According to Brandon Gallie, someone in the world creates a new blog every half second. So, if you stay with me to the end of this post, there will be a couple hundred more entrants into the blogosphere. At the moment you’re reading one of more than 150 million blogs in existence.
Most who, through the years have asked me, haven’t been armed with these statistics, but the numbers certainly serve to add exclamation to the question: why do I blog?
More than a dozen years into the experiment, here’s my response. I blog because I believe:
- in the value of community (the ultimate network);
- Relationships are the lifeblood of a network;
- Conversations are the fabric of Relationships; and,
- Blogging instigates, stimulaters and facilitates conversations.
That First Post
When I hit PUBLISH for my first post, I was blogging for one reason: an idea was burning a hole in my consciousness. I needed to articulate it — or see if I could articulate it in a way that connected with others.
I needed to be part of a conversation.
There was no thought to what Post number two might be. Certainly no strategy around personal branding. And the ideas of building a network and developing new relationships were nowhere on the radar.
Far from a well-thought-through strategy. But it was a natural byproduct of my professional interests and aspirations.
Participate and Instigate Dialogue
When published, that initial post was read by two individuals. I know, because I sent it to them, knowing they would pass it on if it resonated. In its original form the post was eventually read by no more than 25 or so. Not exactly viral.
But the post instigated new conversations within the group that shared it. Critical conversations. And an important reality began to dawn: this blogging thing offered an avenue for thought leadership.
In those early days — late 2002 — Wired Magazine reported approximately 500,000 blogs in existence as the medium began to gain traction in the business arena.
Today my network is (a little) larger than that group of 25. But the valuable numbers are the hundreds — probably thousands — of conversations, debates and collaborative exercises that can be traced back to the decision to write that first post.
Put another way, blogging has been the basic building block in the creation of a robust and rewarding network of relationships.
One such relationship is with my friends and colleagues at LexBlog.
And this is your invitation to participate in one such conversation — particularly if you are a lawyer or legal marketer. It is a free webinar, Wednesday, March 26. I’m honored to be co-hosting with Kevin McKeown, President of Lexblog, and author of one of my favorite blogs — Leadership Closeup.
Here are the specifics.
DATE: March 26, 2014
TIME: 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Eastern
WHERE: Register here
(The event will be recorded and the slides will be made available. Even if you can’t make the date/time, register anyway and we’ll be sure to send you the recording afterward.)
Lawyers (and other professional service providers) and marketers, I hope you’ll join the conversation.