to update her blog daily? Because its part of her, she is documenting her own existence.
Others were quick to chime in with their thoughts. Barbara Payne, a professional writer, noted that her blog was also a personal one, "where I dream,
wax poetic, express my idealistic side, share insights, and thank people". What each of these blogs have in common is that they are not looking for a large readership, infact, they don't expect people to read their output - it's their blog and their words.
Levi Wallach on the other hand is all about his audience as he writes his Gadget and Technology focused blog. He wants to write the sort of piece he himself would find interesting about a given topic. As he puts it himself, "it would be nice to not have lots of others have to go through as much work as I did and so I try to make it easier for others to grasp". An audience driven blog like this is more likely to find a bigger audience as his posts become more valuable for people looking for specific information. Levi's entries most likely will feature higher on Google for example than say Barbara's or Kimee's personal entries, since people will be more inclined to bookmark or pass his blog url's around.
Blogging to educate is another common reason for people taking to their browsers, and the wide range of material that people wish to educate about is wide and far reaching. Take for example, Geraden, who describes himself as a "man who regularly wears tights (and pantyhose) and I want to spread the message that it is ok for men to do this". His blog has become an online support centre for people curious or needing advice. Geraden has built up a small community around him, with over 200 comments in the last 10months alone.
Blogging is billed as self-publishing, giving voice to those that may have otherwise gone unheard. Leastbest took up blogging to write stories that he didn't have the confidence to get published, and having received positive comments, the whole experience has gone much better than his expectations. Trudy Schuett, another professional writer, started her blog as a replacement for an email newsletter she use to pen, but the logistics of promoting that became too hard that she turned to blogs. She writes for her audience and for her, the blog is the perfect publishing tool for her that gives her full editorial control.
Finally, the seasoned geek blogger, Mark Derricutt, who started a journal back in the old days when the term blogging wasn't even coined, it was just an HTML page that he manually updated with various notes. He knows he has an audience, but that doesn't effect what he writes, it's his blog and if he wants to update on various programming subjects then he will, often putting out strong how-to or help related posts that undoubtedly will ease the pain of others.
This just a small sample of some of the reasons people blog. The reasons are varied but the one thing that does come through them all, is the sense of control. The blogger is in charge and no one tells them what they can or can't write about. They may be writing for an audience but that by in large is a by-product of the ultimate control of having the ability to express one self. To start a blog in the first place, you must first have the desire to write and put a little of yourself out there.
Who knows you may attract an audience, you may not, but whatever reason you blog under, always enjoy it, and don't get caught up in your own self hype.
