molly.com
Friday 14 April 2006
Who Do You Blog For?
it seems that when a blogger develops an audience and gathers a group of friends, colleagues, supporters or critics, that demands begin to be made on that blogger by the audience.
You know about these demands, you’ve found them on your own blog, if you have one. Demands like: Post more often. Post less. Stop blogging. Blog more technical articles. Blog more personal topics. Blog about your cat. Delete rude comments. Don’t delete rude comments. I hate you. I love you. Will you marry me? Will you fuck off?
It goes on and on. And it makes me wonder, at what point do we decide our blogs are in fact no longer our own and modify our behavior to adjust to the audience demand?
Some people see their blogs as a publication, others as having a specific agenda (buy my stuff), others as being wholly personal and up to the whims of the person blogging. Blogs are interesting to me when there is a full personality there, writing about topics that appeal precisely because of the context of an individual’s perspective. Sometimes I’m interested in how to roast great coffee, sometimes I want to share with others their sorrows and joys as well as my own, sometimes it’s all about learning a new CSS technique.
I don’t think there’s any one way to blog, nor is there a right way. I do know any person who keeps a blog should have the right to determine who they’re blogging for and why, and that reading blogs is a bit like T.V. in that if you don’t find what you want on someone’s blog, chances are pretty good you can change the virtual channel and find something that suits you better.
I’m absolutely certain that I blog for myself. My blog is the all-me, all-the-time station. That’s its purpose, and if zero, ten, or ten thousand people read or stopped reading, it wouldn’t matter. I’d blog to an empty house or a full one. For me, blogging is an outlet for all aspects of my nature whether personal or professional, as my blog description clearly states. My desire to please people suggests, at times, that maybe I should let my audience drive my content. But my instinct demands that I stay true to what and who I am, not what others want.
Who do you blog for?
Filed under: blogging, pop culture, society
Posted by: Molly | 05:20 | Comments (66)
I’ve been in the web game for 10 years, but I’m still fairly new to this new generation of blogging. I “blogged” before it was cool, back in 98 or so – and at that point, it was for my friends, a way for people to keep up with what was going on in my life. Obviously, things have changed a lot. I think a lot of people blog for Google these days, it’s just an easy way to keep fresh content on your site.
I’m not sure you can really blog for yourself. Otherwise, you’d be keeping a diary – not writing a public blog. The whole purpose of a blog is that it must have an audience. You are not blogging for yourself, you are blogging for them – but you are blogging by your own rules, not theirs.
It’s funny that you write, “My blog is the all-me, all-the-time station.” My original background is in broadcasting, and my first love is radio. A friend of mine who works in the broadcasting industry describes radio as “the most intimate medium”, because, at its best, it sounds like the person on the radio is talking to one person, you. I think blogs are similar in a way. Ultimately, I blog for myself, but I do keep my “audience” in mind when I’m writing. For any given post, I often have one person in mind who I think would be interested in what I’m writing about. Sometimes that’s just me, but more often it’s one or another friend or family member who I know reads the site.
I have a second blog where I write about my search for my family history. In that space, I write strictly for myself as a way of clarifying what I think about what I’ve found, and to make sure that when I revisit a particular fact a year or ten down the road, I understand what I concluded and how I came to that conclusion. I know the site has a (small) audience, and I’m happy that it does, and it makes great cousin bait, but that’s not why I write it. There’s a long tradition in genealogy of keeping research logs; I just do mine in public and write it more as a story than as a strict logging of what I’ve searched.
I think it all depends on your content. If your blog is for personal use, then you should post when you feel like it. There are many blogs that have been created for information…so they have deadlines and certain requirements.
I think the line has been blurred on that, with social networking, more people find out that you’re into CSS or something they can identify with, so those people tend to want more content. When it comes down to it….if you don’t feel like posting…then it’s not your responsibility to post “just for them”
I blog to blow off steam. I probably don’t even have any readers since I haven’t promoted myself at all, but that doesn’t matter to me.
Some days, after fighting an IE DOM issue for three hours, I just need to vent.
From what I’ve seen, you seem like a level-headed gal who doesn’t live for what others expect of you, and in my opinion, that’s why people admire you. I’ve recently re-thought my own blogging and shifted my own focus with the coming CSS Reboot. I’ve decided to really make it my focus to just live my life and blog what I want. It’s incredibly freeing, and ironically, I’ve had MORE activity.
I think what happens is the same thing that goes on in high school when kids see that their jeans aren’t as cool. They give up the comfort of those jeans in order to get the glittery/baggy/lowrise ones that the cool kids will like. What they can gain in ‘coolness’ they lose in raw personality. I prefer to eat in my corner of the gym and do my thing. Who cares if the cool kids invite me to their party.
