Why Do You Blog?

In Why I Write, George Orwell suggests the following reasons that someone may wish to write:

• To make money.
• Egoism, eg a desire to appear clever, or to be remembered after your death.
• Aesthetic enthusiasm, eg a love of words for their own sake.
• Historical impulse, ie a desire to see things as they really are, so that posterity my benefit.
• Political (with a small ‘p’), ie to influence other people’s ideas about society.

I’d also add another two:

Educational, ie the desire to give others the benefit of the knowledge you’ve acquired – which I suppose could also come under the heading of egoism, or even political.

Record-keeping, be that as a diary, a research record, or another kind of journal.

So I am wondering if these categories might be applied to blogging? Why do people blog? I’ve set up a very simple, and no doubt simplistic, poll to find out. I know the categories are subtle and overlap and interface with each other. Nevertheless, my poll comprises just one question:

What is your number one reason for blogging?

Do take part, and feel free to add reasons of your own on the ‘Other’ category. Let’s see what transpires.

Comments

[Amanda Wilson]

I would say educational record keeping in so far that I started my blog to keep track of the main part of my honours project which was teaching children about programming with scratch. After each weeks lessons while keeping a writtem journal i found it useful to share that weeks events in the class with others and also to look back on as well once i had finished my project.

[Terry Freedman, Educational ICT Consultant]

Thx Amanda I agree. I kept a blog once for a course I was doing, so I could share my thoughts and work record with my tutors. Unfortunately, when I old them I'd set it up they looked completely blank!

[What is Reflux]

I blog as a way to give back. Of course, theres the other side of me thats also looking for a small side income, but making really good money on a blog takes a lot of work and a lot of time. Expecting to make a full time salary is very ambitious and requires a lot of business know-how and planning. Right now I blog because I’ve learned so much from other blogs and wanted to give back in my own way. I also find so much cool stuff around the internet and learn something new everyday, so I want a way to share that, beyond just social networking.

[Terry Freedman, Educational ICT Consultant]

Thanks, April. I agree that blogging is a nice and comfortable way of "giving back"! cheers