I wish people paid me to come up with with pithy and terrible slogans like The Looking In Advantage. The only problem is that it is both terrible and a tad obscure. I imagine that’s why I haven’t been hired to do so. Vivien and I were chatting last week and we were discussing how we approach writing a post. And, as you might have guessed, that got me thinking.

If I were to stick myself in a genre of writing, I would like to think I fit in a sort-of dramatic comedy or maybe even a comedic drama. But really, I am just a personal blogger. Even when I am doing this professional blogging, I am still a personal blogger. You haven’t caught me writing any tutorials or technical manuals or reviews or anything impersonal. I have tended to be a bit more didactic, than on my personal blog. But that’s because I am usually trying to make a point. I am not saying this because those other styles of writing are wrong or that writing tutorials/reviews/etc have no value, they have a lot of value. Lee generally writes those types of posts and he generates a good amount of traffic to those posts. However, I want to make a case for personal blogging and the benefits that I see arising from it.

The interwebs are a cold and lonely place. In it’s natural habitat the internet is devoid of humanity. Just calculations. But, in true human fashion, we have colonized the internet. We kicked out those binaries and built a system of interaction. Or something. I am of the opinion that just being transparent is no longer enough on the web (and never has been). I think a website is a 100x more effective when there are pictures of people and 200x more effective when you feel like you are reading content of a real person (those numbers are used were not based on any stats other than pretend ones in my brain).

During my degree, I had to suffer through one Art History class. One of the few interesting things I remember is that, at some point in Europe (I’d say maybe in Amsterdam), a style of paintings based around looking in on people doing every day tasks were very popular (the “Big Brother” of a few centuries ago). There was a window open or a door and you could see into peoples lives. No matter if it was spinning yarn or cooking, getting a glimpse of closed off area is always intriguing. I believe that writing from a personal place is very similar to this. It gives all of us a feeling of connectedness, intimacy and sharing—plus it makes for a good show. And now I am going to do something I never do—a list.

Reasons for a personal, looking in approach:

• Adds a higher level of humanity and interactivity.
• Requires more of the reader because they have to engage with a more real person (good and bad depending on your point of view).
• We love drama and creating your own soap opera can only stand to help.
• Not only a higher level of transparency, but also honesty on all sides.
• Even though there is honesty, there is more flexibility to tell a story.
• Requires more of the writer to choose to be open.
• Takes less time. Is there anything easier to do than talk about yourself?
• Accountability.
• What else?

There are benefits to other styles of writing, but I believe that the personal approach makes the most sense. I can’t think of a niche that wouldn’t benefit from it. We can pretend to be objective and have all the answers, but the truth is that all we are is our stories and the stories we tell each other is how we learn.

For me, it would be impossible for me to come here and say “blog this way, blog that way, listen to me, I’m smart”. I think telling you a story of how I came to a certain idea and let you decide is much more valuable. Not only because stories are more fun and interesting, but it allows for you to interpret and take my idea in any direction you like. Go forth and take ideas and then give them back to me in whole new ways and we can keep moving forward.

Photo by Alexia