Do you feel pressured when it comes to blogging? Over the last few weeks and months my timelines have been littered with tweets and status messages about people feeling they “have” to blog.
“Really need to blog today, didn’t do one yesterday”
“I need to do some posts but I just can’t think of anything to write?!”
Seeing messages like these sadden me. For the most part, people blog for themselves, for fun, for their families and for an outlet. It seems that when they start they thoroughly enjoy it but it can become a chore, why is that?
I love blogging, it’s an outlet for me, it’s fun. I can use Curly&Candid for whatever I like, to share recipes, family news, debates, to discuss world events or to campaign. It’s a tool, a thing… it’s not “me“. If I don’t blog one day, two days or a week I don’t worry that the blog might cease to be or that I will implode. The day that I wake up and feel I have to blog is the day that I stop blogging. I don’t think anyone needs that pressure.
I hear lots about link-ups, again how people MUST make sure they do it. I’m pretty sure no-one who runs a linky would want people to feel this pressure to perform as it were. Britmums now have a weekly blog prompt, and although this isn’t something I would use myself, for some I expect it can be fun /useful; will it however become another of these things that people feel they have to do? I hope not.
At what stage do you feel like you have to blog, when did it become a job, do you feel the pressure to keep up with everyone else?
Social media is the greatest tool and sometimes the worst de motivator. The recent surge of “experts” popping up from nowhere ready to tell you how to blog better and how to be the best blogger don’t help. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with wanting to improve your bloggy technical expertise or work on your writing style and sites such as Blogger.ed (which I highly recommend!) are a fantastic resource of info and advice. I just think that overall bloggers can be bombarded with info on what they should rather than being offered hints, tips and advice.
So where does it come from, is the pressure forced upon us as a blogger by social media and the blogosphere or do we pile it upon ourselves? This is an issue I’m genuinely curious about. What do you think?