The idea that is circulating, and usually among those who have little or no concept of blogging, is people blog to become famous.
While that possibility could be true in mny cases, it's not likely the main motivating force for most bloggers.
Bloggers write to express themselves, often to extremely limited audiences. By the way, if you are one of those unfortunates, we should talk.
Anyway.
I was out and about and spreading the word about business blogs. I know, it's an obsession. I deal with it. Mostly.
A few people remarked that bloggers only write to become famous celbrities.
I suggested that a business blog is more of a business relationship builder, between business person and the customer. They responded that it was only about being famous and being seen as important.
While many bloggers do become regarded as authorities in their industry, that phenomenon predates blogging. In fact, promotion and marketing of a business has literally taken place forever. No business survives very long without getting the word out on the street about their products and services.
In that sense, I continued, the business blog is a marketing, public relations, and promtional tool.
The blog is the means to market products and services; not the end in and of itself.
They remained unconvinced, and seemed to prefer the exclusively seeking of fame interpretation.
I can see their point, sort of.
If a business wants to become well known, it has to strive for a bit of "fame", and the owners and management have to gain some degree of "celebrity". Of course, that doesn't equate precisely to the cult of celebrity spread across television, newspapers, and magazines.
Some bloggers are now becoming well known people in the larger community. In that sense, they are on the way to having the proverbial household name of some business leaders and journalists.
Does that mean that they started to blog to achieve that fame?
In some cases, perhaps yes.
On others, the answer would be a no.
Blogs and bloggers are so diversified, in their countless motivations and goals, that it's literally impossible to pigeonhole the reasons for starting a blog.
With over five million blogs on the internet, similarity of thought and ideas went out of the window long ago.
I'm sure that a search for bloggers who seek only fame, would turn up many examples.
A similar search for bloggers who go out of their way to avoid publicity for their blogs, beyond a select circle of readers, would also find large numbers.
In the end, the reasons for blogging are many.
As are the overall number of bloggers.
The blog is a tool, and it can be used for many things.
If fame and celebrity is your goal, then by all means, blog your way into the public eye.
And when you become famous, remember with kindness, all of us mere mortals.
