I ask myself this question every now and then. Morra Aarons-Mele is working on a research project related to her graduate work and she is interviewing bloggers. I had my interview last week and I always like the opportunity to answer questions that encourage reflection. Questions like ..
- Why did you start to blog?
- Has the reason changed?
- Will you stop blogging?
- What benefits or value has it brought you?
Recently, I read a post from Jeremiah Owyang about his conversation with Avanish Kaushik about why blog. I just love this statement, "I blog for thought leadership."
I keep thinking about purpose and why I blog. I started blogging in 2000 or so - maintaining link lists on html pages and then with a blogger blog before starting this typepad blog in 2003. The reason I started blogging because I needed a way to force myself to read and write in order to keep up with topics related to my work so I could remember them! I'm having so many senior moments that my blog becomes my "back up brain" a phrase that Amy Gahran used recently. It's also a useful marketing tool for me.
If you blog, why do you blog?
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I started blogging in 2003 when I was freelancing and living the isolated life of a hermit - it really was just a way to reach out to the wider world (almost a cry for help!). I also wanted to get into the discipline of writing every day. Then, I started learning some basic coding so that I could customize my blog - and these self-taught skills later got me a job that I otherwise never would have gotten. It truly has been effective professional development for me.
I blog to clarify my thinking, to grow intellectually, and to be a member of the wider community.
Posted by: Elizabeth Dunn | November 21, 2007 at 07:03 PM
I blog to communicate with my colleagues, to start conversations about the use of technology in education and issues with technology, site blocks, copyright and privacy issues.
I blog to create more personal relationships with colleagues, to be transparent about who I am and to keep my family up to date with my work.
Having recently posted something on my blog, I'd love you to come and comment on why you blog!
Posted by: Alex Miller | November 21, 2007 at 08:56 PM
"thought leadership" is such a broad statement, the benefits I've received from blgoging are really amazing. The biggest one, ability to work at amazing companies!
Posted by: Jeremiah Owyang | November 21, 2007 at 10:54 PM
Thanks Jeremiah, Liz, and Alex for sharing your thoughts. I need to make a list of these benefits.
Posted by: Beth Kanter | November 22, 2007 at 06:16 AM
I blog for the search box ;-) so I can find things I did, thought about over time. No, I just feel compelled to blog, but really it is primarily my own form of processing either work I am doing, ideas as I chew on them, or what I observe in the world (online or in general).
My start in 2002 was really to explore what was emerging as a form of expression and communication; and my own belief that to know about things you have to use them.
Methinks Amy is building from Cory Doctorow's brilliant concept (in 2002) of "My Blog, My Outboard Brain" http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/javascript/2002/01/01/cory.html
The fuel for it though, as mentioned in earlier comments, are the connections it enables, the feedback one gets (positive and negative).
And lastly, sometimes I get free trips to other countries to blab about stuff 'cause they (foolishly?) think I know something because I blog.
Posted by: Alan Levine | November 22, 2007 at 07:57 AM
Hello Beth,
Good post!
Probably one of the most interesting things for me is the possibility of exchanging ideas and thoughts with a community.
In addition to this, blogging represents a great way of meeting new interesting people like it happened with you!
Andrea
Posted by: Andrea Vascellari | November 23, 2007 at 02:39 AM
Leave it to you to challenge me to think about this, especially as my blogging one-year anniversary is coming up. I wish I had a simple answer to this, and as I do not track my visitors or analytics or otherwise make any money at all from my blogging, I am wondering about it from a business perspective at all. I will have to puzzle over this, and will wrestle with it over the next few days.
I like Jeremiah's response, and while that is consistent with having a focus that relates with his work (as does your own non-profit postings), my own interests shift the more I learn about any single topic. Hmmm, perhaps that is the beginning of my own answer?
I find it interesting that you spoke about why you began blogging, but not why you continue blogging or how it has evolved over time.
Posted by: Jeffrey Keefer | November 27, 2007 at 10:14 AM
At the advent of our company a few years ago, we already recognized the value of blogging as a tool for communication with both colleagues and clients. We wanted to provide a forum both for sharing what we found through our daily research and for instigating dialogue. Like you, my professional blogging sort of began as lists of what I had read or seen to help me keep track of things and to let others in the museum community know if I'd found something really interesting. As time went on, however, I found that my posts grew longer and longer and were more sort of a synthesis rather than just a regurgitation. They take longer to write but are ultimately more satisfying and probably more interesting as well. Probably the biggest change, however, has been in that we moved from having a home-made blog on our company website to using the Blogger platform, primarily because it offers more for us in terms of handling comments and feeds than we could manage on our own.
Posted by: Allyson Lazar | November 28, 2007 at 05:48 PM