Blogging - the Speakers’ Corner of the 21st Century

Blogging, a tale almost as old as the internet itself. In the beginning it was part of challenging the traditional gatekeeping of literature, by giving people a channel to express themselves freely. A way to make the personal public. Now, almost everyone on the internet read blogs, or something that is at least closely related to it. And it has in a few years managed to become a fundamental part of the online world.

Blogging Photo credit: Andrew Neel on Unsplash

Where did it all start?

The first website to be considered as a blog was Link.net, created by Justin Hall in 1994 (Chapman, 2011). But it wasn’t until 1999 that the word blog was actually used. Back then, there were only a few blogging platforms that were up and running, with LiveJournal and Blogger being some of the earliest examples (ibid). Since then, blogging has experienced a steady increase in growth. It has become more and more mainstream with the years, being adopted by all kinds of people.

Who does it?

All people that can write (or rather type), can blog. With the oldest blogger, Swedish Dagny Carlsson (age 106) starting to blog at 99 years old - this is a statement of truth (Aljazeera.com, 2017). But, the matter of blogging being for everyone is different. It certainly isn’t.

The types of people who blog today are all different. But they have one thing in common, their passion to write and share. Blogs are made by people with an interest in posting about their life or interests; academics writing about their research; companies wanting to promote their brand - the list is long and varied.

Where does one begin?

Starting a blog is for many, the easy part. All you have to do is simply find a username and join a blogging platform.

Once you have set up your blog, the next step is to actually start writing. This can for many be a daunting task. However, one of the first things you should remind yourself is to lower your expectations. You don’t need to be the blog version of J.K Rowling.

To make it all seem a bit less scary, these 3 steps taken from New York bestselling author Neil Patel (2017) will help you craft a blog post in no time.

  1. Take your time when writing your first blog posts. This way you can figure out your own writing style, and what you and your readers are interested in.

  2. Add images to make your content seem more interesting and easy to understand.

  3. Set some rules. It is easier to write fast if you have rules to follow when writing your blog posts.

Here is a link to the full video on Neil Patel’s blog post tips: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygiAqYJq8No

References:

Aljazeera.com. (2017) ‘Dagny Carlsson: Life Begins at 100’. [online] Available at: https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/witness/2017/09/dagny-carlsson-life-begins-100-170926091755994.html [Accessed 31 Jan. 2020].

Chapman, C. (2011) ‘A Brief History of Blogging’ Webdesigner Depot. [online] Webdesigner Depot. Available at: https://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2011/03/a-brief-history-of-blogging/ [Accessed 31 Jan. 2020].

Patel, N. (2017) ‘5 Tips For Writing An Awesome Blog Post.’ [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygiAqYJq8No [Accessed 31 Jan. 2020].