Why People Blog

If you’ve blogged for any length of time, you’ve asked yourself that question. Googling the Net there are numerous articles along the lines of “3 reasons people blog” or “11 reasons people blog” or “5,232 reasons people blog”.

Ruling out those who blog as a career or to market their business or make money some how, why do the rest of us blog? I don’t think there are too many of us common bloggers making a ton of money doing this. Most of us have have just given up on that idea.

So, why do we blog?

There are so many reasons individual people will decide to blog, and to continue blogging:

• To have a say. Give your view. Engage with people.
• To promote a cause you are personally passionate about. It could be autism, world peace, the arts or an unlimited number of causes, great and small.
• Politics. Some people are passionate about the Democratic Party, or the New Progressives, or Republicans or any other political agenda, and blogging is how they market their ideas and support their party.
• Some people just like to attract attention. They enjoy seeing their blog on the Internet. They like “being a blogger”.
• Some people want to entertain others, or offer information and share ideas.
• Self documentation. The old fashion “Dear Diary”. They want to document their life. Journal their thoughts and grow as a individual.
• Connect with people, a Facebook type of blogging.
• Fill a void. Some people need something to fill a void in their life, and blogging is it.
• Fun. Some people just like it, and that is enough.
• Personal development. Through self expression and the exchange of ideas via their blog they develop as a person.
• Improve writing skills. Some simply want to exercise and develop their writing skills.
• To stay current with the fast paced world of the Internet. They have a need to be current technologically.
• To meet other people.
• As a catharses, expressing their anger and emotions online.
• They are obsessive compulsive bloggers and can’t stop blogging no matter what.
• It is a method to massage the flats of your finger tips, smacking the keyboard keys over and over.

Of course, there are at least a hundred other possible reasons that people blog. I think ultimately, people need other people and it is the engagement and connections that we all seek, at least, to a certain degree.

Sometimes you may have developed a blog for years and just don’t know how to end it.

My nature is a type of low level Attention Deficit Hyperactive Personality. Some people need stimulus, external and internal, and blogging provides that in a number of ways. It does for me. Plus I always like the flats of my fingers to be massaged. Keyboarding feels good on several levels.

The problem with someone such as myself who is a tad hyper is that this makes for a very eclectic blog. Perhaps scattered is a better word. One day I am writing about politics, the next computers, or photography or any number of topics ranging in mood from the deeply serious to the wildly humorous and everything in between.

Most of the blogs I see, especially in South Florida, are pretty honed in on one topic. There are numerous food blogs, restaurant blogs, Arts, politics, the environment or the traditional personal journal blog.

Sometimes I feel like when I blog I am walking into an old fashioned general store in a small town, sitting down in a rocking chair with others and just chewing the fat a spell.

I’m not a blogging purist. Some out there have some sort of high and mighty view as to what a blog should be, what it should consist of. Bullshit. A blog can be whatever you want it to be. Now, if you want readers, then that is a different story.

Anyway…..I do feel that I’ve lost any direction this blog has ever had, if it did have one at some time.I want to add some focus. But focus on what?

More photography I think. Shorter blogs for sure. More humor. Wait a minute, can’t leave out technology. And….oh well…..I’ll keep working on that.

Meanwhile, pass me some more coffee and let’s talk some more…..

Some Blogging Guy