Why I write this blog

Being a blogger involves more than just engaging in a hobby; it takes real commitment. Blogging requires discipline, application, and professionalism. When I write for my blog, I am showing my literacy skills in both computers and writing. Blog writing incorporates grammar, syntax, and most importantly personal voice.

While work-shopping my blog posts at the College of Saint Rose, I received a lot of praise for my style and content. My fellow bloggers commented on my control over personal disclosure.

Unlike the “Web’s original oversharing champion” (Rosenberg 44), Justin Hall who first showed us the capabilities of the blogosphere by publishing blog posts thick with personal information and even naked pictures of himself, I am able to draw a line between the private and public self.

In the blogosphere, there are many types of bloggers and even more kinds of blogs. The mission of my blog is to be informative on some level, yes. But, I also want to build up the idea of community which makes Schenectady Community College so great.

The best way to build on my mission, thus my blog, is to share parts of me that make people interested and witnesses to my character.

Through my blog posts I have hyped up many of the campus events. At times, I feel like an SCCC cheerleader.

And maybe I am.

I think this college is a great way to get you started in life, develop professional skills, and give yourself to something bigger while still keeping the main focus on the self.

I believe that my blog shows and tells my own personal standpoint and faith in the College’s mission to build-up and mold successful students. My posts are appropriate because they show students how to be successful despite many of the College’s flaws and faults, such as parking.

My Live blog post was one of my most interesting posts because it gives readers a true picture of the campus atmosphere and chemistry. I hope to do this type of blog post again soon at another event.

The trouble with this type of post is that you can easily miss something while you are writing/ reporting on something else. Live blogs must be written from an observer’s point of view. One cannot expect to engage with students and faculty while writing a live blog post. Choosing an event or nonevent, to live blog about is crucial to a blogger’s agenda and writing capabilities.

However, one must always remember: blogs are published, therefore, anyone wishes to read and have access to your blog may in fact have access. Not all people will appreciate what you write, but writing to evoke emotions is what makes a blog so great and interests readers making them want to return to your blog and read more.

If I were to give my blog a grade in comparison to other blogs I have read, I would probably give it a B.

I believe that my personal on the blog is well developed; the content is appropriate and usually interesting; and the blogging conventions such as consistency and style are executed pretty well.

But, I am struggling with other aspects of the blog. First and probably my most obvious and common to all bloggers is my grammar. It is very easy to have typos when there’s no spell check feature. Secondly, it is difficult to go back and edit previous posts when you have to continue to publish each day. The frequency of blog posts is my third struggle. I made a commitment to publish daily on this blog, and I will often go several days without posting anything.

Recently, I published a blog post that said that I would be featuring other blogger’s posts while I was off being busy finishing up my semester at St. Rose. However, I was obviously too busy to even follow through with this promise I made to my readers. Very bad business. But, since I don’t really have a following of readers, YET, I can get away with this.

However, it’s a blogging “no, no”.

In reading other blogs, I noticed that I am more interested in the blogs that post a lot of content daily. I, as do many other blog readers, get bored easily.

We want fresh news and stories.

We want to go to a blog daily, or several times a week, and be presented with new information.

And, it can’t always be the same story.

We’ve got to change it up a bit. (Thanks Nester for the list of types of blog posts and prompts to get the ideas flowing. I have no excuse not to have something new to write about each day). Now, just because we bloggers change it up a bit doesn’t mean that we don’t repeat kinds of blog posts regularly. For example, link round-ups are great Monday-morning-get-your-week-started kinds of posts. They will never go out of style (at least I don’t think that they will).

Overall, I think that my blog is a pretty good read. My goal, now that I have some content, style, and foundation in blogging, is to accumulate more readers.

What’s the point in writing for an audience if your audience doesn’t even know you exist?