Why Blog?

Recently I got annoyed with my brother when he equated our blog with a ‘brag board’. He believes all blogs are ‘brag boards’, and implied that us bloggers would not make them public on the Internet if we were not concerned solely with our own egos. I got into a big email back and forth argument with him and the upshot is that he still believes blogs are ‘brag boards’ and I still believe they are something far more important. But I am glad I got into an argument with him because it got me thinking about exactly why Zoya and I blog. I think some of the benefits of keeping a blog will surprise the non-bloggers reading this.

The number one reason Zoya and I keep with our blog is that every 3 months we print it out into an annotated photo album. We already have 2 ½ years of photo albums documenting our kids growing up and our life in Kodiak. This is priceless. Because of the blog we write something every day or so and we think to take the time to take good pictures to document our life. We also edit our pictures every time we do a post. Only the best pictures make the blog. I am pretty sure that if we did not keep a blog we’d have a morass of unedited photos in various files of the computer hard drive and no photo albums – definitely no photo albums where every photo has some written context with it.

The number two reason Zoya and I keep a blog is to keep our family and friends updated on our life. Pretty easy to do, and I know we have some happy relatives and friends out there (just not my brother). Zoya and I certainly enjoy reading other people's blogs.

The number three reason we blog is that it is a creative outlet. The other day, Zoya and I went back and looked at our early blog entries. We were both surprised how much better our writing has gotten. I also believe our photography has gotten better. Take a bunch of pictures every day and post them on the web a few times a week and how can your photography not get better? It’s fun to create a good blog post, and exciting when someone posts a comment about it.

A related benefit is that all my photographs are far better organized. Since I am editing them almost daily I am forced to organize them better. I am also filing away the top 2 or 3 photos of every week into a set of ‘greatest hits’ files. This has come in very handy for me at work when people request photographs. I have an easy time finding the best ones. In the past I’d have to look through thousands just to find a few good ones.

But why public - Why put it out there where anyone can read it? I believe the main reason is incentive. If our blog was not public I do not think we’d have the incentive and yes, pressure, to keep it current. And I have noticed that people who keep blogs with invite only access tend not to update them quite as frequently. Another good thing about a public blog is that it is your own private soapbox. If I want to vent, or express an opinion I have a place to do it, a place where people will read it. No need to write a letter to the editor at the local paper - forced to keep it short with no photo and no guarantee it will even get printed.

Finally, I’ll be honest and admit there is a tiny bit of truth to what my brother says. Yes, I do want people to know our family is doing well and having a good time. I want that girl who spurned me in high school to find me on a google search and see that I turned out great. But what’s wrong with that? We all like to be noticed. But I think it is far more than a ‘brag board’. If I wanted to post on a ‘brag board’ I’d go to some hunting or skiing forum and post pretty pictures for my colleagues in those endeavors to ooh and ahh over. Activity specific forums are the ‘brag boards’ of the Internet - not blogs.

Photo: Koniag Peak (the highest point on Kodiak Island) and glacier from near Windy Lake, Labor Day weekend 2004.
Patrick