In How Do You Choose What You Blog About?, Lorelle VanFossen of The Blog Herald asks that question and a series of others that delve into different reasons bloggers keep up with their blogs. Setting aside for a moment the different types of blogs and bloggers, I think all questions about blogging ought to also consider one other element of the phenomenon:
In the earlier days of blogging, it was mainly a form of public writing. Expanding technological capabilities have allowed it to tag up with all sorts of other media, mainly (I think) still imagery, video, and music. But at its core, it’s still a medium of writing, and that fact makes me wonder about why people want to write so much so badly, and why they want to do so — with relative ease — in a public manner. Don’t get me wrong; I think it’s great — I just also think the question is an interesting cultural and social one that’s well worth exploring.
I agree, though I don’t put it quite so bluntly. You are smack right on. Why do people want to write (blog) so badly, and then write so badly, too. 😉 The need to express ourselves is overwhelming, and this is a great venting ground for such expression.
The art of storytelling, journaling, diary writing – all these ways we have of expressing ourselves which has been augmented and replaced in the past 100 years with visual images and less words – blogging is bringing back the art of the written word which is very exciting.
But why people want to blog when they honestly have little to contribute to the public worth and value – that’s a really big question.
Lorelle,
Thanks very much for commenting. I’ve been following your site for a few weeks now and enjoying it.
And, as it turns out, this is a great lesson for me. “So badly” did not belong in the post; I meant to remove it and forgot! I really WASN’T trying to comment on poor quality writing, but only on what seems to be an urgent need that so many people have to write. So, “so badly” would have been better expressed as “so urgently.”
WHERE’S MY PROOFREADER? Oh, yeah, right here…
I agree with your observation on visual images, and am also reading a bit about that in Marshall McLuhan’s books. The video and image explosion is interesting in its own way, but (along with the quality of writing), I think there are a lot of questions yet to be asked about the kind and quality of information presented by imagery. Obviously, as you say, “big questions” — certainly too big to address in this little tiny comment box.
Thanks again for stopping by; very much appreciated.
Regards,
Dale
I understood exactly what your “badly” meant. I was making a pun.
Save your proofreader for more important things like catching horrid grammar and mizzedspelled words. 😉
Still, your post has had me thinking a lot about what you said. You are really right on target. Thank you!