If you remember, when we four colleagues started this blog, Mike announced “The next step is to turn this collective into a true community, one that actively aspires to make each member better and more successful.” How to do that? We’ve started sharing news and information, highlighting members, and posting tips for successful nature blogging. But that’s the beginning, not the end, of our efforts.
Communities do not coalesce overnight, particularly communities as diverse as that of nature bloggers. To help us understand who our community members are and what they are interested in (and to test a new plug-in for polls), here are a couple of questions we hope you’ll answer. The polls will stay open for a week, and the answers will help determine the content of my next Thursday tools & tech post.
Don’t be shy!
Why do you blog? (Pick the one answer that best applies to your NBN blog)
- To build a network with those who share my interests (82%, 41 Votes)
- For friends and family primarily (10%, 5 Votes)
- It's part of my job (8%, 4 Votes)
- To make money (0%, 0 Votes)
Total Voters: 50
Loading ...What application do you use to read blogs?
- Google Reader (43%, 28 Votes)
- Click through my blogroll (34%, 22 Votes)
- Other feed reader (9%, 6 Votes)
- other (please explain in a comment on this post) (9%, 6 Votes)
- Bloglines (5%, 3 Votes)
Total Voters: 65
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19 Comments
I just like to write and share my nature observations.
I’m glad the blog leads to other things like speaking engagements and the occasional sponsorship and I do treat the blog like it is a job, but it’s not the primary reason.
I have a reader, but I rarely use it. I just check blogs when I can.
Unfortunately none of the choices to your first question captures why I started, or continue to, maintain my blog. It’s actually the reverse of option four: there isn’t enough creative outlet in my job and I really enjoy writing. Blogging filled that niche. And while I don’t write with the expectation of anyone else reading my sputterings, I like the option of sharing (and am flattered a handful of people visit, and re-visit, my postings).
So, what Sharon said: I like to write and share.
I do have an overly-stuffed reader to keep up on what others experience, from birds and nature to politics and entertainment (some of you non-professionals are extremely talented and funny!).
-Mike
I blog as a creative outlet. Additionally, my NBN blog is aimed at increasing appreciation for nature among the Twitterati.
I also enjoy the creative outlet more than anything, and it was the reason I began my blog.
The community is a really nice bonus on the side.
Thank you for the comments. You’re right, I completely missed creative outlet as reason to blog. Hopefully others that feel that way will also comment here.
I also didn’t list blogging for a purpose, whether that’s raising awareness, rallying support for a cause, or just generally raising the profile of nature bloggers in the wider world.
The good news: the plugin seems to be working, and we’re already gathering more responses than we did on either of our first two surveys using Survey Monkey.
So keep those clicks coming, and tell us what you think.
I blog primarily (these days) to share my interest in wildlife and photography. As for reading blogs I use the Opera browser for everything. It’s got an integrated feed reader which makes it easy to check quickly on any new posts and launch any I want to take a further look at.
I agree with those who describe blogging as a creative outlet. I also hope, by commenting on the natural world as I notice it in daily life, to encourage others in my community and elsewhere to notice and appreciate such things.
I use Live Bookmarks, Sage and my blogroll to keep up with blogs and have recently started using Blogger’s “Blogs I Follow” feature from the dashboard page.
I find that my reason for blogging is evolving as my blog itself evolves. My main reason for starting a blog was to share my photos and to share some snippets of my life with family and friends. But then I realized I had some stories to tell, some causes to advocate, some fun to share, so I started posting more “complicated” content. It’s only been within the last few months that I started getting into the social aspect of blogging, and started trying to build a readership. There aren’t a lot of folks in my immediate circle of friends who share my varied interests, but there ARE other folks all across the country (and world) who do, and I’m starting to virtually meet up with them through my blog, which is fun. I am especially grateful to be a part of this unique community at the NBN.
Oh yeah, I forgot about giving details about the 2nd question in the quiz. I use the blogroll on my page, and I also “follow” some blogs, but aside from that, I just use old-fashioned bookmarks. I’ve tried using GoogleReader, but I don’t like it. Besides, I like actually visiting folks pages live so I can see what else is going on there aside from just the posts (cool sidebar or header pics/content, for example).
The creative outlet is really the primary reason for me too. I find that having a place to publish my writing and photography inspires me to be better at both.
I didn’t start my blog to be about anything in particular and I wasn’t thinking about birds – that was just something I did when I wasn’t blogging, but I quickly found that blogging coombines many of my separate interests: birds, hiking, nature, photography, writing, technology, and learning to become a sort of nexus where they all intersect in ways that often surprise me.
Finding other like-minded individuals out there has been a happy discovery.
Admittedly, I wouldn’t complain if it was part of my job or a way to make money, but, alas, I do it for love.
True, James, I think we’d all like to get paid for doing what we like and would do anyway, but so far I haven’t managed that, either – more’s the pity.
On the other hand, nature blogging is rewarding in other ways. I feel part of the community and have an audience for my thoughts, words, and photos that I wouldn’t have otherwise. I guess that says I blog both for the networking and the creative outlet, but I’m not used to thinking of myself as a creative or artistically talented person.
Like Heather, I find my reasons change over time, and that my blog changes in response.
The community endures.
I’m with the people who blog as a creative outlet. I view my blog as a nature guide that I am writing one page at a time in plain view of everyone. It’s more of a heavily hyperlinked book than a standard blog.
That’s a great way to look at your blog, Tim. The book of the future, perhaps?
I blog because of Other reasons. I blog because it’s fun, stimulating, creative, challenging, and educational. When I started blogging in February 2002, it was a lonely pursuit. It’s nice to now be part of a community with similar interests.
Sounds like the perfect pastime, doesn’t it? And the mechanics get easier all the time.
Blogging, for me, is a creative outlet. An hour or two or three a day is MY TIME. I like to write and since blogging have developed a love affair with nature photography. The first blog I ever read was Julie Zickefoose. She’s my spark blogger and as a result, I’ve landed in a community of bloggers who are writers, teachers, photographers, gardeners, doctors, and simple, plain folk like me to just love love love outdoors.
NBN is a blessing. I’ve met lots of new and wonderful people here.
Mary, Thanks for those kind words. That’s exactly what we’re trying to do, build a community and connect a world of bloggers with similar interests. Thanks for joining us, and for sharing your observations and photos.
Yep… I have to agree about the creative outlet of blogging. My start was simple – a means to an end to share video of the European robin to my homesick friend in Aus. I had no idea at that time I would still be doing it two years later.
I am a gardener but through blogging and my garden I now enjoy and encourage birds and wildlife into it. I agree it is wonderful to meet so many likeminded and knowledgeable people on the way. Forums and sites like this help tremendously in connecting us all.
I have link lists that show when a blog has posted. I always look when a new posting comes in. Usually I write my postings telling a story and often keep it further into the posting. I don’t want to read the whole essence of a posting in a preview of a feed so I don’t use them. Equally if it doesn’t contain anything that catches my eye in the feed then I might miss something I would have enjoyed especially photos or videos. But that’s just me.
I’ve grown my awareness of the natural world and my interactions with it through blogging as well, Shirl. Isn’t it wonderful how a common activity can build a community across a variety of interests, approaches, and philosophies?