I’ve been thinking a lot about everything I’ve read about blogging being the new, reliable source of information, the new medium, the new what?
Webster’s definition of a blog: short for Weblog, a blog is a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer.
That definition isn’t much help. Blogging is a lot more than that, more like everything bloggers do and post. I’ve tried to equate my ideas with something we all mostly understand, like:
- blogging is like independent films
- blogging is like independently published books
- blogging is like cable TV
- blogging is like letters from a pen-pal
- blogging is like journaling for public consumption
- blogging is like your own op/ed page in the newspaper
Blogging is a little like some of these ideas and a lot like others. It seems to be the most transcendent medium available today, and everyone who chooses to can blog.
Blogging is like independent films
Many bloggers are also video producers, and their distribution network is on YouTube or other video sharing sites. Videos are also distributed on many blogs.
I embed a fair number of other people’s videos and picture slide-shows on my blogs. My Hurricane Katrina Pictures blog and On Being the Change I Wish To See blog have the most videos and slide-shows embedded in posts. The topics lend themselves well to multimedia.
Blogging is like independently published books
Blogs are collections of writings by an individual (or small group of individuals) and only read by a few to several thousand people. Bestsellers hit the “millions of readers” magnitude. Most books in print sell at least into the 5-figures (over ten-thousand).
Some day, our blogs may indeed become books that we publish independently, whether in print or via electronic media (ebooks). Some day, some blogs may become bestsellers with millions of copies sold. But that’s a future which remains to be seen.
Blogging is like cable TV
I think blogging hits this one pretty solidly. Blogs are written for the individual reader interested in reading about particular subjects or reading work by particular authors.
Like cable TV, blogs provide a gazillion channels to choose from. There is likely something out there for every taste. And if there’s not, you can create it yourself, like local cable TV channels produce local programs inexpensively.
I even have a blog about a TV show, Invader Zim.
Blogging is like letters from a pen-pal
As we read other people’s blogs and get to know them, their style, and watch their content unfold, it’s like getting letters from a pen-pal over a long period of time. More of the author is revealed in each post just as more about a pen-pal is revealed in each letter. We get to know someone we’ve never met and may never meet from their writings.
Sure, some people we know personally read our posts, but most of our readers aren’t people we personally know. Should the opportunity arise to meet a reader in person, it must be like meeting someone you’ve gotten letters from for quite awhile and you may know them better than some of your friends. The difference is you may have read a lot of their writings, but they may not have read a lot of yours.
Blogs give the reader a unique opportunity to respond to posts and take part in a conversation with the author by commenting. By commenting on blogs you enjoy reading, the author gets the chance to know you’re out there, and may even become one of your readers.
Blogging is like journaling for public consumption
This is also true. A few of my blogs are journals about specific topics in my life and the content comes from my daily experiences and thoughts. Many people write blogs about certain aspects of their lives. Some blogs are just like a personal journal that other people can stop by and read anytime.
This blog is one of those, and so are my Debt Free or Bust and Hurricane Katrina Pictures blogs. They give you a look inside my journeys of internet marketing and blogging for income, becoming debt free, and surviving Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. They are my personal stories.
Blogging is like your own op/ed page in the newspaper
I have an opinion and editorial blog, too. In this blog I can write about my opinions on any topic I choose. It’s my On Being the Change I Wish to See blog. I write about all the things in the world I think need to be changed, and what I’m personally doing to make those changes.
My personal rule on this blog is I don’t get to bring up anything unless I’m prepared to come up with a solution, discuss the topic (pro or con) and support my thesis, or actually do something about it. I didn’t have this rule when I started and developing this notion has made the posts of much higher quality and more relevant to my ideal of being the change I wish to see in the world. This ideal comes from the following quote:
- Be the change that you wish to see in the world. – Mahatma Gandhi
What is blogging like to you? Please leave comments and let me know.
Sherri Joubert
Trying to figure out what blogging is.
