My favorite blog BY FAR is Barry Rithotz's "The Big Picture". It is one of the few places where you can find a real attempt at intellectual honesty. When the most accurate news source is The Daily Show, you know bullshit is king.
He recently wrote about about blogging that hit home. Here is an excerpt explaining the reasons to blog:
Blogs? Yeah We Got That
1. You have something to say
2. You enjoy the craft of writing
3. You want to figure out what you think, and do so in public
4. You want to be part of a larger community of like minded individuals
5. You have a hobby or interest that you are really, really into
6. You want to maintain a presence on the Intertubes
7. You have an expertise and you want to share it
8. You have an eye for content (text, graphics and video) and you enjoy leading other people to them
9. You want to create a permament online record of what you are reading, looking at or thinking about
10. You like engaging in debate with total strangers
That’s off the top of my head.
Note that each of these bullet points begins with YOU. Blogs are about what YOU want to produce, regardless of how many readers shows up. The Big Picture would more or less be the same content with 100 or a 100,000 daily readers.
People are often surprised to learn that I write for me, not for the readers. That keeps it honest (as opposed to the SEO-driven content-farm material). It also helps to quiet the voices in my head.
Notice what I specifically did not list as reasons to blog:
1. building a business;
2. developing a brand;
3. monetizing content;
4. getting media exposure;
5. Getting a book deal;
6. Getting bought by a larger company.
This is where I went astray. For years I was focusing on entertaining people instead of what I wanted to write. Frankly, there are not enough readers to make this rewarding and I started feeling boxed in. Marketers say you should focus content, but sometimes marketers are talking out of their butt. Yangblog is going to be a random mess.
Just like my brain.
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