Things I've Learned From Blogging
July 23, 2005 | 
31 Comments
I just realized that in my recent chaos I’d missed this old blogs birthday! It was 3 years ago this month that I launched this blog. At the time I’m not sure if I even knew it was a blog, I just wanted an easier way to publish my infrequent writings. I felt that an easier process would help me want to write more — little did I know how much more!
It’s been a fun three years. I’ve made lots of new friends, met some great folks, been introduced to all kinds of new things, made many mistakes and in general I’ve learned a whole bunch.
So, I figured, as a tribute and belated happy birthday to Asterisk, I’d post a list of things I’ve learned from blogging.
A few things blogging has taught me
Some of these I’ve learned from blogging myself, some from reading blogs. Some I already knew (or thought I did) and some are completely new:
- The world is both bigger and smaller than I’d ever imagined.
- There is great power in words.
- Blogging can very easily be considered work. Lots of it.
- 24 hours in a day isn’t enough.
- Making a mistake and being called on it can be one the best learning experiences you can have.
- You really can meet cool people online. And many of them are not so bad in person either!
- It’s easy to mix up “it’s” and “its”. Same goes for “your” and “you’re”. Oh and “too” and “to”.
- Don’t trust spellcheck.
- Blogs are great for marketing and PR if done the right way.
- I’ve got friends in low places.
- The world is full of passionate people.
- Storytelling is one of the best ways to convey a message.
- People love gadgets. And porn.
- Defensiveness makes you look bad.
- People I’ve never met care about me, and I care about people I’ve never met.
- Links are a new form of currency.
- Blogging is a great way to express yourself.
- Blogging is a great way to manage knowledge and lessons learned.
- Geek is the new pink.
- Smaller is better.
- Writing is hard!
- Most people are more positive than negative.
- Some people actually can make a living blogging. Imagine that.
- A well-placed f-bomb can go along way.
- Mainstream media is full of shit.
- Everyone has a bad day.
- Crankiness comes in waves and affects many at once.
- Popular doesn’t always mean good.
- The best way to become better at something is to keep doing it.
- Comments make great content.
- Conversations are a great way to communicate.
- You’ve got to love what you do to do it really well.
- People actually do read Web content.
- Making an ass out of yourself will get you lots of attention.
- Censorship is lame.
- Perfect is the enemy of the good.
- Clever writing can be frustrating.
- Sub-headers are priceless. As are lists.
- The future is text-based.
- Content management is a process, not a technology.
- If you step away from it, the blogosphere will still be there when you get back.
- Asking a question is a great way to get a response. (Obvious I know…)
With that, I’ll throw it to y’all. What has blogging taught you?
Filed under: Web General
Keyword Tags: blogging content life
Comments
1. Luke said:
As you stated, words are in fact very powerful and do in fact affect people. Last night I made passing reference in my blog to some trouble I had ordering a certain product online. Within the hour, someone using the company’s name posted a response on my blog asking for further details to try and help resolve the problem. Amazing, yes, but also a little frightening – I had no idea that they would take it so personally (it wasn’t an emotional outlashing, simply a statement of fact!).
Maybe Heather B. Armstrong (dooce.com) said it the best [paraphrase]: Don’t put anything in your blog that you wouldn’t say in person.
Posted on July 23, 2005 12:54 PM | #
2. Hayo Bethlehem said:
That writing interesting content is really, really, really tough. It has taught me that it’s extremely difficult to write an engaging post.
It also taught me that indeed, a question will get you an answer.
Blogging showed me an entirely new community that’s very approachable, and I like it a lot.
Yay for weblogs!
Posted on July 23, 2005 03:43 PM | #
3. Alistair said:
Blogging is a simple process that can be used to increase you writing ability.
Posted on July 23, 2005 04:45 PM | #
4. Rob said:
BTW: I love the post. I’ve recently started writing more myself so I know the challenges – but the rewards are greater.
Posted on July 23, 2005 06:49 PM | #
5. nortypig said:
Thank you for the three years of advice, considered opinion and contribution to the web community - on behalf of the web community.
Legendary stuff Keith.
Posted on July 23, 2005 07:21 PM | #
6. zenmonki said:
I love your site(s) and style. Congratulations on your anniversary!
Keep up the great work.
Posted on July 23, 2005 11:36 PM | #
7. Mike Rainey said:
Congrats on the anniversary!
Other than what you have said, blogging has taught me:
* No matter how hard you try, spammers will always find a way to leave their mark on your site.
* No matter what your opinion is on a subject, you will always encounter someone who has the opposite opinion, think theirs is the correct one, and will not even consider other opinions on the subject
* Even those who don’t write a lot on their weblog need a break from it, especially if you write the CMS for it
* It’s also easy to mix up “there’s” and “theirs”, “were” and “we’re”, and in my case, “sum” and “some”
Posted on July 24, 2005 03:30 AM | #
8. Adrian B said:
Congrats etc.
I have found that people will tend to comment on the articles that you least expect. Ask them a question in a post and they’ll email an answer instead!
What does this teach us?
There’s nowt so queer as folk.
Posted on July 24, 2005 09:24 AM | #
9. Rob said:
Congratulations on three years of excellent blogging, Keith!
Here’s some more lessons I’ve found:
- writing is a form of exercise - you have to do it regularly to stay in shape.
