The older I get, the more I begrudgingly accept the mundane but necessary tasks in life. Things like filing your tax return, doing laundry or scheduling an appointment for your next root canal.
Blogging is also one of those things.
I've resented blogging ever since I first heard the term. To me, bloggers were faceless faux-journalists and narcissistic, comic-collecting teenagers (you know, the ones who program Tetris into their graphing calculators). They were not trained writers, nor did they understand the concept that diaries are usually private not because they contain dark secrets, but because no one else cares to read them.
I vowed never to become a blogger, maintaining this holier-than-thou mantra by upholding the lost art of penmanship and toting a leather-bound journal at all times. I did not need url links or widgets or rss feeds; my pen and my journal were enough. By sticking to these discarded practices, I thought I was "sticking it" to an incessantly advancing technology and the pitiful bloggers caught in the whirlwind.
Four years later and 200 credits into my degree, I am rethinking blogs.
A few months ago, I became a blogger - against my will. As a member of Allen Hall Public Relations, the student-run public relations agency at the U of O, I was asked to create blog posts for a local client. When I heard this idea, my spine shuddered. To make matters worse, the subject of the blog was not a forte of mine: parenting. Writing for a medium I didn't understand about a subject I didn't understand seemed like trying to solve a monochromatic jigsaw puzzle.
After years of deliberate ignorance, I finally began reading blogs, subscribing to some of the better ones and attempting to recreate their tone, style and structure in my own writing (the first few were awful, but now I'd like to think they've improved to semi-awful).
A few weeks after I began writing posts, my professor gave a presentation on "social media," e.g. online social networks and - you guessed it - blogs. Two weeks ago, my AHPR team pitched the piles of blog posts to our client, underlining their importance and the reasons for linking to others (it's a two-way street). That same day, I listened intently as an executive at a powerful Portland agency emphasized the need for young, digital-media-savvy minds in the field. Apparently agencies are hungry for twenty-somethings who have Myspace profiles, upload YouTube videos and most importantly, blog.
Now, I am creating my own blog as an assignment in my Advanced PR Writing class. An assignment like this isn't unconventional for the generally progressive journalism school, but there is one unusual thing about it: I'm looking forward to it.
As much as I've avoided blogs in the past, I can't anymore. They're no longer a burgeoning tool; they're ubiquitous. They're no longer just for geeky teenagers or fraudulent reporters; they're for everyone. And most importantly, they're essential for public relations students. If I continue to despise them like a trip to the dentist, it will be at my own peril.
Here I go...
