The Art of Blogging

Ok, so anyone who has been somewhat active on the site over the past couple days has probably seen a few blogs here and there about how the quality of the site has gone down. If you've been here longer, you've probably seen dozens and dozens of blogs telling you how to write a good blog. I'll summarize the content part in one line: So what?

That's right. So what? You most likely blog to share your feelings about something, or to inform people. If you aren't blogging for one of those two reasons... I'm really curious why you are blogging. And if you blog on ProgressiveU, we hope you blog about things that matter.

What matters, exactly? Well, anything that affects your community, whether it be local, state, national, or international. Or perhaps your school community or even this blogging community. That's a pretty broad category. We don't mandate that you have to write about politics, or environmental issues or any of that. Just things that matter. Typically, the things that matter are inspired by a social issue, a current event, or something political, so that tends to be the bulk of... well, the good blogs on the site.

So why do I say content is all related to 'So what?' Simple. If you write about how your boyfriend (or girlfriend) broke up with you to go be with your best friend, I want to know why you are telling me. So what? If you can't provide a good answer to that question in your blog, then it probably shouldn't be on this site.

Of course, there are some exceptions. Some people just feel the need to share a life event, such as the death of a loved one, quitting a job, or a devastating disease. These do have a place on the site, and we will not criticize you for posting it. Or most of us won't, anyway. But high school drama, even college drama, should be kept to more social sites like myspace or livejournal, or even facebook, and not here. Unless you can answer me 'So what?'

So, if you see me commenting on your blog with 'so what?', you might want to consider rethinking your blog.