- humorous satire spreads more widely and is more effective than venomous rants. (Seems obvious in retrospect, but is hard to remember when seething).
Posted on July 24, 2005 09:36 AM | #
10. Nathan Lanier said:
“Clever writing can be frustrating.”
I’m curious what you mean by this one. Frustrating to do? Or frustrating to do well?
Posted on July 24, 2005 04:30 PM | #
11. Keith said:
Nathan - Well, neither. I feel it can sometimes be frustrating to read if something is trying to hard to be clever.
Posted on July 24, 2005 08:10 PM | #
13. Keith said:
J.J. – EmaIl, IM, blogs, SMS etc. We’re just getting into a generation that grew up with these things. These kids are much more used to writing (texting), reading, etc. and have more access to information than I ever did. I just think that communication in the future will be less verbal and more text-based.
Posted on July 24, 2005 09:39 PM | #
14. Jordan said:
text as communication is easier to remix and timeshift as appropriate…
I wrote my own list of things blogging has taught me here: http://www.jordanrule.com/technology/how-to-think-like-a-blogger
Posted on July 24, 2005 11:36 PM | #
15. Tonya said:
Blogging has taught me that:
- good technology can be both empowering and debilitating.
- even at polar ends of an issue, each of us has something worthwhile in common.
- a camera is a frustrating substitute for an eye and a heartbeat.
- white space can make or break a story.
Posted on July 25, 2005 06:29 AM | #
16. Bob said:
Congrats, Keith! You and I both brought our blogs online about the same time. That being said, what blogging has taught me is that unless you have something valuable to contribute to the conversation, you will be roundly ignored. (And by “conversation,” I mean the global conversation on any particular topic, whether it’s web standards, politics, the merits of one breed of dairy cow over another, or what-have-you…)
This is why you have untold numbers of readers, while on a good day I might have two. :-)
Posted on July 25, 2005 10:59 AM | #
17. Christian Watson said:
Keith,
Congratulations on 3 years of a great site. The main thing blogging has changed for me is the way that I learn.
The vast majority of my knowledge about web design, usability, web writing, seo, etc has come from blogs rather than traditional sources such as books, conferences and training courses.
I couldn’t imagine staying up with developments in our field in any other way. In addition, a lot of this knowledge is contained in the discussion that follows a post.
So, I guess blogging has taught me that the best way to learn is from your peers.
Posted on July 25, 2005 02:46 PM | #
18. sharonb said:
I guess blogging has taught me that no matter how original, bright, revolutionary or new I think an idea is, that someone else has not only thought of it before me but has written about it too often in much better way than I can
Posted on July 25, 2005 05:24 PM | #
19. AC said:
Hi, here is a blogger from Hong Kong. I agree writing is hard. It’s even harder if you’re a perfectionist. So I completely agree with you that “Perfect is the enemy of the good.”. I’m a perfectionist. That’s the reason I feel writing is even harder for me. Also, my mother tongue is not English but Chinese. But I prefer to write in English because I can’t type Chinese on my keyboard. I use Enlish 90% in daily life. If you have to type an email in Chinese, I would search for Chinese words I need online or from some online translation tool (http://babelfish.altavista.com/). That’s time-consuming. That’s the worst case to write something.
If you’re curious enough, please visit and give me some comments about my blog site.
See ya!
Posted on July 25, 2005 10:34 PM | #
20. AC said:
I forgot my URL: www.thinkandgrow.org
In fact, you can get there by clicking on my name AC.
Posted on July 25, 2005 10:36 PM | #
21. Jozef Imrich said:
While there is nothing new under the sun and everything we do seems futile, the DNA of storytelling and experiencesharing means that must do it anyway.
Blogging teaches us, better than any tool, to believe those who are seeking truth, but to doubt any bastard who suggests that s/he has found it ;-)
Being a blogger is a bit like being an alcoholic: if you say you are one, you are What makes a blog a blog?
Posted on July 26, 2005 03:41 AM | #
22. Jough Dempsey said:
Congrats on your third anniversary, Keith.
I was going to include a list of things I’ve learned from reading this site, but it started to get really long and I didn’t want to take up extra comment space.
Thanks for the daily content.
Posted on July 26, 2005 08:45 AM | #
23. mumsgather said:
I get free lessons in life from blogging. Happy Blog Anniversary to you!
Posted on July 27, 2005 01:57 AM | #
24. oneafrikan said:
Cool article.
I’ve learn’t more than anything what it is that actually makes me tick, along with what doesn’t, if that makes sense. As well as satisfying my desire to share what I know and learn with other people. That should make sense ;-)
Gareth
Posted on July 29, 2005 06:35 AM | #
25. cathy said:
great list. i’m fairly new to blogging but each time i come back to it get a little more addicted. tried to get my students into it too, with mixed success. a new term and new students coming up-will try again.
Posted on August 1, 2005 08:40 AM | #
26. Kirthi said:
Hi,
I am fairly new in the blog world and there is probably a lot I could learn from my own experience. I like the fact that the blogworld offers a medium for a lot of people to express themselves and interact with people of the same wavelength.
Interesting post.
Posted on August 4, 2005 08:25 PM | #
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Posted on February 9, 2006 10:22 AM | #
31. ksyaos@yahoo.com said:
The Site is excellent..!! Wish you all the best..
Posted on June 4, 2006 03:12 AM | #
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