Make Blogging Great Again

I’ve wanted to start a blog for a long time, my own little space on the internet where I can just be myself. But it’s more than that. Blogging is like creating your own digital identity, a place where you are not controlled by tricky social media rules.

In the following section, I will try my best to persuade you to join me in this blogging journey.

Discovering Meaning in Sharing

You know, there’s this idea that many of us live by, something like, “If you don’t capture it, it’s as if you’ve never been there; if you don’t tag it, it’s as if you’ve never seen, played, or read it; if you don’t share it, it’s as if you’ve never done it.” These habits have become quite common in the internet age. But what’s interesting is how these habits have transformed into more concise and meaningful ways of sharing our experiences.

Let’s consider a post I shared on Douban (a Chinese platform) where I discussed my past struggles with depression and sought help and suggestions. It was a tough time for me, especially after losing one of my favorite actors to depression. To my surprise, many people responded to my post with a wealth of helpful suggestions on maintaining mental health. Some even shared that they had been feeling similarly lately, and they appreciated my post for providing them a place to find comfort and not feel alone.

By refining our experiences, adding our own insights, and sharing with others, it’s as if we’ve breathed new life into those moments. The same principle applies to blogging. Whether it’s a reflection, a book review, or just a stream of consciousness, when you present it in a way that others can connect with, it suddenly takes on a whole new level of meaning.

Granted, not everyone will stumble upon your blog, but connecting with just one person can be incredibly valuable. Additionally, with the aid of search engines, your unique skills or solutions to tricky problems might just come to the rescue of someone in need.

The Power of Organizing Thoughts for Learning

Now, let’s delve into the art of organizing thoughts. I believe everyone has these little ideas constantly popping up in our minds from time to time. They can be interesting, funny, or even brilliant. But if we don’t organize these thoughts, they tend to vanish as quickly as unfamiliar words we come across.

This is where microblogging platforms come into play—Twitter, Weibo, Fanfou, Douban, Mastodon —these platforms let us jot down and share our scattered thoughts. But the catch is, just putting them into text doesn’t help us retain them much better than fleeting thoughts in our minds. Most of the time, we don’t even bother revisiting what we’ve said before. It’s like jotting down a word and then forgetting how to use it or even how to spell it a few months later.

When you take these fragments of thought and organize them into writing, it’s akin to assembling a puzzle. To convey your ideas clearly to others (and even to yourself), you must break them down, delve deep, and then reassemble your thoughts. It’s all about expressing your ideas in a seamless flow. You know, it’s like teaching—it’s an excellent way to learn. So, this form of note-taking and thought organization also serves as a superb method for reviewing and retaining what you’ve learned.

Writing for Identifying Yourself

Writing itself brings about a delightful sensation. It’s akin to tidying up your home, making everything neat, accessible, and visually pleasing. When it comes to organizing my thoughts, it brings me a sense of tranquility. It’s almost like watching a movie or getting lost in a good book. But writing is even more than that—it’s akin to having a conversation with yourself that brings inner calm.

Blog is a place where you can express yourself freely and connect with others who share your interests and experiences. As you continue to blog, you’ll find that it becomes a part of your identity as it reshapes your self-perception in the process.

Full Control Over Your Content

The notion of “complete control” remains somewhat relative, unless you’re hosting your own server. In that case, cloud service providers and GitHub still have some influence over your data—they can take it down if they wish. However, these limitations pale in comparison to the content censorship on social platforms and their imposed restrictions. Each platform has its own set of rules. For instance, Douban doesn’t support markdown or video embedding in articles, Medium has its quirks like the absence of friend links and the presence of ads, and most social platforms, even those tailored for blogging, offer limited customization options for your homepage.

However, with a self-hosted blog, you get to make the decisions. You can write however you like, and you’ll often find free tools and code to add the features you need. Let me show you an example from my own simple blog. As you can see, it’s not about technical complexities; it’s all about being clear and straightforward.

More importantly, as your blog becomes your default platform for sharing content, you no longer need to tailor your content to meet platform-specific restrictions or cater to a particular audience and this is very important to me, as a Chinese, whose posts often been deleted by Chinese social platform. You have the freedom to express yourself however you wish, and those who resonate with your content will naturally gravitate toward it.

Readers only require an internet connection to access your content, without the need to create an account on a specific platform. This makes it easier for everyone to read your content. Thanks to RSS, readers can even opt not to visit your website directly and instead consume your content through their preferred reader. This flexibility is particularly valuable in environments where reading without logging in is impossible, a common occurrence on Chinese platforms, or in situations where certain English platforms have restricted access for non-logged-in users (such as Twitter’s post-Elon Musk era). In 2023, the openness of blogs proves to be even more valuable and reader-friendly.

As we journey through life, time seems to accelerate, and our memories grow hazier. It’s somewhat like keeping a diary, but instead of organizing thoughts chronologically, your blog organizes them around themes and topics. It adds a whole new dimension to your memories.

It’s a place where I can share my stories and listen to yours. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Let’s go on this journey together.