The beauty of blogging (for free)

the opinion of a blogger and community editor

(On the right, I’ve posted all the blog backgrounds I’ve had so far on Things Worth Describing– which mostly just ended up as collages of my favorite beautiful things. I think it’s a good illustration of my personal experience with blogging, and how much it’s helped me explore and evolve my interests:)

February 2011-November 2011

I recently came across this WWD article about the business of paying bloggers for their content. While the blogger side of me screams “Show me the money!” I still haven’t even bothered with Google’s AdSense on my own blog because I’m afraid that could be considered “selling out.”

The difference between bloggers and paid writers or contributors is so obvious in my mind– and unless your blog IS your career or your only source of income, posting for the love of posting is what makes blogging so special in the first place.

You only need to look at the Supreme Court’s Citizen’s United decision to understand that money ruins everything. Right now it’s ruining politics, and if this talk about bloggers demanding money continues, it’ll ruin passion too. The beauty of blogging is the ability to develop your own interests– find out what you’re most interested in and why. And if someone were paying you for your interests, they’d be at least somewhat compromised and you might not be as passionate about them as when you started.

The same concept can be applied to other kinds of social media: what motivates you to write a tweet? What qualifies as a “likable” Facebook status? For me, it’s usually when I’m overly-upset or overly-excited. My favorite artist releasing a new album warrants a congratulations-i-couldn’t-be-more-excited-to-download-it-this-instant tweet, and a bad review of that album warrants something more along the lines of why-didn’t-that-person-clean-their-ears-out-first? 

November 2011-June 2012

But now, posting on Twitter and Facebook is becoming the work of social media editors as companies expand their online presence to meet their consumers where they are. And from checking Tidal‘s twitter, I can tell you, I’m a lot less inclined to tweet at home after reading and posting tweets for work.

It’s what motivates bloggers to write that makes the blogosphere go round. Its practice, experimentation, and self-discovery. Its where the most articulate (and, in the spirit of democracy even the least articulate) go to express why and where and how they love what they love and hate what they hate. And if you’re already the most knowledgeable mind in music or fashion or art, then get a job at an online magazine and leave your blog for your truest opinions that don’t need an assignment or an editor.


Blogs shouldn’t belong to the corporations like everything else seems to nowadays. Blogs are the best because they’re democratic; everyone can have one and do with it what they want.

June 2012!