Philosophy of Blogging - Part 1

When putting together my blog, I had two basic questions to ask. These two questions, I would say are valuable for anyone to ask.

1. Who is my audience? When I started, I had no readers (obviously), but I knew the potential readers would be...
• Students
• Parents of Students
• Church Members
• Friends and Family
• Youth Ministry Minded folks
2. Why do I write? Blog... short for "web log," both words helping us understand the meaning.
• log infers that it is a journal...an account of my personal journey and thoughts.
• web infers that the journal will be placed on the most easily accessible tool this world has ever seen. Therefore anyone and everyone can see it whenever and wherever they wish.

When keeping the weblog, these two realities must be kept in mind. It is a look into your personal thoughts, views, ideas, revelations, and struggles. It is YOUR journey. As you start a blog, you are inviting people into that journey. YET, as you invite them in, readers are wanting something back. The question I asked, "What am I offefing?" Mark Cuban offers insight into the life of a billionaire. In the Fall 2005, Kyle Lantz offered the experiences of a college student spending 4 months in Lithuania. Perez Hilton offers celbrity gossip.

I believe the best blogs offer 4 basic ingredients... 2 which are intrusive to the writer, 2 which are intrusive to the reader.

1. INVITE the reader into the writers life.
2. INFORM the reader of the events, experiences, and opinions surrounding the writer and the lives of those surrounding the writer's life..
3. INSPIRE the reader through the writings.
4. INSTRUCT the reader in some manner.

Parts 2-5 will examine these four aspects to a blog.