Let’s face it, if there are two things we know for sure, it’s that we are living in a digital age, full of modern technologies and social media obsessions, and that everyone has an opinion, whether that be about politics, entertainment or sports, it could be about anything. Everyone, these days, has something to say, something to share, a story to tell. It could be something big, something with a huge impact, or it could be something small, either way, it matters to someone.
In these modern times, where anyone, from anywhere, could simply open up the twitter app and share an opinion they have with the world, there has been a boom in the blogging world. Anyone can have a blog, their own little corner of the world wide web where they can share their loves, interests and opinions with anyone, from anywhere. As a blogger myself, I know how it feels to press that publish button, the button that takes your little creation and throws it out into the big scary world where anyone could find it. Blogging is about having an opinion, something to say and putting that into more than just a tweet. You can pour your heart and soul into a blog post, truly saying what you think without hiding behind a twitter character limit. You can blog about anything. Fashion, food, travel, lifestyle, climate issues, personal life. As my fellow blogger Georgia Large states ‘The possibilities are endless because you don’t know who is reading it’
Anyone could find your blog and read it. They could agree with you, they could stumble across your blog and find you, suddenly find someone who shares their opinion but actaully had the courage to put into words. Someone else could find their voice in your online presence and there is something magical about that. A blog can be considered a small platform, a tiny dot on the map that is the internet, but nevertheless, a blog can be a powerful thing. In a discussion with Georgia, we touched upon this topic and she pointed out that ‘ you can do so many with this tiny little platform you are going to create for yourself but you don’t know where that will go and I think that it is quite exciting‘. I couldn’t agree more.
Something that, in my opinion, is both really cool and rather terrifying, about blogging, is that you never know what people are going to think about your writing or how many people are going to read it. I’ve been blogging for three years and I’ve had some amazing days with huge viewing figures and days where I’ve had barely any readers but even if the viewing stats are low, there’s still someone out there reading what you have to say. Georgia told me that it makes her ‘feel like a child at Christmas‘ when ‘two more people have read my post’. WordPress, which is one of the many platforms where you can start a blog for free, has some very cool features on the viewing stats page. There is this little map which shows you where the views have come from, which is amazing and truly makes you realise the reach of your writing. Personally, I have had fews from places such as Chile or Saudi Arabia whilst Georgia has had ‘I’ve had people in Australia and America read my stuff’
Everyone has something to say, and blogging is there to allow you to share them with a wider platform. You could put something out there, someone could like it and decide to share it across their social media, then someone else could see it and put it on their website. It could go on and on, and you could see your work grow and grow. That is a power that comes with blogging, comes with saying what you are thinking and reaching out to see if you can find someone who shares your opinion. Both me and Georgia agree that there is a buzz that comes with the knowledge that someone out there is reading what you have written. ‘They could be anyone, and I would never know but they’ve taken the time to read what I have written and that is so cool’