Why do people blog……

In the UK we are behind on the whole blogging phenomena but they we are lagging behind on the whole internet in some ways as regards the US.

In the US I have lots of friends and who are my age we all meet on a social network site called Fabulously 40 and beyond and I discovered lots of them have grown up doing a daily journal or gratitude book where they make notes of what has happened so blogging is a natural extension where they can just chat about their life – they are not looking for big hits or fame just somewhere to chat and talk – one friend has done an online diary of her gastric band / bypass surgery and the weight loss and the big changes in her life – another friend talks about her coupon cutting and how much she has saved etc

I read blogs and have done for years I love ones which have themes like for instance http://vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com/ as one man charts the changes in the city he loves and makes some great observations and has coined some fabulous phrases – another one I love is http://advancedstyle.blogspot.com/ which covers some amazing older people and how they dress and my person icon Lynn Dell the Countess of Glamour is a regular contributor- I aspire to be her when I’m older ……

I discovered blogs in 2002 with a site called Save Karyn which a girl in New York had got into debt and set up a blog and literally blogged her way out via donations , selling stuff and a book deal I logged on to see her debt reduce and her musings – strangely via the power of the internet and degrees of separation I become friends with her best mate ….. She is now a successful author and film writer ……..

People also blog to guide other people through a situation like my friend Mary after her gastric band / bypass operation as it has changed her life and another blog I discovered was a girl who was newly homeless living in a trailer in a Wal-Mart car park she started her blog as a guide to other single homeless girls giving tips http://girlsguidetohomelessness.com/2009/03/16/my-face-sort-of-is-online/ I found this and commented and started checking in on her – this was March 2009 in August she was discovered by E Jean Carroll the famous agony aunt and her world went cyber and yes we had become friends and yes I’m mentioned in the book and yes our sites have felt the benefit from this …….. The internet makes the world a smaller place but also an easier place to get your voice heard and your message out there ….oh and my comment on her Brianna’s blog did come true she lived with me in 2010 while she wrote her book!

Just Google Brianna Karp and in one instance you’ll see the power of blogging and as yet untapped and harnessed in the UK.

I started my blog because I felt at 40+ no retailers got us ladies and didn’t speak to us so I thought I will do it myself and have done and now feel vindicated as I have a large audience and excellent positive feedback ….