Don’t Fret over the Blogging Dip

My last blog entry was written more than a week ago. I’m finally trying to overcome the blogging dip by writing a new article today.

And I can tell you that as a blogger, the last couple weeks has been a bit uneasy for me.

All new bloggers will eventually hit the blogging dip, a period of time when you start having trouble coming up with new blog posts - either due to a lack of time, a lack of ideas, or simply the fact that the initial thrill of running a blog and having your own audience has worn off.

And this is when you start worrying and asking yourself questions such as:

Do I have nothing more interesting to say?
Will I lose all my readers after a week of inactivity?
How can I claim to be a social media aficionado when I can’t even churn out two measly articles a week?

So yes, I admit that last week I felt a wee bit guilty for not writing more. If you are a blogger like me who encountered the blogging dip before, you will probably have a similar experience as well.

And in hindsight I think that it’s all very silly.

Why? Well, try to recall why is it that you started blogging in the first place:

Blogging to make money? Are you trying to drive as much traffic to your blog as possible by posting frivolous and entertaining content so that you can get paid hosting Google ads or writing advertorials like Xiaxue and Dawn Yang?
Blogging for self-promotion? Are you trying to position yourself as a thought leader and expert in your field, and there is no quicker way to do so than to publish your opinions and analysis (and armchair theories, I might add) onto the public web for all to scrutinize and appreciate?
Blogging to rant? Perhaps you have a lot of pent-up anger in the real world, but you are too shy to express it in front of your real-life peers. So the Internet is a perfect (and optionally anonymous) forum for you to unleash your rants on life. Or nitpicks on life, in some cases.
Blogging to create a personal archive? A blog can be an excellent place to pen down your thoughts and to take notes for your own future reference. Bloggers who use blogs as a diary would fall in this category.
Blogging to build awareness? You have an important or interesting message that you absolutely feel compelled to spread, and blogging is the easiest way (within your power) to reach as many people as possible. Two of my favorite Singaporean bloggers, Yawning Bread and Mr. Wang, fall squarely in this category.

Realistically, most folks blog because of some combination of the above. But no matter what is it that urges one to blog, all bloggers will probably agree with Reason #6, which is:

Blogging because you believe in the power of social media.

And seriously folks - if you do believe in social media, you will realize that social media today is so much more than just blogging.

So even if you haven’t been blogging regularly because of writer’s block or you just can’t write a lick, period, you can still contribute to social media as much as the next guy.

There are many ways to create social capital and to “feed the machine”. To wit:

Every time you post a note or photo or update your status on Facebook, you are contributing to social media.

Every time you mark a YouTube video as one of your favorites, you are contributing to social media.

Every time you leave a comment (no matter how short) on someone’s blog post, you are contributing to social media.

Every time you bookmark a page in del.icio.us or recommend a story on Digg, you are contributing to social media.

Every time you post something (or ask a question) in a forum, you are contributing to social media.

Every time you tweet, you are contributing to social media.

And there are many, many more examples.

Essentially, every time you share something on the Internet - be it your vote, opinion, photo, thought, dialogue, or creation - you are contributing to social media.

And thus I will wager that everyone we know who uses the Internet is contributing to social media in one way or another, even if they don’t realize it.

Although I haven’t been blogging this past week, I still continued to use Twitter and FriendFeed, and in hindsight I didn’t really miss a beat. Therefore, there really shouldn’t be a reason to feel guilty for not blogging.

So if you are a blogger, don’t be like me and feel bad if you aren’t able to overcome the blogging dip. Remember - there are many ways to feed the machine. As my friend Hannah Parker said to me today, the important thing is not how to feed it, but to always continue to feed it.