Blogging has become all the rage in recent years and it seems like all kinds of people are doing it. College students especially, who tend to be early adopters of new trends created by technology, have utilized it to their advantage. The connectivity of the Internet gives bloggers a far-reaching forum for their writing – it allows them to have an audience they otherwise may not have.
Although some consider it a waste of time, many college students have made it their hobby. It’s a way to keep busy and remain productive during their free time. When things get stressful due to studies and a busy social life, blogs are often used as online journals in which students express the emotions they wouldn’t feel comfortable disclosing to some of their friends and family. Anonymous feedback can be just as helpful as advice from their closest acquaintances. The networking opportunities created by blogging allow users with similar interests from all over the world to connect and share information. For example, political bloggers who share the same ideology and use their blogs to promote a cause have conventions where they strategize about how to get the most out of their blogs. On the lighter side, wine enthusiasts discuss their passion during a three day symposium at the Wine Bloggers Conference. Food lovers from all over the globe connect yearly at the International Food Blogger Conference.
There are also more practical reasons for college students to blog, the most obvious being it improves their writing skills. The practice can help them better express their thoughts in a manner that’s clear and understandable. If a student aspires to write professionally but can’t find employment in the ultra-competitive fields of journalism, screen writing, fiction writing or web content writing, he or she can build their own personal portfolio to show off during job interviews. It’s also a way to show off research skills and knowledge of different topics. Even for fields that don’t heavily involve writing, maintaining a blog shows the student has a worthwhile hobby, and all of that additional free time in college has been spent constructively – it takes self-discipline and time management to maintain a good blog. Ultimately, blogging is what the blogger makes of it. They find value in it whether they use it as a journal, outlet for expressing their political viewpoint, supplementation of their other hobbies or tool to make them more marketable to employers.