From what I can tell by my site traffic, I’m pretty much just blogging to my shoes.
[...] Who Do You Blog For? — When a blogger develops an audience demands begin to be made on that blogger by the audience. [...]
Hmmm, something to think about. This has been a difficult question for me over the past couple years. I started out thinking that my blog was a journal, but didn’t find any satisfaction (maybe my life is too boring?!), nor the motivation to keep going down that path. Later, I switched to mostly technical topics, with some personal bits thrown in. After a year of not blogging, I revamped my site and have started over. Maybe it’s time to decide once and for all… who *I* am blogging for.
I find Natalie’s observations are interesting. How many fashion their blogs to be like the “cool kids”? This certainly should not be the motivation for determining what and how your write, and I fear this is my struggle. Often, my true voice is lost. Time to take back my blog!?
Always a good read Molly, thanks!
I’ve only recently, very recently, started blogging, and so far have only had one ‘commenter’ (commentator?) so there hasn’t been any pressure to post or not post certain things yet. I intend to keep it that way!
I’m blogging for me, but at the same time, I’m only blogging things I think other’s may be interested in – sort of, “this is what I’ve discovered in my coding exploits, you may find it interesting/useful too”. I do not intend to post personal stuff; mostly because my personal life is really dull, and my cat (who’s personal life is infinitely more interesting) has expressed a strong desire for privacy, which I intend to honour and respect.
I can sum up what I blog about in a very geeky way:
function should_i_post (topic)
{
if (topic interests me && topic interests others) {
return TRUE;
} else if (topic interests me) {
return TRUE;
} else {
// if topic interests others only
return FALSE;
}
}
blog_post = should_i_post(about_this_topic);
Secondary to that, I’m only blogging when I want to – I have no fixed publishing schedule. Sometimes I might post twice in one day and other times there may be two weeks between posts.
I have tried starting a few blogs myself but all of them ends quickly.
Why? I thought a blog is full of your personal thoughts, but that’s what a diary/journal is for, and I think a blog is where the public gets to see you, your presence in cyberspace.
Perhaps I should start a blog about a specific interest, or random thoughts (not too personal) or whatever.
I think a person who owns and write a blog determines the personality of a blog, and if other people decides to change it because of some positive/negative influence, I guess it is up to the person to consider but whatever the person do, please keep it real.
I blog for me, and would continue to blog if I lost all of my faithful visitors, but at the same time I know that the frequency of my entries and the way I write them is purely aimed at the visitor.
I blog for others and for me…but ultimately – it’s my site and I decide what goes up on it, how ofton, and in what particular style. I’d suggest the same to anyone else…(including the Chinese).
I like to write, I like when others read what I write. I like feedback on my writing. I like to have a website, I like to communicate. I like the social interactions, I like arguing about ideas, I like finding out information, I like showing off information. I like making fun of silly things, like ’standardistas’, I like being silly, I like getting comments. I like a lot of the blog communities, I like rss, I like aggregators, I like the technology. Why wouldn’t I blog?
I could not answer this question. I do not blog, to prevent my self from evaporating into the open: probably I would misuse a blog to lower the barrier and distance between me and the others. Is there an ‘us’ to blog for? Maybe I would try to blog for us and them, and fail miserably, since I don’t think the contact would reflect the relationship between us, mere the ideal and image of us. I can not blog because of this question.
I blog only because and when I like it. So really for myself. I don’t have a large audience, so don’t feel any angst or pressure.
Which is probably why I don’t post that often, although I would like to. I just lack focus and care.
My blog is for whoever wants to read it. But the important thing is not who reads my blog but who it’s about, me. My blog is a HyperText representation of myself, if you don’t like how I write my blog, tough.
This isn’t Hollywood, we don’t have to change who we are to make everyone else happy.
With all that said, some people could blog more. I don’t care on the quality of the content but if I’m going to visit your website everyday to check for new content please blog more often. I’m looking at you Dave Shea, Dan Cederholm and especially Douglas Bowman.
Me!
I blog for myself.
Good writers write for themselves, good bloggers blog for themselves. It’s what makes it feel true and real
Blogging for yourself is easy when you are popular, famous, or you get linked into a network like 9rules. You have guaranteed readership so there’s no need to work for it. As long as your writing is good and you are honest, people will like your blog, and that’s fine.
