Blogging to learn

People blog for all sorts of reasons. For me, it is mostly about learning. This wasn’t my original intention – it evolved over time. Now I see blogging as part of a continuous learning process:

- Start every morning by skimming through news, blogs, articles, etc. Much of this is tech related. I used to get tech news in the newspaper, then in Google Reader, and now mostly from Twitter. If someone I meet mentions something interesting that was published that I didn’t read, I go back and figure out how I missed it and change who I follow on Twitter so it doesn’t happen again.

- Try to meet with interesting people during the week. The reason being up on tech news is important is so that we can get the most out of the meetings. Often we’ll talk about whatever each of us is working on at the time but it’s also good to have news or blog posts as shared reference points. This makes the meetings more interesting for everyone.

- Try to learn at least one interesting thing each week and then blog about it. Then see how people react in comments, on Twitter etc. I guess some bloggers don’t like comments but for me they are the crucial so that I can get feedback on new hypotheses. Blogging new hypotheses also means a decent portion of your blog posts need to be ignored or ridiculed. Otherwise you are playing it too safe.

http://www.mokoyfman.com Mo Koyfman

the last point is critical. and it separates the good bloggers, journalists, commentators from all the rest. if you don’t make a point that some or all will disagree with, you simply get lost in the noise. great post.

http://www.cdixon.org/ chris dixon

Thanks Mo. The hard part is to do it authentically and not be contrarian for its own sake or for link bait etc.

http://www.mokoyfman.com Mo Koyfman

totally agree. that gets sussed out pretty quickly i think.
Nick Rivadeneira

I just want to express how much I hate link bait. Somehow trolling has become a legitimate career on some blogs.

http://wearenytech.com/64-mark-birch-investor-entrepreneur-trader Mark Birch

This is why I started blogging. After my HR tech startup blew up, it was part of a cathartic and deliberate process to understand what exactly went wrong (a lot apparently). My blog was my introspection and a way to get others to think about and contribute to the questions and topics I posed. Glad to see you also have the same approach. For me it has been an invaluable learning experience!
http://freepository.com John Minnihan

“I guess some bloggers don’t like comments”

I think the distinction is that some folks see blogging as making statements – comments would have no import in that regard. Others see blogging as [at least partly] a conversation.

I’ve written from both perspectives and don’t feel conflicted about ‘flipping’ between the two.
http://blog.bmannconsulting.com/ Boris Mann

This is very similar to a recent post by Chris Strom – who blogged every single day for a year as well as writing three books http://japhr.blogspot.ca/2012/04/366-or-how-i-tricked-myself-into-being.html

There is no way I could get the info I need just from Twitter. I still love subscribing directly to blogs like yours
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http://twitter.com/jordancooper Jordan Cooper

yup
http://gumption.typepad.com Joe McCarthy

I’m reminded of David Whyte’s description of poetry “Poetry is the art of overhearing yourself say things you didn’t know you knew”. Any writing helps me get clearer about what I know, don’t know and want to know (though the number of “unknown unknowns” will always be uncountable). Doing so in a public forum where comments are supported gives me an opportunity to gain additional clarity.

I sometimes find it humbling to go back and review what I’ve written, and realize I’ve forgotten some of what [I thought] I knew. I suppose this may be a manifestation of one of Cherie Carter-Scott’s Ten Rules for Being Human: Lessons are repeated until learned.
http://stevecheney.posterous.com/ steve cheney

blogging with a differentiated viewpoint is absolutely critical as well. these can be new hypotheses or just insights into topics that are beaten to death that people really don’t understand – aka “fact based reporting”. this was my main goal when I started writing a couple years ago when we met and people definitely had a bipolar reaction to my views and arguments.
http://bombtune.com Wells Baum

I blog to connect the dots on screen. I responded to Fred Wilson’s post on blogging a while back: http://www.bombtune.com/2012/03/22/reaction-to-fred-wilsons-post-on-blogging/

Every morning I read through The New York Times and The Financial Times on my Kindle and then make it to my RSS and Twitter feeds. As soon as I get an idea, or connect an idea, I open the Draft app on my iPhone and write up a post. I then publish via the WordPress app on my phone.

