The Common Pencil

Do people still read blogs? Here is my take on it, combined with some surprising statistics.

1) Consistent blogging improves your writing skills
In order to write anything, you need to know how to use words. Writing consistently can help you learn how to structure a sentence that is comfortable to read. You can become a faster writer, simply by writing often. Words may come to you with more ease over time. If you want to write a book one day, why not start a blog to practice those skills now?

2) Boost your confidence while writing
Writing about your travel adventures can make you more eager to visit all the interesting places in the world. Learning to explain to your potential readers how to bake that delicious cake can improve your teaching skills and your baking skills. No matter the topic, you will learn to express yourself better, choose your words better, which can boost your confidence in any type of social situation.

I may be sounding a little self-centered here, but isn’t utilizing the thing that you naturally gravitate towards a key to success in life?

3) Blogging gives a chance to explore your own thoughts
Who is this person behind layers of culture, study, job and life’s expectations? Who are you?
By allowing yourself to write down your own words, fact or fiction, you get to know yourself a little bit better. You can become the creator of your own little corner on the internet and write down your thoughts, before others get to opinionate and disrupt your trail of thoughts.

4) Connecting with other bloggers is inspiring
I was not aware that someone could ‘like’ a blogpost until I got my fist like. It still surprises me every time a person likes something I wrote. It means that someone out there, among the 8 billion people on this planet, felt something from reading my words. This is moving. It encourages me to continue to write.
It is true that many of us are trying to get a piece of your attention, but I don’t feel like we are competitors. We are given a chance to inspire one another during this journey to wherever it is life takes us. That, I think, is awesome!

5) Who cares if anyone reads this stuff?
According to statistics, 60% of the internet’s users interacts with blogs. 39% of those are reading blogs about three times a week! But unless you want to make a living purely out of blogging, the amount of people reading your work does not really matter. If blogging makes you happy, then do it! Spending time on an activity that makes you feel good is, more often than not, worth the effort. Wondering if blogging is still worth it in 2024 may not be the way to go about it. The right question may just be: would you like to start a blog? Would you like to play around with this thing? There is no need to be good at it if you are willing to learn over time. Also, your actions don’t always need to serve a higher purpose. Do it because you can!

If you want to read some interesting statistics about blogging in 2024, I’d recommend you have a look here. You’ll see that from a business perspective, blogging is most definitely worth it.

My own (main) reason for starting my blog was to give the mind-chatter some sort of direction. Yes, the options are overwhelming and yes, it takes effort to write down them words but I am having fun! Do you think blogging is still worth it in 2024? If you are a blogger, why do you do it? What’s in it for you? I would love to hear your opinion. Feel free to leave a comment and if you enjoyed reading this, leave a like!

With love,

Heleen Charlotte.