The Psychology and Future of Blogging

Stephanie Strazinsky 3508 Views, , ,
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Blogging is getting more and more popular and this trend is expected to continue in the years ahead, with expected regular blog readers of over 60% of the Internet population in the U.S. by 2014. Experts predict in time blogs will become indistinguishable from the other channels which means they’ll be accepted as an inseparable part of the online media.

But, have you stopped to think why do people actually blog; what makes them want to blog; is there some psychological basis behind blogging? All bloggers have a purpose for their voice to be heard, but it is in their psychology why they’ve chosen that purpose, or that particular voice.

Here’s some blogging on the brain…

Creativity

Blogging inspires our creativity. It can be viewed even as an artistic experience where instead of painting pictures we are designing our blog pages, posting photos and expressing our thoughts. For the people who want to explore their creativity blogging is just another outlet of expression, a media that’s only different from writing in a journal or a novel by its potential outreach. There are bloggers who blog about their new-found creativity, or some creative aspect of their regular “not-creative” work, and even those who blog on creativity in general like Tanner Christensen’s “Creative Something”.

Being social

In today’s world of social media, blogging is another way to communicate and build relationships, relate, compare and just hang out with other people. These social bloggers use the channels they love, like Twitter, Facebook, to extend their personal and/or professional networks online.

Identity

your voice bloggingMany bloggers start blogging for the purpose of discovering their own identity. Their satisfaction from blogging is connected with their personal need to be heard by other people – it makes them feel important. This does not have to be viewed as negative; on the contrary, if you blog about something you feel passionate about, something you enjoy researching and learning, then you probably have great ideas on the subject that others will find valuable in their personal or professional life. So it’s good that your voice was heard by others – they can relate to your stories, improve from your advices and within the process build your authority.

But bloggers have to also understand the possible consequences of their publicly expressed words. Though many aren’t fully aware or choose to simply ignore, what we publish on the Internet stays there forever, and because of this fact everyone should think twice before putting something that may indiscriminate them on the long run. We are maybe proud of the stuff we say or do now, but think about it from your perspective after 5, 10 or 15 years from now. You probably aren’t proud about everything you’ve done or said few years before, so you can guess you won’t be either few years after.

Be responsible on the Internet, think about the possible consequences of your statements, and don’t assume that if you are blogging under a pseudonym you are anonymous – with the way Internet is connected today there’s no guarantee at all that if someone wants to find some information about you they won’t connect it easily to your real name. Just think how many other places on the Internet you have used the same pseudonym you use for blogging. And even if you’ve played it safe and used a unique blog name, you have to also be careful about the details of your life you reveal in your blog and how easily they can help determine who you “really” are.

Business

There are also bloggers who’ve found financial benefit from their blogging. They’ve maybe started blogging for other reasons but have seen a possibility to develop a certain kind of business and make the fun profitable. These bloggers may derive happiness from this activity, but they can also call it a job. Many professionals have seen blogging as very beneficial for building their professional networks and personal online brands, where blogging isn’t their primary income source, but a way to market themselves and connect with a much larger audience.

Future Of Blogging

WordPress’ Mullenweg On the Future of Blogging.

Kara Swisher interviews Matt Mullenweg, creator of WordPress, about where blogging and the software that powers it is going. Recent from SXSW.

Blogging is a great way for people’s thoughts and ideas to be heard, but it must be done responsibly, for the more the readers the greater the implications of their words.

image credit: problogger.net

Stephanie Strazinsky

Stephanie Strazinsky is a chief writer at bestessays.com; with a background in psychology, e-learning, and marketing.

12 thoughts on “The Psychology and Future of Blogging”

  • When I first started my blog, I thought to myself that there has got to be an easier way to earn money. I will check out Ryan’s new product because of the small fee of $ 37.00 and see how I can apply it to my blog. White on white reference is hilarious.

  • Blogging becomes one of the hobbies or we can say become a part of human life.For instance, Blogging become a part of my life and my work.Blogging is a great way for people’s thoughts and ideas to be heard, but it must be done responsibly, for the more the readers the greater the implications of their words.

  • Hey Stephanie,I always enjoy post about blogs and how to improve methods.I

  • Yes, blogging is becoming more famous everyday. More people are aiming towards becoming bloggers and writing content. However, is the percentage of creativity and innovation going to stay the same with so mnay people entering this field? If yes then how? How can people not copy content and always write fresh?

  • Blogging is not only about making money, it’s also about serving your readers with appropriate and useful information or content. The amount of blogs on the internet is growing rapidly, but finding well off blogs are quite hard these days as most of the bloggers are now only after money.

  • Actually that really matters from person to person.

    Some people feel like teaching others, and teaching is a good thing. Some people just like to help others, which is also a good thing.

    And blog can earn a good amount to bloggers so its a plus.

  • Blogging become a part of my life and my work.Blogging is a great way for people’s thoughts and ideas to be heard, but it must be done responsibly, for the more the readers the greater the implications of their words.

  • Hey Stephanie, Nice post and I really enjoyed it while reading. I started blogging because its the best way to share information and also an easy way to earn money and now I think blogging is become a part of my life. Thanks for sharing this post.

  • Wow! Stephanie, really wonderful post, I really loved the Identity Portion. We bloggers seek for identity and many gets it, we tends to forget that with that identity, comes the great responsibility. Its a reality check for the bloggers and I will always take care of all these points. Bookmarking it as I have to come back gain and again specially before I start writing any post.
    And Fransesco, You have a asset in this post. keep blogging always!!

  • I do agree with you. Blogging is a way to express ourselves using the Internet as a platform. There could be many reasons to start blogging. It might be creative, business or finding one’s identity. It is also one of the sources of online income and could be good for extra earning. All said, its gonna be growing at a huge pace as more people become aware of it. I liked reading this post. nice share.

  • Blogging is instead a great source to show off your creativity and to inspire others to listen to you, i just agree with this 😉

  • When I first started blogging, I never got any hate mail. This is because no one read my blog. Now that it’s become so much more popular, I definitely receive my share…but, much to my surprise, when the commenter whines like a stuck pig, one, or more of my loyal readers jumps all over them.

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