This is an attempt to peek into the insights of the bloggers – of course through Nepalese bloggers – to find out why they blog. There are all sorts of bloggers, and their motives of blogging can be different, and this question may seem absurd to answer without specifically dividing bloggers into various groups, but as if has been found, in this and many other studies, the motives behind blogging is not very different among the diverse types of bloggers. This article is long – about 1600 words.
A 2003 study in USA summarized that ‘ordinary bloggers blog for a variety of reasons and often for more than one reasons.’ What the study discovered as the motivations for blogging were ‘documenting one’s life, providing commentary and opinions, working out emotional issues, thinking by writing and promoting conversation and community’.
A recent study in India, our neighbors with whom we share our cultures and probably also share thinking, found out that ‘having the platform for self-expression’ was the prime motivation for blogging. ‘Expressing passionate views’ and ‘entertaining readers by own writing’ was why most Indians bloggers began their blogs and ‘writing about their views and commentating on the world around them was what they enjoyed the most about the activity’ (blogging).
The same study also indicated that ‘a need ot share thier lives with family and friends as the strong motivators for India’s netizens to read blogs.’ Same may be said on the bloggers.
So what motivates Nepali bloggers? Why Nepalese are increasingly interested in blogging? In an attempt to find out that I ventured into emailing about 15 selected bloggers to answer the question. Ten of them replied me, and interestingly, five of them redirected me towards their entries in their blog that would answer my question. So, it was found that bloggers are trying to answer the question – probably they have wondered (at times) that why they were blogging.
MOTIVATION FOR BLOGGING
Motivation for blogging almost always comes from reading about blogs and their popularity. It was the same motivation that encouraged us to found United We Blog! and UWB! itself became a factor of motivation for a few of Nepalese bloggers. Hari Sharma termed this as ‘motivated by blog-mania’.
Ghanshyam Ojha, the journalist with The Kathmandu Post, began blogging while he was in USA as a Daniel Pearl fellow. “I was amazed to find bloggers in the US make money and are very, very popular,” he says. “They have an association of bloggers and they are becoming a source of news information for journalists. This really prompted me to start a blog.”
“After going through UWB!, I thought that blog is something that is different from newspaper,” Ajay Dhakal recalls. “I searched for the meaning of blog, and then I got excited to start my own blog.”
Now, let me analyze the answers of the bloggers and define five major reasons behind blogging (of course, this is the answer to why Nepalese blog):
BLOGGING FOR SATISFACTION
“… I do blog because [of] passion of writing pays me a lot, few comments pay me a lot. Reader’s mail pays me great satisfaction and that makes me write everyday.”
– Say Na Something
The main reason behind is satisfaction – satisfaction to your wondering soul by writing and satisfaction of being read and commented upon your ideas. For Ajay Dhakal, blogging is something that makes in happy because ‘he not only share his feeling but also express his pains and that makes his heart feel happy.’
‘Joy of being read’ is what Hari Sharma, Ajay Dhakal, Keshav Koirala and other many bloggers think is the best reward they get from blogging. Even looking at the visitors counter and the number of comments are some ways to enjoying blogging.
BLOGGING FOR SHARING IDEAS AND FEELING
“To express myself. To confess things. To message others. To reprove those persons who in person cannot chance on and also those who I have a feign that respect them. To message others. To entice some. To nag myself. To analyse… to share experience…”
– Keshav Koirala
Closely related to satisfaction, the ability to share ideas and feeling to many without needing to going through the process of selection and editing (as in newspapers) what keep blogging keying in entries. For many bloggers, blogging is a way to pour out their heart.
Blogging is ‘is a mean to pour out feelings, a way expression heart and mind and feelings’ (Ghanshyam Ojha) For Mahesh Poudyal, blogging is a selfish way because bloggers ‘write for their own peace of mind’.
“Another reason, why I put forth my views on various issues is because i want to see what tohters think about those ideas. I think I have always learnt more form sharing of ideas and disucssing them with my friends hence you tend to be more critical of what you’ve read/heard/seen”, Mahesh Poudyal believes to be the reward of sharing ideas and feelings.
