The Pros and Cons of Writing a Blog

Upon my recent, and rather hasty, decision to write a blog, I have become somewhat pensive as to what the repercussions of such a decision will hold for me. I am currently doing some work experience for a PR firm in London and was inspired to write my thoughts by the lovely ladies who sit beside me. Their rationale was that in the PR world you are expected to write press releases and have a sound knowledge of all things techie- skills that can be acquired through the obsessive safe-keeping of one’s stream of consciousness. I am rather torn on the subject, does a blog do more harm than good?

                The overwhelming ego-nurturing advantage of a blog is presumably that others will find what you have to say interesting. If they do, it can lead to some fantastic benefits; a medium in which to successfully pass on a message, a portal to the world outside of your close circle and ultimately a profitable business. Here, I must take my brother as an example. Once upon a time he picked up a camera and filmed a fancy supercar outside Harrods in London on a sunny day. Now, he has a money-making YouTube channel, a blog, a career in the online world and more importantly, a voice. (www.shmee150.co.uk is his site- he wouldn’t be happy if I failed to do a little plugging). 

                However, not all blogs lead to good things. How far should a blog go? One day, in the not too distant future, I would like to get a job. Is it possible that my blog could be a cause of embarrassment, mortification or even rejection? A simple Google of, ‘my blog is ruining my life’ has almost successfully put me off wanting to enter this world (ever heard of ‘blog butt’?). Arguably a blog is like a published diary, you write down what you are thinking of at that moment and sort of hope your parents won’t read it, then when you come back 10 years later you laugh about all the silly things you believed in back then. But this diary can’t be thrown on a fire and turned into dust, this one will be saved in pixels and lines of code forever. 

                Evidently, I have come to the conclusion that the positives outweigh the negatives, otherwise this would all be rather ironic. However, I believe that all bloggers must set themselves some guidelines to protect themselves from the omniscient future to come. Firstly, never write anything that you wouldn’t read face-to-face to your primary school head teacher. Secondly, try to have an argument or a point to make in each entry- not just a dull shopping list of your dog’s daily activities. Finally, I am going to write about what I enjoy and I’m hoping that for that reason, I might just get something out of it.