Tuesday, July 26, 2011

why do you blog?

i was talking to a friend of mine who recently started her own internet journey and she told me that she was making her blog private because it was jut for her kids and friends to see the things that she deemed interesting enough in her life to post it. 

when she said that...at first, i didn't get it.  i mean...after all, isn't the purpose of a blog to reach a broader audience?  not for her it wasn't.

that got me thinking about why i choose to express my thoughts and ideas this way and how or why that differs from my other online partners. 

i think in a lot of ways...when you see something in print it automatically has legitimacy.  whether accurate or not...the perception is...if it's written down...it must be true (or at least half true).  but for me, the ability to hit "POST" and watching my words float away into the vast chasm of cyber space gives me a sense that i'm somehow communicating with a lot of people at once.  regardless of the actual numbers that read this.  it's kind of like the difference between standing in my bedroom on a wooden box, spilling my guts about my deepest, inner-most thoughts to the tv, un-made bed and the stack of laundry vs. taking that same box out to the center of my neighborhood and unleashing my message to the atmosphere and any one else who will listen.  there's a sense that the message has gained some inertia because of where and how it's being transmitted.

i realize as i write those words that i'm coming across a bit like an ego maniac.  and i'm not.  but at the end of the day....i like to be heard and to be known.  i think that's pretty normal actually for most of us.  i think we all want to be known on some degree.  what we think, who we are, what we value.

so, this is going out to all you bloggers out there....why do you do it?  promotion?  connection?  for family updates?  for profit?  what is it? 

...ready, go!

2 comments:

Mary Marantz said...

Love this post Jeramy! I think I blog because I want to remember....the highs, the lows, life moving too fast, life moving to slow, and everything that made life right now so beautiful.

Michelle R. Slape said...

My personal blog for my boys was created to keep family and friends up to date with our family. Now, it serves as both that and a digital scrapbook of our family life.

My photography and Down Syndrome both contain more heart felt posts (in regards to down syndrome and life in general). I share there because I want to share my personal experiences and let others know they are not alone. Whether they know me or not, I want them to realize that there is someone who has gone through what they may be going through or feeling.

Great post!!!!!