blogger tips blogger voice discover your inner blogger public vs private blogs random random rambling random thoughts reasons people blog why blogging why do you blog

I’ve been doing a lot of reading this morning (like any other morning) and came across an interesting post by Jeff Bullas titled ‘Why Do You Blog’ (hence the title of my post since there was really no other way of putting it)  which I highly recommend you all read.

I have taken the liberty of putting together a little diagram to summarize what Jeff has said :

 

I’ve been blogging for almost 2 years now .. seriously since about 1.5 year .. and I’ve never really thought about ‘why’ I blog .. I blog because I want to.  There’s no real hidden purpose behind it.  It’s more about the ability to be able to express myself and to voice out an opinion.  I’m not a political blogger nor am I a business blogger .. I don’t fall into the dating / relationship blogger category (but am flattered that a few of my Twitter friends consider me to be so) ..

I suppose I blog for all of the above illustrated reasons – more so in the personal blogger category because I tend to write about a variety of things .. hence the name Sporadic Reflections for my blog.

I never thought I’d make money from blogging.  Hats off to those who make a living as bloggers.  I just don’t know if I would be able to do that.  I mean I love to write but I barely have the time that would even remotely qualify me to be able to make enough money to sustain myself.  Having said that, I have over the past few months enrolled myself with various sites that pay bloggers for content.  I’m also quite proud of the fact that I’ve managed to make about $100 from doing what I enjoy in my spare time – writing – or to say it correctly – by blogging. 

Everyone has their own reasons behind why they choose to blog – after all it’s about finding your blogger voice.  As an events & wedding planner – I have been meaning to put together a few articles that I feel would be helpful for brides and grooms and have them put up on my blog.  I’ve even thought about having a separate blog just for that.  I’m still in the researching phase for that – but it’s something I want to do and hope to have up and running soon enough.  Alternatively I will just wait until my company website is live and have the blog as a part of that.

I recommend business blogs to all my clients who come to me for marketing consulting.  I am very pro social media marketing and encourage clients to delve into it if they haven’t already as I feel its a better medium for them.  There are a plethora of ways of business to promote their brand and their products by way of blogging and incorporating a few other social media mediums and use it to their advantage. 

MySpace introduced blogging quite a few years ago – and created an avenue for music artists to put up their latest projects, gigs, their new music, and also enable them to interact with their fans.  There are a growing number of photo blogs out there that lets photography enthusiasts show off their talents and lets the rest of cyber space enough their photography.  Some of us have never seen the images captured and probably never will.

Now that I have found my blogger voice – what about you ? Have you found your blogger voice ? And lastly I’ll leave you with this thought – does a public or private blog affect your writing ?

So why do you blog ? Would love to know your thoughts on this and if you have taken the time to read any of the other posts linked to this article – don’t forget to leave a comment :)

blogging trends nothing to hide people's perceptions personal opinions public vs private blogs random thoughts

Morning all … I came across a really cool blog earlier today called ‘The Way I See It’ .. and I could completely relate to it … It’s one to add to the reading list if you don’t already know about it …

My blog title is taken from this blog and a post that really interested me … I consider myself to be a personal and sporadic blogger … I’m not here to make money or change the lives of others with my views – but am here just to get all those extra thoughts running around my head out of my system and leaving a tiny mark out there in the blogosphere.

Blogging is an outlet for me to express myself and my views to an audience that may or may not judge me; to an audience that may actually enjoy what I have to say or to provide a gateway of free thoughts for those who just need to ‘get away’ !

I’ve never been one to keep a diary – and I don’t think I use my blog as a diary per say. I had heard about blogging a few years ago and went on to make my account live in 2007 but didn’t get around to actually writing in it till the June / July of 2008.

I knew when I started my blog – I had wanted to cover certain areas 1) my random thoughts 2) music that I was really interested in and 3) a place to capture the poetry that I had written or read over the years. The smart ass that I am – I set up – not one – but THREE different blogs – and very soon realised that it was not possible for me to maintain those – so I figured out how to import / export all the content to this main blog out here.

So now, as you know this blog more or less delves into various topics – from things that interest me, things and attitudes that bother me, some music, some poetry, and just general rambling of sorts. I like to believe that my neighbours and readers will have an opinion on what I write about, and the posts that go Without comments have been visited by lurkers.

I reckon that in my 27 years, I’ve had a pretty exciting and adventurous life – and should I be able to capture it ALL down – then it would make for a fabulous book =) I am an avid reader – so have a variety of blogs on my reading my list that range from personal, spiritual, all the way to business blogs. I find that I am able to relate in some way to the blogs that deal with personal life experiences.

So … we get back to the original question that Robin had posted. Is what you write about affected by who knows about your blog?

My honest answer to him was …. I've been blogging for almost a year now - and funnily enough - only a 'handful' of close friends know about my blog - and ironically - my two best friends don't even read my blog - its a bunch of other friends who do - who I feel could relate with it and hence I told them about the blog. Mine is not a 'personal-personal' blog - I do write whatever I am thinking about .. sometimes it can be personal (I think) and other times - its a subject that I have a strong view about ... And you're right - there are some family members or friends that I rather NOT have read my blog in case they get all uptight about it ... saying that, there are some topics I do not write about Just In Case someone else I know will get on to read about it ... Although to be on the safe side, I don't use any real names - I stick to initials or nicknames for people, nor have I disclosed my own real name or photograph ...

I prefer it this way … I did for a while upload my blog posts to my Facebook account – and quite a few people used to comment on certain topics but somehow I didn’t like the idea that ‘my friends’ knew about my blog … Weird right ?? Unlike Robin, I’m not a very private person – in fact I’m quite an outgoing person who really doesn’t care much what others think about what I have to say or do (not in a bad rash manner but in a ‘your opinion doesn’t bother me manner') … Ok that still didn’t come out right but you get my point ??

I like the idea that ever since I started blogging – I have found a whole new community of people who are of the same mindset as me – people who may or not have shared the experiences that I have – but they are open minded individuals who are able to pop into someone else’s life and give an unbiased opinion. This community is completely non-judgemental and that’s what I love about my fellow blogger neighbours. They take what you have to say at face value and don’t question the ‘who, what, if, why,’ etc

In real life – some people are too caught up in the notion that everything should be done in XY manner and if it doesn’t follow protocol then it is not acceptable. People are bogged down with societal views and haven’t had the time to form their own personal views.

How “private” is your blog? Do your family and friends know that you write online? Do you care?