Why Do You Blog?

Darren Barefoot is asking the question and it is one I would like to know the answer to

Why do you blog? Why do I blog? Why does anybody? As the medium enters its pubescence, it’s a question that I wonder about all the time. I’ve talked about it with a lot of different bloggers, and everyone offers a different reason.

In February, I’m giving a talk called “Why We Blog” at Northern Voice here in Vancouver. In preparation, I’m launching this ad hoc survey to gather more opinions and voices from the blogosphere.

If you have the time please go over and complete his survey – you might win a prize but more importantly Darren might publish his findings so we can get a picture of why people are blogging right now. Interestingly he has gone for free text replies so I am not sure how the survey results will be formulated.

In my experience there are many reasons people blog …

• Personal diary/journal
• I just like writing
• money
• fame/attention
• sales
• get a new job
• make friends/network
• …

When I started blogging there were many names for the activity but “blogging” wasn’t one of them. Back in the late 90’s people would have personal sites and just throw “stuff” up, links, pics, jokes, resume/CV, etc. A couple of people had sites with diaries or personal journals and I thought I would follow suit. While it took me some time to work out what I was doing, and the whole thing was hand coded seeing as there was no wordpress at that time, I got a taste for it and have blogged ever since. My first true blog was launched Friday 5th February 1999. Don’t bother going to wayback machine and reading the lousy first post, it’s embarrassing (makes a reference to a Red Dwarf character and our new fridge freezer – not exactly Shakespeare!).

My reasons for sticking with blogging are many and complex but I think one reason that stands out is I find it so rewarding. When we stopped blogging at Performancing towards the end of last year I really felt a loss. I still had my personal blog but it’s nice to have the Performancing blog back.

It’s a fascinating topic for me why people get into this and more importantly stay with it. This is one of the many talks I will be sad to miss at Northern Voice this year. I have my tickets but too much Performancing stuff going on now to make it. Maybe next year. I wonder if I still get my t-shirt if I don’t attend?

Why did you start blogging and why do you keep at it? Let me know in the comments …