Why we blog?

That's the latest meme doing the rounds. Even before Laurence tagged me - I was surreptitiously following this thread since it offers insights on what movtivates people about blogs in particular and social media in general. I have not been able to spend as much time on it as I would have liked to but will share what i read and felt. But first - to do justice to the meme - let me put down my reasons.

There was just one prime reason I started blogging and that was

• Driven by the craving for intellectual stimulation - since in the real world I seldom encountered people wanting to exchanges thoughts and ideas - especially on subjects that interests me. Blogs fill this gap since people who are interested in 'what' i write about naturally gravitate towards my blog like I do towards theirs.

What keeps me going are ofcourse different things

• The desire to learn about - the evolving social medium and the more time I spend on blogs and other social media sites, the more I understand the way they function. Much more than what I would have ever accomplished as an outsider.

If there was one thing I had to say to any corporate entity wanting to make a presence on this medium - I'd say - get your hands dirty - do the thing that we individuals do. Approach social media sites as an individual first and a corporate entity only later - and you'll begin to appreciate the medium and its workings far more quicky

• My other reason is - I use this blog first as a motivation to keep analysing what i think and read & then as a place to dump all those thoughts - so that I can clear the space in my mind for some more thoughts
  

Now for what I gathered from reading other posts in this thread.
Motivations were clustered around the following themes

Create - differentiate, stand out, self expression, learn new ideas, realise unfulfilled dreams
Connect - build relationships, create a space where people can find me, know what is happening in people's life
Recognition -expert in own area, instant reactions, assertion of self-worth, get noticed & at the highest level the feeling of having one's thoughts immortalised
Reward - through relationships, through barter of services, create weath out of virtually nothing but knowledge, neutrality of the net - if my nextdoor kid can make money so can I

Clearly it is an individual's 'personal space' - where he is the centre of the little universe he has created. Personal also in another sense - since people use it to connect as much with themselves as with the outside world.

Corporates wanting to enter this space created by inviduals, need to respect that. Here the consumer / individual is and feels like a hero - and brands that do not recognise that have been faced with and will continue to face backlash - and a highly viral and visible one at that !

Tagging - a few blogsI have been reading off late : Comfortable Disorientation, Indian Ad Rant,
Tissue Issues & The Viral Garden - take it up if you are upto it

And before I go, posting will be highly infrequent in the next 2 - 3 weeks !




Technorati Tags: why i blog, motivations for blogging,social media