Image via Wikipedia (if I were a woman I might look kind of like this) As I open up this empty page, I do so without any real idea of what to write about. Then as I ponder the possibilities I start to wonder--what do the people who happen upon my blog want to find? I consider what I look for when I'm surfing through the blogosphere. There are a heck of a lot of blogs and a ton of different topics. What am I looking for in blogs?Information: I like to find interesting facts. Facts about places, people, and things. Ephemera. Hard truth. Behind the scenes stories. If it looks like I might learn something, I might hang around a blog for a while.
Style: Simplicity, that can be convoluted and deep in thinking, but presented for a dummy like me. Expanding my vocabulary is fine, but if I have to stumble over too many words the reading might get tedious for me. Likewise, if it sounds like a blogger is writing like a professor writes for academia, then it might become too much for me, especially if it's a long piece. If it has footnotes I'm fairly sure that I'm in the wrong place.
Quirkiness; There are some blogs that are really weird in content, but it's an intelligent weirdness. Other blogs shine in the delivery of humor, visual art, or entertaining literary devices. Keep it short though. In blogging--especially the type of rapid social blogging as occurs in a blogging event like the A to Z Challenge--we'll read your book at another time. Right now, don't bother me--I'm blogging.
Friendliness: Some blogs are so inviting. It's easy to get to know the blogger and ties are established. Those are the blogs I visit repeatedly. I may not visit every day or even every week, but I know who you are and you'll see me on occasion and I'll see you. The community of bloggers is so cool.
So I filled the page with my wondering about what the best thing to fill blog pages with is. What do you look for in blogs? Which one of these or other categories does your blog most fit into? How would you describe Tossing It Out (that's the blog you're reading now in case you weren't looking)? What would you like to see more of on this blog? What things on this blog have you liked the least (be honest!)?
