As much as I want it to be, the title you see above is not my own. It comes from Chris Shiflett, a wholly interesting person, whose blog I have been following ever since he spoke of Svbtle and Obtvse last year, which I found because of an article Daniel Howells wrote which I have no idea how I found, but I remember thinking it was worth my while.

Ideas of March

In any case, things like these are what define blogs: in essence, peepholes into people’s minds. This made me want to re-visit an article Chris Shiflett had written almost exactly three years ago, where he spoke of a “blog revival” that was needed as a result of many conversations (for good or bad) moving from blogs to Twitter.

Dustin Curtis wrote about something similar happening on his own blog as a result of Twitter. While I tweet too, I have thankfully not been drawn away entirely from my blog (for some of the reasons I will mention below). The ‘idea’, for lack of a better word, is to write a post called the “Ideas of March”, list why you like blogs, pledge to blog more and use the hashtag #IdeasofMarch elsewhere on the web.

Why do I like blogs?

There are many reasons why I like blogs. First of all, I would not be blogging if I did not like to do it. But here are some deeper thoughts:

1. A blog is your house on the internet. You may be on Twitter, Google+, Facebook or wherever else, but none of those websites are truly ’yours’. You have your space, much like you do in a pub or a library, but you still have a home do you not?
2. A blog can be deep with utter disregard for public opinion. You do not need to sway with the public because on your blog you speak your ideas like they are yours. And they are, so why not? On social media, you invite shallow criticism that is really a dime a dozen, but on your blog, you can rest assured whoever comments or contacts you cares deeply for or against your ideas. They may not agree, but if they have nothing useful to say, it is highly unlikely they would spew meaningless words — something not uncommon on social networks.
3. Blogs let you have meaningful discussions. I have often found that while I can comment on a fellow blogger’s article, some comments I have to make start looking dangerously longer than the original article itself. Then I chose to write an article in reply instead: on the one hand, it shows the other writer I care enough about their words to take the time to write my views in depth; on the other it helps create a rapport and link between blogs and people the way no social network can.
4. Blogs hold you responsible; and that is a good thing. Your profile elsewhere on the web may not be sterling. But on your blog? As bloggers, we are rarely careless enough to paste something we are not very fond of for the rest of the world to see. Oftentimes, what we write are our finer thoughts spoken in finer words than usual. So a blog chronicles our better moments, expressions, times and thoughts. Should anybody stumble upon our blog, they would most certainly get a better impression of us than, for instance, an image our social networking profiles may paint of us.

I am not going to round of this list with a fifth point, because I think these four quite clearly state why I value anyone’s (your) blog over their (your) Twitter, Google+, Facebook etc.

Pledging to blog more?

Although one of the requirements of ‘Ideas of March’ is taking a pledge to blog more, I will not be doing that. If you have time, you can leisurely read my previous article on why, starting 2014, I have decided to join the slow blogging movement.

For those who would rather have me condense that blogging manifesto of mine, the points are simple: I have blogged far too long (seven years, including my sub-domain on WordPress) sometimes trying harder than necessary to blog on a strict schedule. While it paid off in terms of my website visitors, pretty low bounce rates and a fairly high subscriber count on both email and RSS, I decided to call such furious blogging quits.

Instead I opted to write more slowly and carefully thought-out articles, regardless of length, fewer times a month, but still often enough to be considered ‘regular’ by any definition of the word. In brief, slow blogging is to blog only when you really want to and have an idea, opinion, or thought you really want to share, as opposed to blogging just to stick to a schedule — which I fear is what pledging to blog more will make me do.

I think, like slow blogging, the ‘Ideas of March’ movement is something every blogger should do. If nothing, it helps you pause and reconsider why you have a blog at all; at its peak, it’ll help you love your blog more. The way I see it, if Voltaire or Galileo or Leonardo DaVinci or even Nietzsche were here today, they would have embraced blogging wildly. And half the internet would have disagreed with them by principle.

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