Why do people follow blogs? By now this is a phenomenon that inspired academic research, tapping into readers motivations and analyzing their takeaways from it. According to an article by Barbara Kaye, published in the Atlantic Journal of Communications, there are at least nine different reasons that people read blogs.
I do follow some blogs regularly. There are very few of those, and those are ones where I find information, inspiration and connection. These include Guy Kawasaki, Seth Godin and Fred Wilson.
All three resonate with me because they are in the same area that intersects with my own interests: technology, life, marketing and investing. That is the reason I ran into these people and their musings in the first place!
My favorite, by far, is Fred Wilson’s blog (https://avc.com/). He writes every day, and his writing is short and succinct. The content varies, but always reflects a current topic that somehow touches Fred’s focus as a VC but also life in general.
I rarely visit the blog itself, since I usually read the email version. It is part of my morning routine as I go over emails and news, checking in with the world. Occasionally, I do go back to the blog itself if I have a followup thought that came up or if there is something that I want to share with someone. Since there are no comments on the blogs itself, the conversations that it inspires are relegated to Twitter.
This blog’s design is low key and truly functional. When relevant, there are simple diagrams or charts. The result is a blog that feels genuinely like a person’s private journal, even though it is on a public platform. It makes the ideas and musings feel more personal and allow me to connect with them.
Sources and pointers:
Barbara K. Kaye (2005) It’s a Blog, Blog, Blog World: Users and Uses of Weblogs, Atlantic Journal of Communication, 13:2, 73-95, DOI: 10.1207/s15456889ajc1302_2
Dorin's Blog 