Wendy, my facebook friend, asks why people blog.
Bloggers are some of the most introspective people on earth and I think all of us frequently ask ourselves why we do it. Is it sin to want to put ourselves out there? Pride? Vanity? Of course it is to some extent, but there's other stuff going on too.
I think the main reason why I blog is because I'm an extrovert. I like having people around me, even when I'm by myself. I like knowing people and I like people knowing me. Blogging lets me do this. When I read your blog I feel some connection with you. Even if you strive to keep parts of yourself to yourself, if you write enough 'you' will seep out through your words and I will get to know you. I like that and I like that you know me. Not completely, of course, but if you've been reading for a while you'll have a fairly good feel for who I am. If we ever meet in real life, do come and say hello. Or why not leave me a comment right now?
I also blog because I'm an expressive. I want to tell you what I'm feeling and thinking. What better forum is there for half-formed ideas than a blog? There's conversation of course, but one's husband can only tolerate so much... I like to write my ideas and I like to read yours. I like that blogdom lets us share our thoughts and ourselves bypassing issues of shyness and some other insecurities.
Maybe you blog for other reasons. What are they? And non-bloggers, why do you read blogs?
Before I finish, let me clear up a couple of things:
I don't blog for approval. Some blogs scream out 'please like me'. I don't think mine does. If my blog yells anything, it's 'please know me!'
I don't blog to minister to you. Maybe I should, but I don't. Sorry. Go read a book (or this blog).
I blog for a few reasons - to track and log my thoughts, because I think the internet is full of crazy things that need documenting, and because I want space for my rants.
ReplyDeleteOh, and sometimes it's because I think I actually have something useful to say - often that's either about PR or coffee.
My blog has an incredibly broad scope though - sometimes I think I should narrow it and have different blogs for different topics.
We started our blog originally when we knew we were moving overseas, as a way of letting family and friends know what we and the kids have been up to. It is easier than writing individual emails to everyone and I blog more frequently than I would email, so they probably know more as I would forget little things between emails I write (plus forget who I'd told and who I hadn't yet). I do find you still need to email people to find out what they have been doing (those who don't have a blog, which is most of our family and friends) and therefor maintain two-way communication.
ReplyDeleteRecently I've started including stuff about what I've been reading and thinking about it.
Will I 'seep' through my comments?
ReplyDeleteI like your blog because you do make yourself knowable, but don't get too self-indulgent. It's a good balance.
ReplyDeleteI think, to be frank, I started a blog because I felt quite unknown to a lot of people in my life. I was feeling like an extrovert trapped in an introverts body. And I really wanted to be known.
ps- I just felt a drip, and I thought it was starting to rain, but it must have just been kate seeping-- lesson: never comment below a seeper.
oh no! I feel the drips down here too!
ReplyDeleteKate! Hold it in!
This is Wendy, Simone's facebook friend. I think, Simone, that when we get back to Brisbane, you and I should get together. Although, perhaps we'd be too similar to get along. Extrovert, introspective, expressive...all words that describe me!
ReplyDeleteI just have to credit you with being the evangelist on end of a long line of people and thoughts that have finally led me to blog. Come and visit www.mmuser.blogspot.com
I blog because I'm an introvert, and think so many things that I don't say.
ReplyDeleteI also blog because I find my work so boring I need a release.
http://laetitiabm.blogspot.com/2009/03/why-i-blog.html
ReplyDeleteI blog because I enjoy writing, and I enjoy adult interaction (when I get comments!) after being with kids all day...and I also enjoying writing down my thoughts, and things that the kids have been up to, otherwise I'll forget them. I also love getting to know other people, but that is less likely to happen on my blog now that it's private. :-(
ReplyDeleteI LOVE your blog because it's quirky. I love the way your mind works, and the variety and your energy.
how nice!
ReplyDeleteThanks everyone. So blogging is for us all! Extroverts, introverts, expressives, the repressed, the lonely, the bored, the busy...
Maybe it will form part of the english curriculum in the future. I can see it now! A unit on the blog genre! You guys would all be on the reading list.
You actually can study blogging as part of the English curriculum now (well you could at least 3.5yrs ago when I was still teaching). It comes in the rather flexible grouping of 'other genres' which english teachers get to choose any kind of genre that isn't one of the explicit groups.
ReplyDeleteHmmm ... yes, to the expressive; no, to the extrovert ... funny, I always thought bloggers were mostly introverts who wrote because it was a great way to connect to people while all on their own!!
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks for the link. Bloggy love? ;)
Hello Simone!
ReplyDeleteLove your blog. It's really gorgeous.
I am new to blogging but a seasoned reader of blogs and for the record I too am an introvert!
I started mine, encouraged by a friend to seize the day, because I like writing and this is a good place to practise the craft - it has an audience so therefore it requires some care but it can be done in reasonably short time so doesn't take the time or concentration span that writing the great Australian novel would take! And at this stage in my life I lack both the time and the concentration span! And because I enjoy writing it serves as wonderful slice of personal recreation.
And already it has proven to be a fun place to make friends and join a new community.
I wonder how many bloggers used to keep diaries when they were kids?
Jean, some of us extroverts are stuck at home with kids and no adults to converse to, plus in my case, surrounded by people who don't even speak my language. I come close to going crazy sometimes.
ReplyDelete