Why do people blog?

I've had my site, Urban Life, for a couple of months now and I've done a bit, well, more than a bit, of research into blogging.  The first thing that amazed me was the sheer immensity of blogs.  First of all, I never considered my SITE a blog, I thought it was a website.  But so many people are calling it a blog, I suppose it must fall into that category.  Back to the immensity.  There are literally thousands of blogs on the World Wide Web. Blogs on every subject imaginable.  And so it started an internal conversation as to why do people do it?  Why are there so many inane posters?  What makes a successful blog and why am I having a conversation with myself??  We'll forget about the last one.  

   My blog/site is a collection of modalities and interests loosely formed around an Urban theme.  As I've said before, cities fascinate me, excite me and infuse me with energy.  But lets be honest, YOU don't care about what motivates ME.  You care about YOU.  And that is normal.  So, to the first question, why do people blog?  I think there is an innate urge for humans to express themselves.  To get out what is inside and have it recognized by others.  Some want to snatch a minute semblance of fame, in whatever form they can find.  Any man or woman can be published in this day and age.  What used to be a diary is now a public journal.  And the old ubiquitous 'submission rejection form letter' need not apply when one is self-published.  Content be damned.

   Which brings me to the second question.  Why are there so many inane posters?  So many inane blogs?  They say many are called but few are chosen.  And they also say the cream rises to the top.  Be it as it may, I site as exhibit A, the number one social network site on the planet Earth, Facebook.  It never ceases to amaze me the sheer massive amount of mundane thoughts emitting from the 'send' button. This is how it works.  A person has a fleeting thought, it could be about anything, they're sitting at their computer, they type it up, hit 'send' and the entire world for perpetuity, knows it.  A person is say, vacuuming their rug and for some uncanny reason, they feel the need to 'share'.  And they do. Its a compulsion.  But what is really fascinating about this compulsion to share the mundane, is that everybody comments on it!  They feel the need to share in the mundane, to embellish upon it, to cheer it on as it were.  I have no idea why.  And so many blogs are the same.  Blogs about what makeup someone is wearing and what truck someone is driving.  Interesting.  Now I don't claim to be a Yoda or someone imparting deep pearls of wisdom every time I sit down in front of my keyboard and put pen to paper as it were.  Or whatever its called now days.  I don't meditate before I write and wait for the bolt of lightning to split the stone tablets.  But I do try to give something interesting and useful.  And that brings me to the last question I asked myself while walking the streets at 2 AM.  What makes a successful blog?

   If you don't teach, you won't reach.  Its that simple.  People love to learn.  They want to be able to look at something that they will get a take-away from.  Now I realize that may contradict my previous paragraph. Yes, the facebook posts about someone's day watching the paint dry will get 20 comments, but you can be assured that they're the posters closest friends and relatives.  And even that still amazes me.  However, to have a successful blog that hundreds, even, who knows, thousands of people will visit, you must teach.  How to cook a fish.  How to change a hard drive.  How to format a disk.  How to pick up someone in a bar in 10 minutes or less.  Its all about teaching and what YOU can do for THEM. And, within that context, you can showoff what you do.  In a photographers blog, there may be many beautiful shots of sunsets on Bali, but if there aren't posts on how to take those shots, you can count on your family and friends to be your fans and that's about it.  The secret to success is doing for others.  Making people's lives a little brighter, a little more enlightened.  Giving them something that they can use and THAT will make them come back for more.  And while they're at it, they just might look at your pictures and give you a thumbs up.  

   So, back to the core question, why am i having conversations with myself... NO, not THAT question.  Why DO people blog?  Because it fills the need to escape anonymity.  And in a big city, as unlikely as it may sound, anonymity is a real reality.  Millions of people walking down the sidewalks and no one stops to say hello.  Sometimes people don't even know their own neighbors.  A blog gives a person a chance to escape that aloneness.  Also, most everyone wants to stand out, to 'be somebody'.  One only has to watch Jerry Springer one time to see the lengths some go to achieve their 15 minutes. But its deeper than that.  People want others to see that they have something to say.  Something to contribute.  

   I blog because I must create.  And I feel I have something to say that may make others think a little different about something.  I blog because I want to teach whatever I have been passionate about in my short time and might have some minute expertise to share.  I blog because I want to share, I want to connect.  As an artist, I want people to see and hear my art, and hope that it may give them a smile. And in this Urban Life, I want to share the endless complexities and wonders of these man made canyons we call CITY.  

   Why do YOU blog?  Why do YOU write, if you do?  I would like you to tell me, right here and now, what YOUR thoughts are.  Because if nothing else, I'm forever curious.  

Comments

[WyzWmn]

I blog to keep myself from exploding...or imploding

one of my greatest life challenges has always been my penchant for over sharing and on a blog I can do so with a supposed/suggested anonymity - people who don't know me can read and devise their opinions of who and what I am...sometimes they get weirded out when they actually meet me because they don’t realize that the person I am on line is different than the one I am face to face…I think when I blog…I try not to concern myself with mundane things like correct punctuation or grammar…I just “virtually” open my mouth and blow it all out…

Blogging has brought me friends and cost me friends…cos sometimes I can say things virtually that I can’t bring myself to say face to face….but mostly (as the VOD would say) I blog to keep my foufou valve from ‘sploding!