Why are blogs important to today's internet users? They are someone's personal opinion on a peculiar subject that the reader may or may not agree with. So why write blogs? “When you share your blog on social media, you open up the opportunity to reach a larger audience. If your content is valuable, the probability of your followers sharing it with their connections is high. As you improve the quality of your content, you will see an increase in the number of shares you get. With each share, your content can reach even more people, helping you build a larger audience. (Jaenike, K. 2022.).” Blogs are a great resource for learning information on a peculiar subject. But how do I feel about writing blogs?
I've always enjoyed free writing, which is interesting because I'm undiagnosed with dyslexia and dysgraphia. When I was in grade school these factors were often overlooked by educators and their responses to my struggles would be, “you're not trying, it's not hard, why are you crying?” I learned my own strategies to overcome my disabilities. I was motivated by seeing my mom and older sister enjoying reading. My mom would buy me books that interested me but often I would just look at the pictures and make up a story in my head. I became great at doing this because I had many people fooled for years that I was understanding what I was reading. It wasn't until Jr high that I started carrying around a Looney Tunes notebook to write short stories when I didn't understand what was happening in class. To the teacher, I would appear busy writing notes but I was actually lost in my imagination since the curriculum was over my head.
I continued with this method for years and eventually it changed to writing during downtime at work or during professional development when the topics were not relevant to my work. It wasn't Journaling because I was afraid to write about my thoughts and feelings. If certain people, especially my sisters, were to read my ramblings they would never let me live it down. It started becoming easy for me to write as long as the subject wasn't about myself, my thoughts, or my feelings. I could make up an interesting story and go with it. However, reality hit in college. I took a creative writing class in college and hated it. The teacher assistant insisted that all stories be personal experiences. I couldn't function with this new challenge. I found myself shutting down and only giving the basics which didn't lead to great grades. After several assignments I started shaking off that initial reluctance to give myself voice in writing. I finally produced a paper that earned me a B plus and praise from the instructor. My voice was found after so many years of failed attempts.
I'm finally comfortable writing about my personal thoughts. It's my thinking based on my learning experiences, no one can take that away from me. They don't have to agree with me and that's perfectly fine because they have their own authentic way of thinking themselves. When I first started writing blogs I struggled. Lots of questions were going through my mind; “how do I do this, why am I doing this, who would want to read this, and nobody will be interested in my blogs.” I had to shake these feelings in order to give the best I could. Of course I’m familiar with blogging but it’s something that doesn’t interest me personally. From my previous experience I knew that people liked to blog about the most random things from eating at restaurants, to shopping, to cars, and things happening around town. For the past several years I’ve been reading blogs for events or places that we were interested in visiting. As well as blogs about programs and applications. They are a resource of great information because they are personal experiences. If someone had a bad experience I want to know why, and if their experiences were amazing then I want to replicate that experience for myself and my family. I researched videos on YouTube to familiarize myself with the in's and out's of blog post. The one that stood out the most to me was Patel (2019) he stated, start off with a title. Don't just start writing a blog post, unless you have the exact title, do not write your blog post.
Will I continue to write blogs when this class is over, I honestly doubt it. However I might be encouraged to blog when I experience something that I'm passionate about, so others who have the same interest as me can have a similar experience. I like sharing my knowledge with others and giving more details than necessary so a future in blogging is a possibility.
Reference
Jaenike, K. 2023. 11 Social media benefits of blogging you should know
about. https://www.iconosquare.com/blog/11-social-media-benefits-of-blogging.
Patel, N. (2019). YouTube. https://youtu.be/Q8rN3JKqUc8?si=sue1sN-mXr5tjlr2
