When someone asks me, “Why do you waste your time blogging? How do you know if anyone is reading what you are writing and if they really care?”, I was not sure that I always have a great answer. I know that the process of writing provides an opportunity for me to reflect and forge the fragments of thought into a solid idea. This is a process solely for me and not necessarily meant for others. While this may be helpful to others who are working through similar problems and projects to help shape their ideas and solutions for their unique set of circumstances, this is the narcissistic view of blogging that many harbor. Blogging is solely for self-publication and self-promotion.

An event a few weeks ago has challenged my views of why we blog. On Friday, December 14th, at the end of the day, I received both an email and a voice message from someone at the Gale Group, who have invited me to be a part of an advisory panel for a new project that they are considering. They are wanting to fly me out for a day long meeting. When I inquired why they had chosen me, the responded that they had read a blog post of mine, Eight Random Things about Me that I had written August 13th that stated that I was a member of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR). From this and then consequently finding out that I work with in a school with teachers, they replied

It’s actually been a week or two since I did my initial googling for potential panelists, but I it had to do with you being an educator and having contributed to SABR publications (mentioned on your blog).  I am trying to bring in not just librarians but also faculty members/teachers as well, and I wanted to make sure that whoever I brought in knew a thing or two about baseball.

So blogging is not just about sharing one thoughts, but can also be a way for others to be able to seek you out and locate you based upon your passions. If I had not shared this bit of information, this meeting would have happened and I would not have been invited to participate. I would have lost out on an opportunity.

This has now changed my thinking. We blog so that we can share and allow others the chance to know who we are, what we are passionate about, and what we think. We build up the currency of thoughts and ideas which is becoming more valuable in this information age that we are living. We are establishing our portfolio to share with the world.

If I am involved in interviewing a new teaching candidate for the school, I am going to seek out to see what this person may have created. I will not be doing so to look for faults, but rather to get a better understanding of this person, more in depth and richer than a 45 minute conversation.

So this is why we blog, to celebrate all that we hold important. To share our passions, and share the ways that we think.