But should you not fit one of those profiles, it’s hard work. You gotta figure out what people like to read and focus on that. I’ve been blogging for readers since I started. I write what I want to write, but I make sure it’s useful or interesting to read. I don’t have time to spend writing at the computer for something that won’t interest readers anyway… that’s time better spent doing homework or playing videogames… or reading other blogs
And it works. If you don’t have guaranteed readership, you just have to write well, be honest, AND write something people want to read. Something that will make you popular/famous/get linked. Then you can reach that point of guaranteed readership and not have to care what people want anymore.
So for me, my blog is a hypertext representation of myself too. I don’t change the design or fit my writing to exactly what my readers want. But just as in real life, I don’t waste my breath saying something no one will listen to. Besides, typing hurts when you do it too much
I do it as a way of staying connected to friends around the World. Very few of them blog or even bother with emails, let alone snail-mail, but many of them stop by and check out what I have been doing. Once in a blue moon I might get a comment but, for the most part, they seem happy enough to be informed and to know where and what beer I’m drinking.
Sometimes I’ll post 5 times in a day and other times it might be a few months between posts, depending on whether I think that anyone might be interested or I have something to rant about. I write about whatever I want, not pandering to readers. If they don’t like what I have to say they can always click off.
I do it to explore technology, expand my reach for web design and to improve my writing. All for me….not others.
Oh if you only knew its always all about me lol… (my partner affirms)
I blog because I was a writer before I found computers and writers write so blogging is a natural evolution. The fact I have a small audience is kind of cool. I would do more creative writing for the site but it seems to scare the stats a bit.
Meanwhile I blog in a very over-crowded niche and am aware 10,000 others are blogging the same stuff in the same way and many better than I am at it… which is fair enough.
In the end the blog is either about you Molly or its about money. I wouldn’t write for others from free is what I mean. If it were a publication earning income then I’d be subscriber driven but basically if everyone went away today then I’d still blog the same stuff. As I guess you would too.
You have a very successful blog is what I’m getting at and it only works because of what you do here. People recognise truth in content…
Jeff L said:
“I’m not sure you can really blog for yourself. Otherwise, you’d be keeping a diary – not writing a public blog.”
I’ve been wondering about this lately, and wrote a ‘Why I do This’ post a couple weeks ago
http://wintermute.com.au/?bits&postdate=2006-03-18%2018:17:55
But yeah, I write for me… But I’m aware that it isn’t really a ‘blog’, so I say I’m just keeping a journal… For the same reason, I haven’t put a comments function on my site, because I don’t want it to be a blog… I really don’t care how many people read, and though it’s good to get feedback, I prefer to get it in emails because it’s (a) more personal, and (b) means I don’t have to worry about writing for my commenters…
And I don’t worry about the frequency of my posts either (though I tend to write once or twice a week); and as more people start subscribing to feeds instead of visiting the homepage wondering if I’ve written, it gets even easier to justify that, as nobody’s time will be wasted…
-p
[...] I’ve been considering Molly’s thought-provoking question for the weekend. Who do I blog for? Me. But it wasn’t always that way. [...]
I definately blog for myself although you will rarely,if at all, find anything ultra personal on my site. I don’t have regular readers (not that I’m aware of) so in that sense it is all about me.
[...] Recently on her blog she articulated why she blogs in the post, " Who Do You Blog For?" [...]
I blog for me.
The content of the posts is for the audience.
Not many people even read my blog, (Which is a Livejournal) But nonetheless I still do it. It’s a diary for me, and if people read it or dont, I enjoy writting my day or thoughts on the blog.
I blog for myself, in that I don’t care what others think of what I write. Sure, I have comments open — I like the feedback. Contradictory? Not really; I like feedback, but could care less if it’s positive or negative or whether I get any of either.
Who do I blog for … difficult as I’ve never really thought about it. Blogging for me was not planned, it just happened.
When I started blogging it was during a blogger.com tryout for a client. I became swept up into it during the LogoWorks saga and woke up two weeks later with a blog of my own.
I saw an empty niche and whooosh! there I was, creating a blog for designers who blog.
I liken it to taking a stray dog to the pound and bringing one home. It was very unexpected, both acquiring the blog as well as the dawning of the responsibility once it was here. Luckily I have plenty of digital newspaper and a stubborn personality that does not like to say ‘uncle’.
And in the beginning I realised I didn’t know enough about blogging to comment, so just pasted from each of the blogs abouts, or copy from the sites. It was pretty much ‘here’s an interesting blog’ and left it at that.
It’s only been recently that I’ve ventured out with opinions of my own, starting right before the NO!SPEC initiative.
So back to your question “who do I blog for” …
After reviewing the history, I guess I blog for myself with the mind set that I’m basically lazy and need to have some sort of external drive to keep up with what is going on.
