Last night I had like a six hour conversation with Kyle James. We talked about a ton of stuff,but spent a good bit of time on our own philosophies about blogging. We have VERY different philosophies. That's not bad, mind you. Just different. And it was eye-opening so I thought I would take a moment to put my own philosophy into words.
Why I Blog
- I blog for myself, not for people who may read it. I think you have to blog for yourself to be successful - if you're doing it so that others will think you're a cool kid, you've missed the point.
- I blog to organize my thoughts. It may be in preparation for something I'm doing at work (or in response to something I did) or it could just be for my own clarification. If people find value in that, it's a bonus.
- I blog because I believe we're all obligated to share the information we have with others in our industry. I wish more people offered unique opinions instead of playing it safe.
- I blog because it keeps me on my toes and continually moving forward into new ideas and strategies.
- I blog because I have been since 1999 on various topics and it just seems natural at this point.
- I blog because I think it's fun. Those rare opportunities where you get to have a discussion with people who disagree with you are invigorating.
- I don't blog because I think I'm smarter than my readers. Anyone who calls themselves an authority on the web in higher education is a liar. There's always a new idea to explore or a new technique to learn. We all have areas of expertise and unique perspectives to offer, whether we put those perspectives in words on a blog or not. The irony of self-proclaimed experts is that they often are resting on their laurels and don't really have any new ideas to inject into the community. I hope I never become that sort of expert.
- I don't blog as some sort of grand master plan. This isn't branding to me. I'm not putting on some sort of front for the sake of presentation. I say what I think, mundane or critical, because I think having an opinion is far more interesting than being a sheep.
- I don't blog as a way to seek approval from people who may read it. If you agree with me, great. If you don't, that's fine too. I wish that more people who disagreed with me would say so in the comments and start a discussion about why.
6 comments:
I like this alot. I think branding/ approval/ status goals are actually better served when one just focuses on authentic. I know those are genuinely not your goals, and that's why it works. Really cool kids don't try. They may not win elections, but they will surround themselves with integrity and honesty.
I struggle with this from a context perspective. What is for me and what is the project? Kyle seems to do what he does not as self expression, but as an extension of his school/ his role. He's clear about this and he's good.
Just different.
Thanks Kevin :-)
You probably don't know because I don't think I knew you then, but I use to have a decently popular blog about interactive recruiting from my last job. It wasn't much different than this one (just focused more on admissions) and I got a lot of great feedback on it. But one of the MANY reasons I quit my last job was because I got hulled into my former bosses office one day and was told that the only way they would "allow" me to keep the blog up was that if they could basically write it for me (keep in mind this was a blog I was hosting and writing on my own time lol). So instead, I had a few beers one night and said "fuck this" and deleted it. That cost me. I had a ton of posts in that blog I wish I had saved and, since this one has only been around since January, there are apparently some people out there that don't feel I'm reputable enough to be taken seriously (the aforementioned people on twitter who have their heads shoved a bit too far up their asses). But it was the right decision and given the situation, I would have done it again.
The point of all this? Keeping it real is far more important to me than winning a popularity contest. As frustrating as it is to be judged based on how long who've owned a domain name rather than the content and merit of what you're actually saying, I guess I feel like people that would judge me based on that aren't worth impressing any more than my former bosses are ;-)
As for context, can't you have both? I've been blogging recently about projects I've been doing at work, but I view that as "for me". In some respects, it helps me create documentation that I can put to practical use. It also forces me to think about the project as a whole and what could work better next time.
Wow, that was long-winded lol....sorry about that!
Geez... after all that GTalk you still had time to write this up! Karlyn is a MACHINE! ;)
And now I feel obligated to respond, lol. I've promised Heidi Cool that I'd get kind of a follow-up why I blog put together, but just haven't found the time. I'm also thinking first of July is a good time because it represents six months of blogging, but maybe that's not soon enough?
Maybe I do get a little too involved sometimes, but I guess I feel if I just come out cracking jokes and all people won't take me as a credible source? As Kevin noted I also do feel my blog is more about professional development than personal expression at this point. I don't try to hide the crazy person behind it when I post about my trip to the Indy 500, but at this point I'm still more interested in building a credible thought leader image. Then if you care to know me then follow me on twitter and you will hear about the ups and downs of my Braves Baseball addiction and movie critics.
In the mean time Look ma I'm a Blogger! was my intro post and does a pretty decent job explaining why I blog. Although I've definite come a long way in my writing style and ability to craft a message since then.
Fair enough :-) Again, I don't think your blogging philosophy is bad or wrong! I think we all blog for different reasons. You want to present a professional/credible image. That's perfectly valid. Nothing wrong with it :-)
I think your experience at your former job is the reason I don't blog. My university definitely doesn't get the whole "new media" thing or the concept that transparency and openness lead to better and more committed customers.
Either that or I'm just really lazy and unfocused. To be honest, it is probably a toss up.
I'll just stick to randomly commenting on yours.
Hi Nick,
Well your comments are always appreciated. You could start a blog incognito - like the masked avenger or something. Come to think of it, that would be kind of fun....
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