I Have a God-Given Right to Blog! Do You?

Who gives me the right to blog?  Is it God-given?  

Do I have a right to blog? Should I blog? Is what I have to say relevant?  Will anyone care? Am I using this as an exercise of mental health?  Do 'I' care too much about what 'I' have to say?

(Yes people, I know at this point you are all asking… who gives me the right to blog, I will expect lots of comments, hopefully not too harsh)

These are questions everyone should ask themselves before starting a blog, some get scared off by the thought of it.  The putting of your ideas and thoughts forward for an unforgiving public to point and exclaim its a work of genius or criticize that it is a glorious failure of epic proportions is a frighting proposition for most.  The truth is, most likely you will not be lucky enough to get either... and that is truly the worst critique you can receive and what you should fear the most.

Based on what I can find out there in the blogosphere (By the way Microsoft word does not consider that word an error…) there are four types of bloggers. I will give a type or two at the end from my personal love/hate list.

1. Those who have something to say, have an audience in mind, and can write with at least a touch of eloquence and keep their readers interested through new information, interesting topics, unique insights or even with controversial quips.  Either way, they apply some effort and thought into what they do (I hope Anderson Says fits into this category – Let me know).  My likes: Mashable (business and personal), Kottke.org and I try to follow from time to time Errol Morris.
2. Those who feel they have to blog – some celebrities, companies, executives, business owners, etc… Half are pushed into it either by a marketing department, PR department, some sort of specialist or even a spouse.  But the bloggers apathy can always shine through if the blog is not genuine. These are the types that start with a heavy posting schedule and slowly die out or never get any type of critical mass moving simply because it is someone else that cares, not them. I really had to do some research here, because frankly I don't like to waste my time... but survey says Britney Spears (how very toxic indeed Brit!), Victoria Beckham, and honestly, I feel a bit dirty and less of a person after reading... Too bad its not a book or I certainly would have Burned After Reading...
   
3. Those with no true insight, no gift of writing (even basic), no original ideas, or people that are just too lazy to use a simple blogging tool to help them set up a reasonable assemblage of something nice to see, useful or user friendly.  The bottom line is they are just lazy. I think there is an endless supply, no need really for examples.
   
4. Whining – cry babies – dirt mongers and other such dregs on our society - that should not even be allowed to use the internet to be fair… They fill our monitors with such crap that it can sometimes make you laugh that someone can actually be that dim, but in fact should make you cry that this is what actually comes out of our school systems. Blogo-trash!

So… I have included some examples in the above hyper links, but as you can see I have stayed away from citing local sites – Maybe a fear of persecution… oh I mean retribution syndrome…  Or maybe just a chance for us to see what will develop with their blogs over the next year or so before I join the blog-bashing-bandwagon. 

The logical questions at this point:

Why do people in groups 2-4 keep blogging?  Can anyone make them stop? Why do we keep reading? Will they ruin it for the rest of us?  Will people be so sick and tired of all the blogo-trash that the way-of-the-blog will die out?

I say – Let them blog!  I can always block their page; stop following it or blog-bash it later! 

We do have a God-given right to blog and it is a tool for stable mental health and yes, sometimes people do care about what you have to say.  Hopefully, and in best case scenarios, what you have to say might open eyes to new ideas, new insights and new cultures!

So what do you think?  Who gets the right to blog? Who should just stop?  Who gets hurt by blogo-trash?  Do too many people put too much stock into what others say?

Under Promise & Over Deliver

Expectation management is a great place to start. It is a great place to start when meeting a new friend, it is a great place to start when you enter a new job, it is a great place to start when offering marketing projects or launching a new campaign and even when starting to write a new blog.

The key to expectation management is to balance the act of under promising and over delivering.  How low can you go? How well do you know yourself?  How much do you trust your abilities? How well do you know your audience? If you set the bar too low will you lose what you intended to gain before you start?  If you set the bar too high have you opened yourself up for failure? 

As a first leap into the great unknown I launch this blog today with the hopes to use these words and this space to share my insights on daily encounters anything from my experience today at lunch (went to small CzechMex joint that serves the nicest portion of chicken steak with a white cream pepper sauce, though can't recommend much else) to my insights into event management/direct contact marketing and its usefulness in growing a business or building a brand or even my opinions on latest news, world events and whats its like to be 30 something.


I expect an active audience. I expect feedback on my posts, both good and bad. I expect to further discuss topics where I have simply planted a seed. I expect that you will write to me with questions and ideas of topics you would like me to talk about - most subjects will be within limits - though please keep it G rated and relevant.


I do not think that everything I say will please all people all of the time. Tom Peters once said "If no one is pissed-off with you then you are dead but just haven't figured it out yet."


Question: Do you find it to be effective to under promise over deliver? How do you manage others expectations?