Gabriel Weinberg on why and whether he should blogs:
It's not an easy decision, and one that is constantly in your face, simply because blogging takes a lot of time. A good post may take 3-5 hours when all is said and done. That time (for me) is often directly taken away from other professional activity, so the opportunity cost is quite high. In other words, I must have a good reason for doing so or else I really shouldn't be doing it.
Gabriel lists 4 key reasons:
- Writing leads to understanding: writing things down forces you to think through them more logically.
- Writing blogs helps you get over your fears of putting your opinion out there: in this, it's very much like public speaking.
- You can reach the right people: building a following will help you reach an audience with other things you have to say.
- You can stand out: having a popular blog is a great way to stand out in your field.
I agree with all these reasons and they are great reasons to blog. Personally, I have a few other reasons:
- I just enjoy it. I love writing, expressing thoughts in the written medium. Throughout my life, I've always spent a good amount of time each day writing things. Whether it has been fiction writing, posting on message boards, commenting on HN, chatting on IRC or even blogging, writing my thoughts out is something that I can't help doing each and every day.
- Blogging is an opportunity generator. A lot of really excellent opportunities have come my way because of blog posts I'd written. This ranges from coverage from sites like LifeHacker, Slashdot or TechCrunch, to essential business deals that made a big difference to one of my business ventures.
- It serves a purpose. I like to share useful lessons with others. I'm a big believer that when good ideas spread, we (humans) all benefit. It makes sense to take part in the spreading of good ideas.
- It's as essential as having business cards: although this is changing these days, with Twitter taking the place of a blog, I still feel like an entrepreneur without any kind of personal or startup blog is a bit strange and incomplete.
I'm sure there are many other reasons to blog. Fundamentally, I think the best reason is because it's just fun.
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