So here’s a short digression from the usual run-of-the-mill WordPress development post for you:

Do you maintain any type of personal blog?

The reason I ask is because, as if it isn’t evident enough, I’m kind of a fan of this whole blogging thing. But the idea of managing any type of personal blog is something that comes with a set of choices. I’ll talk more about that more in a minute.

I think it gets a little more complicated when:

  • You have friends and/or a following who are also online.
  • You have kids you want to share things about but don’t want to share photos of them because of reasons.
  • You care about data ownership, so you’re not willing to necessarily share the information on other publishing platforms.
  • And other reasons (or maybe not depending on who you are).

Yes, I have a personal blog and no I don’t really use any other social networks (though I have accounts, they are basically placeholders). Furthermore, I don’t normally promote those posts anywhere else.

I publish, and it goes into the ether than is The Google.

Part of it because I ask myself: Who cares? After all, this site is the one I write for the most and that I enjoy writing for the most.

That’s just me, though.

But I’m specifically curious how you deal with aspects mentioned above when it comes to blogging that’s not directly related to some aspect of your profession and whether or not you’d like to do it or not.

Considerations for a Personal Blog

I think maintaing a personal blog is a lot of fun. There’s no agenda, no schedule, and there’s no content that’s off the table. I mean, there should be some stuff that’s off the table (insert Gawker joke here), but you know what I mean.

A Personal Blog: It's fun!

Sure, you don’t want to talk about everything, but it’s also a lot more fun just to share whatever random stuff you come across on the internet, in life, and with everything in between.

Because, you know, we bookend our days with “The Internet” and with “Life,” right? 😂

Managing a Personal Blog. Why? I love the internet.

Seriously, though: When it comes to running a personal blog, there are some considerations with which I wrestle.

I know, I know. Much of this is going to be considered “overthinking” by some (and that’s fine), but hear me out if you feel so inclined:

  • When managing a personal blog, who are you writing for? Yourself or others? Whoever cares?
  • Are they, by their very nature, meant to be read by others?
  • Do you share your content on other social networks? If so, why or why not? If your entire family uses Facebook except you, is it worth joining just to share this stuff with them? Will they care?
  • Where do you draw the line on the content that you share? That is, do you talk about personal struggles, share photos of your family and your kids, share photos of events you’ve attended?
  • And so on.

I know. It’s all subjective, but I am genuinely interested in your feedback and your experience. I mean, how much do we really want other people to know about us when they haven’t met us.

That’s something our generation is having to learn-as-we-go right now. But I digress.

Furthermore (and granted), not all of these questions are relevant specifically to me, but they are questions I’ve heard others ask. Sure, some are ones I’ve asked myself and I’ve either answered them or I’m in the process oftrying to come to a conclusion. I warned you, though. This would come off as overthinking. 😁

This leads to the ultimate question of this post. The bottom line, perhaps:

I’m curious how you manage your personal blog. What do you write about, where do you draw the lines, and how do you share it (if you share it), and why?

And, if you feel like sharing, how much do others people’s tweets, thoughts, comments, emails, etc., play a role in how good you feel about sharing that kind of stuff?

A Note on WordPress vs. Other Services

Right now, there are a lot of services we can use to share our information. We’ve got things like:

All of these just to name of a few. But I’ve got strong convictions on data ownership and I’ve already written about it and content owernship. Given that I also have an affinity for WordPress, it’s a natural choice, right? I mean would you really expect anything more from me? 🙂

So many tools for my personal blog!

Though I don’t care what others choose to use, I opt to use WordPress for those reasons.

The Question Remains

All that said, where do you land on personal blogging and why? And if you have a personal blog, do you make it public or not? If so, feel free to link it up in the comments. I dig reading about what my friends and peers are doing outside of their 9-to-5.

But seriously, I’m genuinely interested in your feedback so leave a comment about all this fun stuff!