I guess I could be described as a hardcore blogger, as I’ve been writing here for over eight years. So I’m going to respond to Hugh MacLeod’s question about the importance of blogging to me.
Like I said many times before, for those of us crazy enough to take it seriously, blogging matters, so does freedom, that’s why I wrote the book. And yeah, we have a duty to convince those less fortunate than ourselves to give it some more thought.
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- I live in Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada; population 5,000. Even our timezone is unknown to many people. Without my blog, nobody would ever have heard of me. This Spring, I have four speaking engagements out of town (Montreal, Ottawa, Washington DC, Rome). Without my blog, I am sure that IEEE and many other organizations would not have invited me to speak.
- My blog is a key part of my professional development and essential to my personal knowledge mastery processes. It’s how I make sense of many things. My blog keeps me connected.
- I initially met my business partners at the Internet Time Alliance through my blog. That was a very good thing!
- My blog has allowed me to connect to people all over the world. This year alone, I have had visitors from 168 countries. It means that I can often travel to a new city and already know someone at my destination.
- In addition, my blog gives me (just a little bit of) credibility with the much younger digital generation 😉
I can’t disagree with the benefits of blogging, whether for reflection or connection, but I would say that you’re at or near the peak of blogging success because of its direct impact on your work and your “discovery” by the ITA. I would say that you’re setting the standard for others to aspire to; for the insights and quality of content.
As you told me once (actually, more than once), blog for yourself, and take your ideas out for a spin.
I think the only way to keep going in the long term is to blog for yourself, Mark. Another benefit I did not list is how blogging has improved my writing. Practise & feedback do seem to work in developing a skill 😉
When are you in Rome?
Nice article. No, excellent article because it shares personal experience and WIIFM (you , in this case).
I “hatched” in February, learning it’s okay to have identity outside my organization. I now Tweet, blog as often as I can, and changed how I use Facebook. I’m figuring out Google+ (where we share circles), and am dabbling at curation, albeit aggregation. I’m not of the “younger digital generation” but have now shown several how to get started.
I only hope I’m able to say I’ve been blogging eight years one day. For now, one post at a time. Cheers, and thank you for sharing and inspiring.
If you figure out Google+, let me know, Tom. I haven’t.
Thanks for the lurve, Harold….
Having lived in a small town in Far West Texas before, your first point resonated with me. “Big city wages, small town prices” is a damn business model.
Though yeah, I live in Miami Beach now, which is surprisingly affordable, if you avoid the touristy bits.
Tom I share your sentiments – I recently converted to blogging & really have been ‘born again’.
In recent years the nature of my work environment had seemingly caused me to drift away from anything resembling PKM.
My meagre efforts on a blog has challenged me to intellectualise what I’m learning through my PKM. It’s brought me greater definition around what I stand for professionally & it’s become quite a fulfilling hobby come obsession!
As a keen blogger myself, I can only say that Harold is spot on. I’ve never met Harold but feel I know him now and have learnt a lot from his blog posts and tweets. I also agree with the point about blogging being a personal ‘voice’. Organisations don’t blog, people blog. Unlike other forms of social media, it allows some depth of analysis. But it’s more important than this. In my travels to the middle east last year I saw the power of blogging to affect political change. Believe me these bloggers are brave and effective. Some have died for their cause, others imprisoned and tortured. But it was their amplification and blogging of corruption in Tunisia, Egypt and elsewhere that cascaded eventually on Facebook and then twitter. Blogging matters.