I blog for myself in that I’d like to improve my writing.
I also blog for myself because I’m opinionated and would like to inject a cause or two for the times when I’m feeling stroppy.
I also blog for other designers so they can read about the new, established, and hopefully decent blogs that are around.
So I guess if we are totalling it up …
me = 3
others = 1
for this round anyway
As for comments, I’m not inundated with those at this point. I have a small readership and they are for the most part mute.
I will say that there was a flurry of excitement back when I posted how the United Way logo contest was added to my list of ‘things that suck’. Their management actually came over to drop off a ‘cut and paste’ word or two and others jumped in. Not a lot, but it was a burp in the quiet comments section.
Lots of things suck in the design industry, but I’m not sure how viable for me it would be to hunt them down and post too often, with attracting comments and new readers in mind.
I blog for Middle Eastern web standards geeks which are very rare not more than 10 but I’m blogging hoping that they become more, although I got many readers but I don’t think most of them understand any thing of what I’m saying, sometimes I try to post for Newbies explaining some things and a lot of other times I just post and I’m sure most of the readers will not understand, that’s why maybe I didn’t get a lot of comments.
I only very recently created a blog and I’ve been mulling over this question! I never used to “get” blogging until I started reading the blogs of my web design heros (e.g., Molly), which led me to more personal blogs, which gave rise to the desire to have my own blog.
But why? A few years ago I stumbled on a blog by my ex-husband and there were no comments and I thought, how pathetic. Now that I have a blog I really only want family & friends to read it (it’s not public), but only if they want to. I don’t want anyone to feel obliged to read my blog for a second.
But is it still a blog if no one except me reads it? How then is it different from a journal?
I keep a written journal that has really personal stuff in it. I would never put excruciatingly personal stuff in my blog (although I don’t think that means others shouldn’t).
I finally decided that keeping a blog is a good way to practice my writing, and to try out material that could be incorporated into my more formal writing projects.
So even if no one reads it, it’s still a transition medium between my hand-written personal journal, and a formal publication.
At the start it used to be for myself. It grew from that into a space I could collect and document news about web accessibility, I used it to bootstrap evangelising web standards and web accessibility in my day job. It was to be a resource I could fall back on, all arguments already thought through, all petty excuses already refuted.
As it grew, and I gained experience couple of non-work people and sites linked through. From that, I’ve focused on talking about the topics that interest me. If it interests me, and other people find it useful, that’s a bonus, and a very welcome one.
The blog is still about my web-related interests. There’s very little in there that’s personal and not web related. There’s very little in there that talks about the day-job (until recently there was no mention at all but very oblique references).
Its about the topics I’m interested in. Although I admire the people who can talk about their real lives, it gives me a deeper understanding of that person, I can’t see myself doing the same. Perhaps if something unexpected happens, it might happen, but I’m the guy in the corner who talks about stuff he’s comfortable talking about in public. I guess the only time I do talk publicly on a private/personal level is when I think it will help a friend out.
I’m also reluctant to talk about my fascination of chess and chess grandmasters in my main blog, preferring to spin it off into a separate website. I don’t think that web development and chess is a workable combination of subjects.
I’m getting to the stage I want to talk about some of the stuff I’m building/coding/ I don’t feel comfortable having that as an equal participant in my main blog, so I’m looking to have a project specific feed completely separate from my main feed. (Guess its a confidence/comfort thing).
Check out this article at slate.com: “Why I Shut Down My Blog” http://www.slate.com/id/2140095/
It’s not what you think (rude comments); instead the author believes that blogging isn’t helping her be a writer, it’s preventing her from being a writer.
[...] Do I blog for my readers, or (like Molly) would I blog anyway? The easy answer is that I would blog anyway. I kept Restholm going when I had no readers, and blogged at Bright Meadow for many months when the only reader was Moose, my long suffering flat-mate. I like having a record somewhere of what I have written. That it is online means I can search it at will, and it will always be accessible even if I’ve forgotten to bring my trusty notebook along with me. *2* [...]
I blog for myself, my studio business and my passion for photography.
While being in existance a short three months I’m attracting a small number of viewers from the photo blogging world, I hope to increase my viewship to the creative business world, art world, and the people who do buy prints for decorating purposes. A big goal I’m sure, but I am willing to take any advice.
I always write to a version of me that isn’t weighed down by the problems in my life. A fictional character who deeply understands how I feel, understands what I think and knows what I am capable of. There’s no slipping anything past this carbon-copy.
Generally, I find it improves my writing too.
