Is Popularity So Evil? Then Why Do People Really Blog?

The "Blogger Bugs & Kottu" buzz became a hot topic overnight, and in the debate, some irrelevant but interesting comments were made about me by some "wannabe whiz kids" of the blogosphere. Some suggested Voice in Colombo is a "publicity hunter", who just lives off advertisements". What can I gain by creating a popularity for a nickname like Voice in Colombo? Contest to become the next Mayor of Colombo? (If I wanted that, I would start driving a taxi, rather than blogging) These comments lead me to make a post on the subject "Why Do People really blog?" The above mentioned "intellect" posting on one of his blog posts said,

".. 'cos it seems like he/she [Voice in Colombo] lives off advertisements in his blog... and probably get a bit upset to find that someone had managed to very easily stay at the top of the list... and since he obviously had noclue of how syndicated content polling works... he felt a bit "unfair" that his posts didnt appear at the top of the list...

Note the words in red. I believe anybody who has read my post entirely (Including Prabath, who was the victim of my post) would have realized that, I was not speaking only for my self. I have pointed very clearly that, it's unfair by all the other contributors to Kottu. Here this, so called "scientist" try to turn it to a personal attack on me, by citing that I posted that becaus I felt "a bit "unfair" that my posts didnt appear at the top of the list" The genius further says....

the the fuss is about posting a future dated blog entry with the intention of making it stay at the top so that he/she would want some traffic to his/her poll or whatever... and thats supposed to be unethical.... and the solution is to get all the bloggers in kottu.org to stone unethical blogger by visiting the ethical blogger's post...

Suggesting that, I made that post to attract more traffic (Publicity hunting) to my blog.

Simmilarly in Prabath's blog post on this issue, he says...

"So, for all my blog readers, I would like to say, as correctly pointed out by Shehal, Memory Bank never depends on 'ads' (like the other), so never goes after popularity."

News Flash. Popularity is Evil!

All these comments, indirectly suggested 2 things 1) Bloggers should not expect popularity for their blogs. (Just blog for your family and friends) 2) Running AdSense on blogs is a crime. (So stone the criminals) What is it wrong in some one setting up a blog, and "hunt" for visitors to read it? What is it wrong in some one trying to make few bucks buy running ads on his/her blog? I think these claims are just sloppy excuses by bloggers who failed to accomplish in any of these disciplines. Traffic or AdSense money.

Why Do I Blog?

I've mentioned in several occasions previously, I started this blog, after following Kottu for about 3 months without a blog for my self. I watched other blogs for a while, and asked my self several times "Am I fit to survive among them?". Then I decided to test the waters. I started this blog, and let it running independently for about 1 month. After about 1 month, I joined Kottu, and that started the upward trend of my blog.

Motivation

I spend about 12, to 14 hours a day at office. Yes that's a long time. At home, I get only few hours even to talk to my wife. In the weekends, I have to attend my MSc classes. And very rarely we get an opportunity to discuss politics, sports or any other non-job related matters among the work colleagues at office. We are strictly not allowed to discuss politics with our customers, because we might loose a client with a different political view, if any of us hurt his "feelings". We know how much the Sri Lankans are sensitive towards politics. So, this extremely monotonous life style, has make us "politically & socially strayed animals".

So, I found blogging (Especially on Kottu) is a good way for me to fullfil that "un satisfied human need", and it's one of the primary motivation behind why I blog. Talk politics. Talk gossips! Thanks to this modern technology, I can get instant feedback from a Tamil living in Canada, every time I make a nasty comment about them. If I speak about them in an offline discussion, we never get that chance of "interaction".

So, "Social Interaction with varied types of people all over the world", is the other motivation. I can broaden my horizon, rather than talking politics only with my father (who is a devoted UNP'er) Third reason I blog is, using it as an "archive" of my self. If I look back down the line, I can see how my political and social opinion has evolved over a period. Some time, just to understand how silly we behaved on certain occasions. It's all about tracking "my self".


Why Publicity? Why Adsense?

Blogging is a kind of hobby for me. In fact, it's my second hobby. My first hobby is driving on Colombo roads. It's a great substitute for an adventure holiday! Some times, driving in Colombo roads is more thrilling than taking part in a "Survivor" reality show.

So, what do we expect from a hobby? Pleasure. A stamp collector gather more pleasure, bigger he make his collection. Likewise for a person who takes blogging as a hobby, pleasure is gained by seeing more traffic to their blogs. More comments. Higher technorati authority. Don't answer me. Just think about yourself. Aren’t you expect these things, when you start a blog?

People who are afraid of exposing their real motivation of blogging may tell you that "Well, I never goes after popularity". But in reality all or 99.9% of the bloggers like popularity. If you don't like popularity, all the modern blogging software allow you to restrict your blog being crawled by search engines. Restrict your blogs for only invited members. Do it!

