Eric Blair, who is better known as George Orwell, was aside from being the author of 1984 and Animal Farm, was an essayist who wrote about the execution of an Elephant to book reviews. One of my favorite piece he wrote was a short essay he called WHY I WRITE.
Now with the recent things happening in the Philippine Blogging Community- the rise of different bloggers and the issues that come along with it – corruption, commercialization, the dumb – ing of content and the realization that everyone now is a blogger. A journey back to Orwell’s Why I Write seems somehow needed. Maybe the author of ANIMAL FARM if he were alive today would most probably use online medium ie the blog if not as a private journal or one that was intended for public viewing.
Blair and Orwell might be a blogger.
Orwell wrote about the reasons why he write. Looking at it now, I still think it is valid but it may need a bit of revising since the medium is different, Can you imagine Orwell answering comments or being in twitter or facebook.
Anyway here is probably the reasons why people write a post: record a podcast: video a podcast: post a photo: update a status : or tweet :
To tell
To convince
To ask
To entertain
To earn
To teach
To satisfy: To reach a goal
Feel free to add one or two or even three more reasons.
It is not something written on stone or parchment. Although, a look at the list will tell you two things;
First, any of the reasons there could be the sole reason why I and you blog.
Second, any of the reasons there could be a mix or set of reasons why I and you blog.
And perhaps this is the reason – aside from topic, niche, genre or form – why there are different blogs and bloggers.
It would then be a big mistake for bloggers, blog readers and other people in between to assume that their blogging is the blogging. There is no such single creature. Like the fishes there is about all sorts of fishes in the Sea.
And that is also why metrics and page ranks are important to others and to others not at all. Or there are those who use SEO and others who do not. And why others accept invitations to press conferences and product or services events and others do not. Or … You get the idea.
In the end the blog and his blogger whatever road or roads they take will be ultimately be responsible to two for lack of a better set of words two groups.
First his readers and second himself. The first may criticize, condemn or leave. And the Second is the blogger, because the blogger has to live with the decision taken ie live with it.
