Blogging Anniversary

This  month marks my fourth year yapping away online.

Three blogs and over a thousand posts later, I still log on a few times a week to share an opinion, a great find or a little wisdom earned during the last 10 years of surviving clients / bosses / and impossible deadlines. I still get excited to see new comments in my inbox and watch the traffic numbers with more than a little ego in play.

I've made new friends (some of whom I know in the real world, too), reconnected with old ones, and have been challenged by peers I genuinely respect. I always have offline conversation from the people I'm connected to online. And, all this banter has definitely had a positive impact on my career.

Every now and again, someone asks me why I do this. Why I invest time in talking about work when I'm not at work. Since bloggers love bullet points, I'll answer that in my native medium:

• I've never in my life taken a job I was actually qualified for... but, I try not to let that stand in my way. That's actually why I started this blog in the first place. I knew I wanted to do well at the advertising agency - for my clients as much as for myself - but with a background in technology marketing and PR, I didn't even know what I didn't know. So, I bought some books, signed up for way-too-many RSS feeds (now brutally edited down) and started up conversations anywhere I could... and, the easiest place to do that (particularly as an AE) happened to be right here.


• I'm used to having a wildly unfair share of voice. When I was a kid, I found it easier to get along with grownups. When I went to a wildly liberal college, I was a loud-mouthed, boot-straps Republican (although I have long-since gone the other way). When I worked at a traditional agency, all I wanted to talk about was Interactive. I'm the consummate contrarian. Which, when paired with a little confidence and an ability to go on (and on) = an unequal share of voice. So, naturally, the 1% rule, the existence of trackbacks, the ability to be considered an 'expert' voice for little more than a clever soapbox ... well, it's all very motivating and appealing. 


• I really do have an opinion about just about everything. Where are we going to go to dinner? Would my hair look good with blue highlights? Should the logo be bigger? Who will win the next season of Top Chef? I have an opinion about all of it. I'm madly, annoyingly decisive. Online, that's personality. Offline, it's didactic. I try to get all of the fight out of me right here!

So why? I get more from it than I put in. It's easy. And, it keeps me nicer in the real world.

Here's to another 4 years.

Comments

[Marti Bledsoe]

Congratulations and happy anniversary! Blogging's addictive, isn't it?

[Alison]

Happy anniversary from a long-time groupie. (Dude, I bought your first album! The EP! On cassette!)

[DavidGriner]

Huzzah! Cheers on the anniversary, and I hope you keep it up for many more years. That book deal's gotta be on the way any month now.