For a bit more than 4 years I have been blogging, albeit, in Greek. This English version of Digital Era is a new project. My Greek blog was more of a personal exercise and it did quite well. (Shamelessly, I think it went amazingly well but I thought I should keep a semblance of being humble here).
Here are some things I learned over the years:
Blogging is hard work.
I takes perseverance and a lot of time. You have to make it interesting, you have to be persistent and you have to blog often. As often as possible. Every single time you have to think if you’re being original enough, it you’re being clever enough and – above all – if you are really contributing to the conversation.
Blogging requires a massive ego.
Not in a bad sense. It’s just that in order to blog you have to really believe that what you are saying is worth someone’s attention. With the modern onslaught of information you really have to believe that your posts are worth the time and trouble. However…
Blogging is not about the blogger. It’s about the reader.
It’s not about you talking it’s about other people reading what you have to say and adding their opinion. Without the conversation you are merely an entertainment. This is why blogs without comments can never be as good as blogs with comments. Yes, even with all the trolls out there.
Blogging requires a thick skin.
If I had a dollar for every time someone thought I was stupid, ugly, irrelevant etc… The hate that your opinions might inspire in people is truly admirable.
Blogging demands that you build relationships.
You have to link to other people’s work, give them credit where credit’s due, read their stuff. You don’t do all that to force them to do the same to you (that’s ‘old media’ thinking). You do it so that you can build relationships with them and spark interesting conversations. A relationship does not have to be a friendly one. Look at Robert Scoble and Michael Arrington. They are usually at loggerheads but their conversations are truly interesting and enjoyable to follow.
With blogging there are no short-cuts.
You cannot lie to the community. You cannot steal other people’s work, you cannot pretend, you cannot get away with things. Others will find out and when they do they are out to get you. So be honest, be yourself. Nobody can ask more of you.
Blogging is one of the best things you can do.
Each blogger has a different reason for this. For me blogging did three key things
- People: I met them, talked to them, some of them became my friends.
- Learning: I’ve been reading and learning new things every day, just by reading blog feeds and following interesting links.
- Fun: I’m having oodles of fun with all the passion and drama of the blogging community.
What have you learned?
Nicely said, Sofia and it's all true. It requires you to have an ego and suppress your ego at the same time. To run a regular blog, you need to constantly be on the look out for the next idea, the next post. It's not always easy, but it's rewarding and gives everyone with a computer and an internet connection a voice and a way to communicate with the outside world.
For me as a writer, it also gives me the ability to write what I want without the filters of editors and publications and that is also a powerful feature of blogging. When I first encountered blogging as a concept in 2003 I was immediately hooked. I've been writing in my own By Ron Miller blog ever since. Thanks for articulating what it takes to keep a blog going.
Ron Miller
By Ron Miller Blog
http://byronmiller.typepad.com
Yes I agree with you totally. Blogging is not easy but it is rewarding. And the good thing is that it is not rewarding to yourself but to other people as well.
I really like your idea of writing without editors and publishers to get in your way. It's just your voice without the constrains that a commercial outlet could stifle you with.
Thanks for the drop – in and comment.
Great post. I agree with all your statements but mostly with the one titled “Blogging is not about the blogger. It’s about the reader.”
My favorite leitmotif all these years is that Blogging is not only about writing or reading but is also about commenting!
yes, participation is the key.
even though, do you think that sometimes we repeat ourselves too much in blogs? I've been thinking about this lately…
btw: “leitmotif”! What a delightful word!
“Repeating myself” is one of my deepest concerns when I write a post. I can avoid it, although I do not actually like it.
On the other hand if you want to have popularity and a standard audience, most people seem to demand and request something characteristic from you, something that it might be considered as an annoying repeated feature by others.
I think this could be subject to numerous other posts!
btw, I learned the word “leitmotif”, years ago by an Italian colleague and since then I use it a lot, because I find it more classy than “slogan” or “motto”!
On the one hand yes, you are right, readers are 'trained' to expect specific things from the blogger. However, we are not 'old media'. They have a certain line because (among other reasons) that's how they can sell advertising, by putting their readership/ audiences in little boxes and marrying them up to products.
But we don't have to worry about that. So how come we are not really diversifying?
Pls, correct “I can avoid it, although I do not actually like it.” with “I can NOT avoid it, although I do not actually like it.”
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As you realize I agree with your position and this is the reason that I prefer following blogs that I can easily detect that they are diversifying from the “old media”.
"Blogging is hard work"…you are really right about this. Blogging needs effort,perseverance,passion,time,sacrifice and wide source of knowledge. You cannot play with blogging,although you can have fun.
"Blogging is hard work"…you are really right about this. Blogging needs effort,perseverance,passion,time,sacrifice and wide source of knowledge. You cannot play with blogging,although you can have fun.
Busby Seo Test
"you can have fun"! Great. Couldn't have put it better myself
Yes. I agree with you.
We must build relationship with interesting conversations.
Sometime I really tired to blogging.
Like you said, it's really hard.
But, I still blogging until now.
Because I love meet others in internet world.