daverea.com

A few months ago (or maybe it was more?) Barry posted an entry over on his blog called – self-analytically enough – “Why Blog?” Since I read it, I’ve often asked myself the same question, but I’ve been hard-pressed to come up with a good answer. Mostly, it’s just been along the lines of, “well, I blog because I like to.”

I had the pleasure of working with Barry for a long time over at the Honeoye Falls ambulance, and while I’m certainly no expert on All Things Barry, I do know he’s a lot less pessimistic than you might assume if you read this particular blog entry. After all, he did leave out ‘sheer narcissism’ from his list of reasons people blog, but a quick visit to YouTube or MySpace will clear that omission up right off.

So why do I blog? As often as the question pops into my brain alongside ideas for future entries (that are almost universally forgotten moments later), I’m surprised it’s taken me as long as it has to come up with the answer:

It’s because people care about more than just the “big story”. Every type of legacy media (like newspapers, magazines and TV) is limited by two big factors; first, they only have so much available space. Second, that space comes at a premium – either you have to buy your way into it, or you have to have a story so exciting, shocking, inciting or inspiring that running it will keep the revenue stream flowing.

We blog because it offers us a way to share our stories, our rants, our knowledge, our humor, our babbling and (yes Barry) sometimes our complaints. The consumers of blogs seek out those sites where the author’s style and content matches their interests – and they find much more rewarding sources of commentary, information, entertainment and connection than the legacy media offer. I’d much rather read Elise’s eloquent instructions on how to cook and eat an artichoke than wade through forty pages of newsprint to see what our local paper wants to tell me about my life in today’s “Living” section. Why should I watch the news when I can create custom newsfeeds that just include the topics I’m actually interested in?

We all have stories. We all have things going on in our lives. We all have things to say, and some people are actually pretty good at putting those things into words. Sometimes they’re funny, sometimes they’re inspiring, and sometimes they’re angry. Without blogs, most of those words would go unwritten – or if they were written, would be quickly overshadowed in the places where they might be read by news of the latest drive-by shooting, or reviews of the latest hollywood blockbuster.

Why blog? Why read others’ blogs? Because it’s an opportunity to share that the world outside of “the blogosphere” just doesn’t offer.