To Blog Or Not To Blog?

I have been wondering if blogs are useful or not. I try to update my blog as often as possible but no more than once a day. Even this is a problem until I save up enough pennies to get a new PC, as imposing on friends to use theirs becomes a bit of a pain the longer it goes on. Perhaps Santa will favour me this year with a shiny new one!

Back to the original question, however. To set aside an hour a day to write up a blog is not a great burden and with the correct amount of discipline any of us could find the time to do it. I have mixed feelings about them in as much as they can provide a useful insight into a bloggers thoughts and activities and potentially inspire others to think more about events that occur in their lives. By highlighting issues that people were previously unaware of or didn’t think of in the same way may provoke discussion and debate and stir some to become actively involved with various issues. It seems likely that the more high profile an individual is the greater the potential impact his or her blog may have and can therefore be a very powerful tool indeed. This can be offset however by the fact that the number of “keyboard activists” are many and often very vocal and I wonder what the outcome would be if they spent as much time being physically active as they do on the keyboard.

The other point is that a blogger may not be aware whether his audience is large or small. There seems little point in spending the time blogging if the only person reading the blog is the blogger. With my blog I do have an analytical package that tells me how many viewers I have and roughly where they are from, amongst other things. It is quite encouraging that the number of viewers is steadily increasing but also interesting discovering the approximate whereabouts of the viewer. Obviously the majority of my readership is in the UK but I am very pleased to note that I have readers in the USA, France, Germany, Portugal, Denmark, Canada, Hong Kong, Algeria and Kuwait, although the latter two do give me some cause for concern!

Additionally there is also the concern about whether or not a blogger will find something fresh and interesting to write about on a regular basis, the last thing we want is to suffer from “bloggers block”. However, as this country continues to slide down the slippery slope to oblivion then there should always be something to write about. Whilst there are still those of us who feel as strongly as we do about the changes that are being imposed upon us, we will continue to blog in the hope that others will join us in this struggle we have to try our best to prevent this country from ending up in a position that is beyond help.

I am fortunate as I have done and continue to do my bit here, others are not so fortunate or inclined but so long as I have the opportunity to contribute to saving what I hold dear I will continue to do so. I know that when I am too old and frail to do anything about the situation I will at least be able to look back and feel that I have done my bit. I hope those reading this who feel similarly to me will be able to do the same.

I was going to end here but I think it well worth noting for those locals who read this, that local MP James Gray is in the wars again as disgruntled members of the North Wiltshire Conservative Association have organised a special meeting on Monday, November 19, to again debate the MP's future. More on this over the next few weeks.