BLOGGING FOR PERSONAL BRANDING
“So, how about spending some of our spare time on building our personal brand? I seriously think that [we can do it] by blogging, I will be helping oters and helping myself creating a personal brand.”
– Niranjan Kunwar
Though, Niranjan’s helping out others is through the technical and IT related blog, many bloggers blog because they want to be different than others. After all, who doesn’t want to be famous or at least known as something different from everybody else is.
Shailendra Kharel, a photojournalist at Kantipur Publications, calls himself an Independent Nepali Digital Photojournalit while Umesh Shresthra is proud when he says he is operating the first Nepali language blog of the world – its all about personally branding themselves by the bloggers.
BLOGGING FOR SPACE AND REACH
“I take a lot of photographs and there is no space for all of them on the newspapers. With blog, I get space as much as required. And, also I can reach a great number of people worldwide.”
– Rajesh KC
Rajesh had a very successful career as a cartoonist for Kantipur daily and has a weekly photo column, yet he is amazed by the response he gets from his photoblog and by his ability to put on as much as photos as he wants. For photojournalists, space is a much important factor because ‘its all for valuable readers… and also sometime when the series of pictures gets no space to get publish’ (Shailendra Kharel).
Reach is of course the most amazing thing about the internet. With a click of a mouse button, bloggers can send their writing to almost everybody in the world (if they want to read it).
BLOGGING FOR NETWORKING
“As technology connects people, same thing is blogging, it connects the relationship between bloggers and readers.”
– Shailendra Kharel
Blogging not only connects bloggers and readers but also connects bloggers with bloggers thus creating a networking. The best possible example of this is probably my NepalCricket FanClub which was started as a collaborative blogging by the fans of cricket in Nepal. Now, the Fan Club is not only a virtual community but also an association that works to promote the game. Among 330+ registered users, around 20 per cent are closely associated.
As Ajay Dhakal puts on, “I got many friends through blogging. I may not be able to meet many of these friends in person, but I am in a connection to these people through the common interest of blogging.” For Hari Sharma, ‘blogging brings him closer to my readers’.
There are of course various other minor reasons that help bloggers keep on blogging and with such a diversity of bloggers, there can be various other motives. Though, many didn’t put it, bloggers can also make a little earning – Umesh Shrestha, whose Google Adsense used to pay him something close to US$200 per month while a few other bloggers to earn a little. But earning has never been the main priority of any Nepalese bloggers and that is truly put into words by Niranjan Kunwar – “My main purpsoe for blogging is solely to have fun, do something useful, contribute and help but since I am doing this for free, some side income doesn’t hurt.”
THE FUTURE OF BLOGGING
The question that may arise is how long these motivations can continue having magic on bloggers. Well, it looks like most of the Nepali bloggers aren’t going to quit is soon unless their job or career put some brakes on it because for many, like Deepak Adhikari, ‘blogging has become an integral part of their life’.
WRITER’S FINAL WORDS – As the writer of this article on blogging, I would like to thank everybody who helped me by emailing me or pointing out the URL of answering blog entries. I have tried my best not to misquote you all.
I know I missed many of the bloggers’ views because of the time and other factors. I humbly request bloggers to put forward their answers to ‘Why Do They Blog’ in the comments section so that it would be easier for other writers interested in similar topics to get more insights. 🙂 Ujjwal
Links
(to the quoted bloggers’ blogs)
Ajay Dhakal – Clear & Simple
Say Na Something
Ghanshyam Ojha – Dedicated to Daniel Pearl
Deepak Adhikari – Deepak’s Diary
Hari Sharma – Our Dream A Prosperous Nepal
Mahesh Poudyal – The Random Jottings
Keshav Koirala – Keshuvko
Niranjan Kunwar – Nirlog
Shailendra Kharel – Nepal on Photo News
Rajesh KC – Phalano
Umesh Shrestha – Mero Sansar
NepalCricket FanClub
