Technorati, the blog tracking software (http://www.technorati.com/), now tracks more than 120 million distinctly separate blogs. They're written by people from all over the world. They try to categorize by topic. I'm sure that many can be easily categorized by topic. They may pertain to food, certain businesses, child raising or other such subjects. But most that I've read, including mine, tend to ramble around different subjects. (I wonder what Technorati does with those!) As I read my own blog, sometimes I'm pretty impressed. I may be scrolling back through prior months or years and see something that will seem pretty profound. I'll think, "The world needs to hear this." Other times, maybe not so much. Certainly there are posts that don't reflect my best thinking. I'll read them and think, "Gee this is kind of embarrassing." Not long ago, I was reading an old post of mine from a couple years ago. Quite honestly, I wondered who wrote it! It seemed quite out of character for me. So I deleted it.
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Some blogs read like someone's personal diary. I would never do that ... publish my personal diary. Quite honestly, what goes on in my head probably isn't worth publishing. At the same time, I don't think I'd want to share with the world all that goes on in my head. But then I look at the musings of other bloggers, and I see that sometimes what they're sharing from their head - or heart, doesn't seem so worthwhile. Is that possible? Is there some blogging out there that isn't really worthwhile - to anyone?
Who would consider my blog to be worthwhile? I read the blog of someone I know some time ago. It had many "followers" who follow it regularly. Quite candidly, I wondered why. It didn't seem like that good of a blog. Maybe they just liked the individual that was publishing it. Certainly they had many more "followers" than I do. My competitive spirit was sparked. Suddenly I felt as if I were losing a contest or something. I found myself wishing I had more formal followers.
Of course people can read blogs without being official "followers." They may just go to the blog manually, or have it bookmarked in their browser. Perhaps they're searching for something on the Internet and the search engine suggests my site. (That's what labels on blogs are for.) Does it matter how someone gets to your blog? Does it matter how often someone gets to your blog? Shouldn't that really be tied to the value or worthiness of your blog?
If you compare blogs to TV shows, I wonder if the same set of value criteria is used to measure them. Are the things that make TV shows worthwhile the same things that make a blog worthwhile? Typically TV shows look at ratings --- how many people are watching the show. Would that really be a good way to measure blogs --- by how many people are reading them? What about TV shows like Jerry Springer? That's perhaps one of the most vile, useless shows in the English language. And yet, people watch it. Does that mean it has value?
So why do I blog? Actually I have three blogs. I think my reasons are different. This is my main blog, and its purpose is a little more lofty, intangible and hard to explain. So let me start with the easier ones.
http://www.dearvictorious.blogspot.com/ is a blog I started a while back. I was getting emails from people who read my main blog, asking me questions. Mostly they were questions about life and how to make practical applications of Biblical principles in everyday life. I got so many of them that I decided to publish them on a blog. Then more of them started coming in. Today, I seem to get enough to publish at least one new question and answer each day. Certainly, I consider this blog to be a public service. Yes, that is its purpose --- to serve others.
http://www.moderndayprophet.blogspot.com/ is another blog I started a while back. It was born out of the fact that I was finding Biblical revelations as I contemplated Scripture and talked to God each day. God would tell me things, or give me truths ... and I would write them down. I realized that they started to look like a book of proverbs - little tidbits of valuable wisdom that are based on Biblical truths. So I decided to publish and share them. Again, I have so many that it's pretty easy to keep publishing one each day. So far, nobody has ever told me they liked this particular blog. I've never gotten any emails off of it either. Still, I like to think it has a purpose --- to share the wisdom that God reveals to me. (Do you suppose anyone cares about that?)
Finally, there's this blog - my main one. It's purpose is not to help people know me better. I keep it anonymous, not really hiding - but not disclosing my true identity. Why? I suppose because I think that gives me more freedom to say what I want. If my real identity is splashed all over it, frankly, I think what I say on this blog would have to be much more filtered than it is. It's not that I don't want anyone to know who I really am. It's more that I don't think it's relevant to the point I want to make.
