I’ve been blogging for a very very long time. Now looking at this blog with only a few posts to date may make you wonder about that statement, however, this is a fresh slate. A clean start after a very long time with times of intense writing and times of nothingness. I may put up an archive at some point with all my old blog posts. See how my views have changed and differed over the past years.
Nonetheless, I made my foray into the internet in its early days. I had Geocities where I posted plain HTML with some pictures. My first real jump didn’t come until the early 2000’s where I registered my very first domain. My name. However, at the time I became curious around a specific CMS which was just in it’s early days – hence began playing and tinkering with WordPress. I installed it and began slightly modifying it. Making themes and learning the in’s and out’s of CSS. I then connected it to my domain which had various scribbling and pictures on it. Bang, there she was. My website. I began writing and tinkering around with other CMS’s and scripts too. Over a decade or more later and I am still writing and designing and developing and maintaining this site.
Why am I bringing this up? Well, I came across an article about blogging and whether it is dying out? It’s being dominated by the ever-constant flow of information from social networks and news conglomerates. So that spurred some thought considering I just wiped off the dust off this blog.
Why Do I Do It?
I still love blogging. It is an outlet for creativity and a way for me to express thoughts on topics. I’m not a great writer. I just do it. To me, it is an eternal, never-ending project where I can play with ideas and various technologies.
Alongside that, it is my megaphone. Expressing my thoughts and sharing my ridiculous opinions with the world – off of social media and typically in a longer format than 140 characters and Facebook – well don’t get me started on that. Aside from that, it allows me to connect with you, the reader, and vice-versa. Find other like-minded-folks online – which I have encountered over the years in the form of emails, DMs over social media, etc…it’s sort of like an old fashioned in-depth business card.
Frankly, I see the blogosphere becoming a personal branding tool for most as the era of personal websites seem to be dying in the midst of large, commercial multi-author websites like Buzzfeed, HuffPo, and so forth – which we don’t call blogs anymore, however, there are many like myself that continue on their journey. I too still read many personal blogs. From close friends to inspiring athletes to politicians. There are many who still actually write!
I can only encourage you to write. If you don’t want to do it online. That is okay. Start a personal journal and jot down notes, or blog your day each evening. As odd or wasteful in time it may seem, trust me that it is a great way to process yourself in this constantly high paced world we live in. On top of that, it is ridiculously easy to make a website these days. Countless CMS systems, generators, and hosted publishing solutions.
So referencing back to the article – I think blogs are still here to stay for a bit and who knows, like fashion, it all may circle around and the future of blogging may be within VR.
I know mine will be around for a while. With that being said, know that I’ll be here pumping out one ridiculous post at a time, keeping my little corner of the Internet tidy and well-stocked.
Thank you for reading and do you blog or write?
Make it happen.