3 years & still not offended anyone.

Blimey. That went by fast. I fell asleep on the train and awoke a few stops further than I expected. It's been three years since the launch of jectaspecta. I feel on such an auspicious day perhaps something digitally celebratory should take place like, for example, writing a blog post...

Firstly, my purpose of blogging is really self-serving. I have an appetite for understanding new things, and as someone who learns through experience, have found that writing these learnings down not only serves my memory but also might be of some (if any) value to others. Of course, I'm sure its mostly not, but people seem to visit anyway lost in a back alley of the interwebs stumbling in to my random mumblings and tangents. And yet while that remains the case, there are some things I have learned about blogging which might be of interest. Doubtful. But may be.

The 'proverbial list' of three things I've learned about blogging:

1. Don't expect the posts you spend the most time on to garner the most attention.
That doesn't mean its not worth investing your time in writing about things you love or are genuinely interested in as I mentioned above.

For example a couple of writings I deliberated on for days are certainly not my big winners according to Mr. Google Analytics, but I enjoyed learning about them:
food for thought
philosophical about the interwebs

Sometimes however you can strike bloggerland gold; I was pleasantly surprised when I learned that "changing the perceptions of giving" had had over 1500 views and this post was actually one that I was keen to share with others.

2. Be yourself.  
Some blog as a way to bring to life a professional persona. Others to keep a virtual diary of their latest escapades. I think one needs to be true to themselves and their interests while being authentic. This is my personal point of view. I don't just write for an audience; I write for myself because I'm actually interested in articulating ideas, stories or random thoughts.

If you have a point of view, don't be afraid to express it whether political (who will occupy wall street?) or even a personal tale (my festival story).

3. Edit, edit and re-edit
I have a terrible habit of editing posts once they're published. I'd like to blame perfectionism but perhaps in one's haste to 'go live' a comma goes amiss or worse still, what should be a pointy sentence becomes an overstatement with too many words to even breathe through. Knowing people have shorter attention spans with content online, keep it direct, use videos and images.

One of my most popular posts has lots of pictures of Hunter S. Thompson and two sentences. And lets be honest, people visiting this post aren't interested in what I have to say, hell no, they want some entertaining shots that Google Images has thankfully ranked highly in their search page.

Nevertheless the point remains. Keep it pointy, yes I know I don't do that particularly well but, it seems to work.

And with that I am going to tuck in to a cuppa earl grey for a sense of nostalgia and amuse myself with my rather lame first posts written three years ago whinging to myself about the prospect of turning 24 while looking down the barrel of (gasp!) 25, as I am now, looking down the barrel of 30. A charming quote I wrote, very apt given I am now leaving Sydney:

"I say be inquisitive, relentlessly raise the bar, be charismatic, chat to strangers, pick minds and don't be afraid of change."

Doesn't time move fast?