And there it is, my reason for blogging. It seems that I have a point I want to make. And I have one of those points every few days. Maybe it's a good point. Maybe it isn't. Maybe it's just mediocre. Still, there's something inside of me that causes me to want to make that point.
Frankly, I suspect that is the purpose that drives most bloggers. They have a point they want to make. I've long known that the human condition wants to be heard. We like to talk and we think it's important that people hear what we have to say. Perhaps blogging gives some of us an enormous outlet to do that. We can process our thinking and make our points on the blog. And maybe it doesn't matter so much who reads the point. Perhaps it's most important to us that the point get made.
Now that is messed up. Welcome to my blog!
Who would consider my blog to be worthwhile? I read the blog of someone I know some time ago. It had many "followers" who follow it regularly. Quite candidly, I wondered why. It didn't seem like that good of a blog. Maybe they just liked the individual that was publishing it. Certainly they had many more "followers" than I do. My competitive spirit was sparked. Suddenly I felt as if I were losing a contest or something. I found myself wishing I had more formal followers.
Of course people can read blogs without being official "followers." They may just go to the blog manually, or have it bookmarked in their browser. Perhaps they're searching for something on the Internet and the search engine suggests my site. (That's what labels on blogs are for.) Does it matter how someone gets to your blog? Does it matter how often someone gets to your blog? Shouldn't that really be tied to the value or worthiness of your blog?
If you compare blogs to TV shows, I wonder if the same set of value criteria is used to measure them. Are the things that make TV shows worthwhile the same things that make a blog worthwhile? Typically TV shows look at ratings --- how many people are watching the show. Would that really be a good way to measure blogs --- by how many people are reading them? What about TV shows like Jerry Springer? That's perhaps one of the most vile, useless shows in the English language. And yet, people watch it. Does that mean it has value?
So why do I blog? Actually I have three blogs. I think my reasons are different. This is my main blog, and its purpose is a little more lofty, intangible and hard to explain. So let me start with the easier ones.
http://www.dearvictorious.blogspot.com/ is a blog I started a while back. I was getting emails from people who read my main blog, asking me questions. Mostly they were questions about life and how to make practical applications of Biblical principles in everyday life. I got so many of them that I decided to publish them on a blog. Then more of them started coming in. Today, I seem to get enough to publish at least one new question and answer each day. Certainly, I consider this blog to be a public service. Yes, that is its purpose --- to serve others.
http://www.moderndayprophet.blogspot.com/ is another blog I started a while back. It was born out of the fact that I was finding Biblical revelations as I contemplated Scripture and talked to God each day. God would tell me things, or give me truths ... and I would write them down. I realized that they started to look like a book of proverbs - little tidbits of valuable wisdom that are based on Biblical truths. So I decided to publish and share them. Again, I have so many that it's pretty easy to keep publishing one each day. So far, nobody has ever told me they liked this particular blog. I've never gotten any emails off of it either. Still, I like to think it has a purpose --- to share the wisdom that God reveals to me. (Do you suppose anyone cares about that?)
Finally, there's this blog - my main one. It's purpose is not to help people know me better. I keep it anonymous, not really hiding - but not disclosing my true identity. Why? I suppose because I think that gives me more freedom to say what I want. If my real identity is splashed all over it, frankly, I think what I say on this blog would have to be much more filtered than it is. It's not that I don't want anyone to know who I really am. It's more that I don't think it's relevant to the point I want to make.
And there it is, my reason for blogging. It seems that I have a point I want to make. And I have one of those points every few days. Maybe it's a good point. Maybe it isn't. Maybe it's just mediocre. Still, there's something inside of me that causes me to want to make that point.
Frankly, I suspect that is the purpose that drives most bloggers. They have a point they want to make. I've long known that the human condition wants to be heard. We like to talk and we think it's important that people hear what we have to say. Perhaps blogging gives some of us an enormous outlet to do that. We can process our thinking and make our points on the blog. And maybe it doesn't matter so much who reads the point. Perhaps it's most important to us that the point get made.
Now that is messed up. Welcome to my blog!
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