I started blogging in 2001 to have a conversation with myself while unemployed about the news of the day. I started a second blog during a second bout of unemployment to post notes to myself that I had applied to at least 3 jobs a day. This evolved into one blog about politics and the other about culture, including personal stuff. When I finally acquired a dedicated reader (aka boyfriend), he encouraged me to move my blogs to their own domains and even paid for the transition. He also paid for some Google ads and lots of people flocked for my advice on the Foreign Service exam. Then we broke up and without his constant comments and suggestions for posts, I’ve been lax about writing.
In the end, I blog because I have a passion for writing and I enjoy commenting on my journeys into the depths of the web. I continue doing this even though I know that the most popular bloggers are male, meaning that patriarchy rules the net as it does the real world. Since I find it impossible to compete for readers, the only reason I continue is for myself.
I blog for myself. I’m all about the narcissism, baby!
I’m usually vaguely surprised when someone comments or emails about something I posted – I kind of forget that someone might actually read what I write
That said, I think I’d lose enthusiasm if truly nobody read my site(s). I probably wouldn’t stop though… it’s just nice to think that someone will read it 
[...] I did warn readers last time that I had a tendency to delete my blogs after a period of time, that I often regretted doing so, and that I couldn’t really explain why, except for a vague feeling of embarassment that having a blog engenders. Funnily enough I read last night a post on the site belonging to Molly Holzschlag that asked the question "Who do you blog for?". [...]
funny, i think about this a lot. i only recently learned enough code to not be totally freaked out to create my own site. and what i chose was a blog, because i’m used to communicating through this medium and i don’t want some sort of brochure for people to just look at. i wanted a place to show my artwork, express my viewpoints about art, technology and fashion and have it be set up so that the communication could be a true communication that goes both ways. but people mention things to me about my “brand” a lot. and i feel like i’m supposed to just concentrate on one idea and have everything on the blog dedicated to that one thing. but that’s just not me. I’M not interested in just one thing, and i guess the people i would blog for would be people who know me and like to communicate with me, people who are interested in my art or my ideas for some reason. it’s comforting to read your viewpoint on this, as you are someone i very much look up to in my frustrated path to understand web technologies. so i think i’m not completely off the rails. thanks.
Either for God or myself. Little difference to me. I just do.
You blog to appease your ego.
Any other explanation is delusional.
This post was to appease my ego.
I feel better now
I blog under the watchful eye of big brother – aka the large corporation I work for. Even though my blog has nothing really to do with my day job – I’m still bound by the corporate rules as an employee. It makes me sad. I blog on – nonetheless – in an effort to return a small favor thru tutorials and freebies – to all those who helped me out many years ago.
i dont know what to say in the first place…
everytime i hear the word “blog”…
it bugs me off… keeping me to wonder…
what is the meaning of it…
then i immediately search the google…
and found out it is the short term of
“web log”… log everything you want on the web…
at your own personal desire… hehe…
but thus this one require originality?…
there are lots of people in this planet…
each of them has different thoughts…
of what do they want to do with their blog?
if i find myself hard to think what to do with my blog…hehe…
maybe it’s just becuase its my first time to blog… and that it…
who do you blog for?
the answer is it depends to the person who making the blog…
kitchain
[...] Related posts: What in the world am I doing?, Who do you blog for? [...]
I blog for myself, for my love in arts & design because I don’t have a chance to practice design professionally (had to serve working for the company who paid my scholarship, & had nothing to do with arts & design, and had no time to do freelance because of high level of work commitment). Basically just to feed my hunger of information for the design world. I only had one regular reader, which incidentally stumbled upon my blog.
Molly is My dog.
She is better than all the women/girls in the world. I found her in a trash can, and that is were I want to leave my f**in ex wife.. Molly is the best. All Females go to F***in hell. Dogs are the Best!!!
Married 3 times.. I think I need to be single. Females are not doing it for Me.. NO I AM NOT A QUEER. So fuc** all you ladys that seen to want to call me that…
Best of luck..
Just NOT IN MY LIFE
[...] This is a question I have had occasion to ask already on this blog. And a few searches with the words “why” and “blog” brought back a wealth of self-reflection. As always, the vast BBC website had something thoughtful to say; I rather liked this post on Sandhill Trek (the hill seems to have run into the sand in April 2006, which may or may not be a metaphor for the transience of bloggers); and the comments and trackback on this post on molly.com were very enlightening. [...]
I’m not sure which I find more intriguing…the original post here or the collection of comments in reply. I do tend to agree that if we were all blogging solely for ourselves there would be no reason to put it in a public venue. I believe there is a basic human hunger to have our voices heard, to be connected with the other…whomever that might be.