We all like popularity for our blogs. This and this (Read them later) are two examples from some of the bloggers on Kottu. I never lable these people as "popularity hunters". Instead I enjoy their achievements.

Why AdSense?

I signed up for adsense, because I started to blog on blogger. Until I start using blogger, I never realized that the revenue of ads on blogspot blogs goes to the blog owners. I thought, it's same as those Google ads on any free hosting service. But, since Blogger referred me to use AdSense, I started running ads on my blog. I come from an advertising background, and naturally I was prompted to learn more about this "new" media of advertising. It exposed me to a whole new world of online advertising and marketing. I kept on researching into online advertising and marketing, and I realized this is the future of marketing. I selected "Online Marketing" as the thesis for my Msc.

Most of the things I practice with AdSense on my blog, are experiments. I read lot about adsense optimization, and I test them. Then I evaluate the result. If I see possitive result, I enjoy it. And I earn few bucks too!

Honestly speaking, AdSense doesn't even cover my monthly petrol cost. But, I enjoy getting a "check from a US Bank in a Google logo printed cover" once every two months, and showing it off to my friends makes me feel "happy". (Simple minded huh? Search your soul) And I enjoy speaking like an "AdSense Guru" among the group members of my Msc class. (They think I will join Google staff one day. LOL) It's same as you feel happy to show off your self in a night club, or a party. Show off! Self esteem!. Simple pyschology. May be the whole motivation behind blogging is "showing off".

Showing off is bad. Right?

I read Seth Godin a lot. In one of his presentations at Google HQ, he says "Cat food aren't for cats. It's for the owners!".

Know why? cat doesn't care what brand or flavor of cat food he get today. But the owner cares!. Because, the owner has to tell his/her frineds a story that "My cat eats [some prestigous brand] of cat food!".

So, those people who say "I never go after publicity. I never depend on ads" should really have to do an inside search into their souls, (Recommended to use "Google Soul Search Beta") to see whether they are really cats or the owners. (I feel I'm an owner. I’m a natural human being). It is this psychology that, we marketers use always to sell goods and services to you guys!

Understand the psychology of "ODEL" against "House of Fashion" brand? "BAREFOOT" against "Nana's Pot" for hanging out?. HSBC against PABC brand? Ever thought of why you go to Barista, when your mom can make a coffee for you more cheaply at home?.


If you are a cat, you can live without showing off. But, owners can't. So they'll shop at ODEL, and hang out in Barefoot, while cats eat what ever the shit they get.

So, AdSense are not [just] for money. It's for show off as well!. It's for the cat owners. Humans. Not for the cats.

(So far, I've earned a sufficient amount of money from AdSense, which I plan to invest in my own domain and a site. Blue prints are ready. Will go off the ground pretty soon. But don't worry. That site, won't be a blog. I will continue to blog here on blogger.)

Why Do Other People Blog?

Now I've explained why I blog, and here are some information I gathered from internet, about the matter "why do people blog?"

In a nice post on Sandhill blog, (Reccomended to read this post in full. Later) Anne Mathewson of Fishbucket says

I started blogging some years ago largely to pass time and share experiences. A small part of me, however, was selfishly hoping for admiration and affirmation; a shallow attitude I've long abandoned. Eventually, I discovered the joy found via "invisible threads" and "sympathetic fibers" - those human connections made along the way. Blogger tend to be a lovely comfort of strangers.

In red are the keywords to note. For sure, Anne is human! Not a cat.

In the same blog post, Brian Moffatt says he blogs..

... because I believe that there is only the particular and singular in life. It's that voice thing. I don't want to beat that to death, but I had this conversation with a blogger the other night. The first I had met in real life. I mentioned to him - a new blogger - that one of the things I really enjoyed was watching someone new to blogging develop and emerge. Seeing their voice emerge. Like a burlesque. Peeling away the layers of clothing, the self-consciouness rising and dissolving, the tentativeness, the self-loathing, the self-pity and then BOOM - there she is! The naked Blog writer. Preferably a she.


I see some of my own ideas reflected in Brians view about blogging. "It's that voice thing".


Brian further says...

I rarely reread my posts. Hence the tremendous number of typos and grammatical errors. But for me, that's okay. I'm not the most anal person in the world. But it's very much what I look for elsewhere. The flaw. The scar. The fingerprint. The idiosyncratic. The weirded-out turn of phrase. Something close to the hearth where the meat burns in an instant and leaves your face all warm for a bit. I love reading something I've written and thinking 'geez who wrote that?'

:-) So, with a smile I once again appreciate all the anonymous comments and e-mails (e-mails aren't anonymous) I get saying, "Improve your language skills. There's this typo, that typo, this error and that error. You can't go international with spelling mistakes like this"

I guess I took a long space in a single blog post after a long time. So what's your view? Why Do you blog?

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