I'm beginning to wonder if I should restart this blog (which was originally on the AOL Journal site). The primary reasons for keeping a blog are: keep people informed about yourself and your life, having a place to vent (only a good idea on a blog site if that blog is kept private... at which point it would probably be better to have a journal instead), comment on life, the universe, and everything for money and the hell of it, or to promote things. Let me address these one by one and see if I can answer my question of Keep or Give (up).
Keep people informed: I really should do this, but I honestly find my life fairly boring for the most part and cannot see why anyone would want to know much more than a few lines a week or even month. Other people's lives I find fascinating and I love reading what they post on a regular basis. The other problem is that I wouldn't have a clue what people would like to know more about... kids, hobbies, or day to day mush. Any comments would be nice.
Having a place to vent: I've already mentioned that in most cases this would be best kept in a private journal, but I will mention that sometimes it's nice to get feedback on the little things that are piling up on you if for no other reason than to be reminded that they are little things. So venting is an option as long as it's nothing overly personal.
Commenting on life, the universe....: This has worked great for a couple of friends, but my opinions are too fluid to make a huge difference in things. If I were to keep this blog it definately wouldn't be for this reason. Having said that, I won't promise not to comment since I do have some opinions... sometimes :P
Promotional: As with the above, it wouldn't be a primary reason, but sometimes I find products or places that I really do have to praise. My kids wouldn't care less (not that I would have (m)any readers that would care more) about these things and this might be a good place to mention them.
All in all the balance appears to be in favor. The next question becomes, would it be worth it. A journal is personal and friends, family and most specifically posterity would find value in it... when it is eventually read. A blog is only really worth it if there are readers. So I put the question to you.... Keep or Give?
5 months ago
Well, as with everything, keeping a blog comes down to whether you enjoy it. Some people have blogs and absolutely no readers (I think I'm up to 4 regular readers right now, but I only have 1 registered follower), but they keep blogging because they like it, or it gives them a sense of some kind of control or stability in their lives. Other people blog because they have an inflated sense of self-worth and feel that friends and family really want to read about Billy's wart, or grandpa's incontinence. As for me personally, I no longer have a web server, so I'm using my blog as a replacement website, and my website had always been a way to promote anime and manga that I liked.
ReplyDeleteIt comes down to writing about things that matter to you. If you like talking about those things, then you'll want to keep coming back and updating your blog regularly. And, if you have a specific hobby, then writing about that hobby can be one way of getting better at the hobby itself (the best way to learn something is to try to teach it to someone else). And, if you do blog about a specific hobby, you may eventually be recognized as an authority on it, which can result is getting more readers of your blog.
Either way, good luck with your decision.
Blog about what you like to do. I have three blogs. One for my favorite hobby reading, one for the family where I post about what is happening in our lives as all our family lives in other states, and one for me as the teacher.
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