This is my contribution to Chris Shiflett's Ideas of March initiative, which encourages people to write about why they like blogs.
To participate, you have to do the following:
- Write a post called Ideas of March.
- Write about why you like blogs.
- If you don’t already blog regularly, pledge to blog more the rest of the month.
- Share your thoughts on Twitter with the #ideasofmarch hashtag.
So, here it goes!
Why I like blogs.
I love reading blogs. Blogging is a useful way to capture one's thoughts. Unlike Facebook/Twitter feeds, it takes more time and concentration to read blog posts. But you get a rewarding feeling once you have done reading some of them. You can think about what you just read and take away a new point of view. Then you can form your own opinion and write up a counter argument. This is not the case with Facebook/Twitter feeds. If you spend the day reading those feeds, you'll often be left with your mind overwhelmed with (sometimes useless)information. But if you spend the day reading a post or two, you'll have more room to actually think.
Blogging is a critical piece of the web industry, sharing knowledge helps elevate the quality of work within our industry. I have learned a lot about web design and development by reading other people’s blogs. The more I read, the more I feel like expressing my opinions. But instead of writing a blog post as response, I usually rant on twitter.
I realized that posting your opinions on Twitter/Facebook is not of much use. The discussion that happens after that vanishes after a day or two. The entire exchange of ideas on these platforms tend to disappear some day. And trying to search for that information is a very tiring job.
Back in 2006, I was very passionate about blogging. I used to go to cybercafes(I didn't have internet connection at home then) just to publish my thoughts. Then I found posterous. I became more lazy. Instead of "creating" content, I just began sharing. Now I feel disconnected from my identity as a web developer because I'm no more experimenting or blogging much, both of which are core to my work.
I wanted to get back to blogging. I joined (P2PU's)webmaking 101 so that I can resurrect my blog. It failed. Then I found Chris' post reminding me of my neglected blog. I've been reading posts from many other bloggers who made the same pledge and I'm now inspired to actually do it this time.
Today I’m committing to blogging more. I pledge to write more about my ideas and opinions on web craftsmanship and other things regularly.