Frankly I've struggled with this question for a long time and although my gut says yes, I should have a blog given I'm an IT professional and professor who has a lot to offer, I can't help thinking how I've managed to get along without one for decades. Admittedly, this is the third or may even be the fourth time I started a blog. Actually this is more of a resurrection of the last one I abandoned months ago for reasons I can't even recall other than more important things took priority. I'm sure I'm not alone and that others have had similar experiences especially after learning how much work is actually involved and how difficult it is to figure out what it is you want to say without knowing who you're saying it to or why anyone would care.
Granted, blogs can be very effective marketing tools for businesses and professionals who have clearly defined products or services and an equally clearly defined market of people who are in need of them. In my observation, such blogs seem to magically appear having thousands if not millions of followers seemingly overnight and are undoubtedly developed, populated, curated, and maintained by teams of people who have the resources to do it. I've often speculated about the extent to which ghost writers and media experts are involved in producing content, but of course, I'll never know for sure.
For individuals, hiring ghost writers and the like is typically not an option, at least for me it isn't and I'm still on the fence deciding whether or not I need to blog as a professional or if I should view it more as a means for documenting the lessons I've learned on topics that interest me without regard to accrued benefits. At this point I'm opting for the latter with a wait and see how it evolves attitude. I should mention that the motivation behind resurrecting this blog is partially academic in that blogging is required in a course on social media I'm taking; however, I view that as the impetus I need to forge ahead. How Should I Blog? is up next...
A long time CPA turned online professor, Kathleen’s life was transformed upon completion of her dissertation An Investigation of the Factors that Influence Faculty and Student Acceptance of Mobile Learning in Online Higher Education.
Her statistical analyses was called ”pioneering” by her committee chair Dr. Marlyn K. Littman and brought Kathleen full circle back to her number-crunching roots inspiring her to earn a second master’s in Business Intelligence.
Kathleen plans to continue her studies of contemporary issues related to teaching, learning, and technology and loves to help undergrad and grad students achieve their academic and professional goals. As a lifelong learner she also plans on continuing her quest to understand the problems posed by mobile and micro learning formats and find innovative ways of helping people maximize the benefits these emerging technologies afford.