Best morning workout. Do it every day.
http://www.alearningaday.com Rohan

‘Often we spend all our time thinking how we can change situations instead of letting them change us.’

Nice to see the evolution..
http://twitter.com/jdmiller9 Joe Miller

I’d kill to have your top 10 blogs (or similar list)…

http://twitter.com/bakerjake Jake Baker

The beauty of Chris flagging twitter as his primary news source is that you can check out exactly who he follows. https://twitter.com/#!/cdixon/following

http://twitter.com/tblanx tony blankemeyer

we have a similar morning routine but i haven’t made the leap from google reader to twitter. right now i hate all the duplicate stories but i feel like twitter i wouldn’t get as holistic of a day’s notes. i like your optimization of followers but it’s much more difficult to go back 12 hours in twitter than reader. thoughts/suggestions?

tb

http://blog.bmannconsulting.com/ Boris Mann

If you want to do both, we’ll import your GReader subscriptions plus allow you to add links from your Twitter stream – http://www.goodbits.co

http://www.repeatablesale.com/ Scott Barnett

Do you have a native Android version or is it web only? This combo would be ideal, I have the exact same issue as tony re: twitter. In fact, I still haven’t figured out how to make twitter useful on a daily basis, particularly tracking where I was ‘last’ and catching up from there….. very easy with Google reader…

http://blog.bmannconsulting.com/ Boris Mann

Hi Scott — no native clients yet. Our mobile web version should work on most phones, and I use it on the bus.
http://twitter.com/dpatel2 Devang Patel

I am building a solution to make twitter useful, which I will be launching soon. If you want to stay tuned http://signups.simplrinc.com/

http://www.cdixon.org/ chris dixon

I agree. That is the main problem with Twitter as news reader.

http://clintonwu.com/ Clinton Wu

We’re trying to figure out if there’s an intelligent middle ground at Skim.Me (http://skim.me) between Google Reader, where stuff waits & accumulates, vs. Twitter, where stuff disappears. More of a Summify mindset but identifying browsing routines using your history.

As for blogging, I have hit the trough of sorrow after initial exuberance. Hoping finding my reason for blogging will coincide with moving on to the promised land (more frequent posts).

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JamesHRH

How would you define interesting people……?
http://www.stefanobernardi.com/about stefanobernardi

Great article Chris. Blogging has been an incredible learning journey for me too.

I replied to your post with a few more points here: http://bernardi.me/2012/05/blogging-to-learn/
Badr El Hassak

The learning approach is valid only if the aim of the user is to blog, blogging is his leitmotiv. This approach isn’t valid when the aim of the blogger is to share his discovery, feelings or an idea.
http://twitter.com/braditdigg Brad

I wish there was more people like you. No matter how many blogs I try to read, there’s not anyone (or maybe they don’t wanna share the insights) that shares so much value as you. The post on selling tools to gold rushers was particularly transforming to me, and I guess the media will make sure it stays relevant for years to come, shrinking the competition in b2b sectors and luring people that b2c is the way go to.

Thank you Chris.
http://about.me/johnrevay John Revay

Hi Chris,

Nicely stated, I am fairly new to reading and commenting on blogs. I agree w/ you – I try and use Twitter for my news these days.
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Anonymous

This reminds me of a quote that motivates me every time I blog or help someone out on a Stack Exchange website: ”The best way to learn something is to teach it”.
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http://www.iphoneil.net/?author=2583 Ronen Mendezitsky

I’ve always loved reading and learning and since I’ve started blogging it became far more intense. I’ve never thought of myself as one who needs a Twitter feed always open on my computer screen, yet now I can’t live without it. I also found that people love engaging on subjects I love writing about, which adds even more to this experience.
Anonymous

I recently started blogging too. It helps me see things in perspective and figure things out.
http://twitter.com/bratmos Вадим Маслий

Согласен полностью с автором – ведение блога помогает в обучении самым разнообразным вещам, в частности держит тебя в тонусе и заставляет работать. Ведя свой блог http://www.bratmos.com , я тоже придерживаюсь такого же режима работы , как и Крис – встречи, чтения новостей и путешествия.
С уважением, Вадим.
Mian Muhammad Aslam

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Chris Dixon