For many, blogging is equivalent to yesterday’s online journal writing, where your poetry, thoughts, and daily activities were shared with strangers hoping to generate interest.
At that time, blogs were mere self-expression that allowed individuals to feel less invisible in an enormous world.
And some bloggers follow the same path today.
However, today others have discovered new and profound ways of turning their ideas, research, and thoughts into commercial, intellectual property.
Today’s blogging is much more audience-centered, problem-solving, and solution-based, driven by market forces.
There are a few trends that brought about the evolution of current blogging.
- Bloggers started seeing the benefits of creating blogging businesses through branding, affiliate marketing, and online product development.
- Bloggers could become influencers by solving problems in particular niches.
- Bloggers could create communities to attract the book development interest of large publishing companies.
- Hiring managers started researching the digital footprint of applicants. Applicants would be sought-after if they established thought leadership and subject matter expertise through blogging.
- For the first time, introverts could leverage their intellect to become more powerful and influential through blogging.
Before blogging, introverts were relegated to documenting their ideas on college-ruled spiral notebooks.
With the emergence of blogs, introverts could now become famous bloggers while remaining anonymous.
Writer Michael Deane said:
Despite their unwillingness to be at the center of attention, introverts can benefit from blogging – it helps them appear credible and confident. Unlike speaking in person, which can be intimidating, writing lets you perfect your words before letting the world see them.
Introverts love being alone, and spending time writing blog content provides just that. It’s the ideal kind of situation – you’re earning money while enjoying the peace and quiet of your safe space.
Strategic thinking introverts who want to create scholarly treatises, reports, and position papers publish their work on blogs where traditionally such works were reserved for literary periodicals.
Professional writer Loraine Couturier noted how blogging benefits introverts when she said:
Thanks to the internet, you now have the opportunity to break out of your shell and show the world how brilliant you are. There are many opportunities to communicate with people and write blogs that can inspire, teach, and maybe even change the world. Your interests, hobbies, or strengths may be relevant to many people out there, and you have the opportunity to show them what you know.
Also, introverts’ blogs could now be the basis of think tanks and research institutes.
With the onslaught of podcasts and video marketing, extroverts have flourished in their ability to be dominant talking heads. Where radio and television left off, podcasts and social media platforms have replaced this older media.
However, blogging allows introverted savants to dominate a much more challenging category to compete within– writing. Writing has and always will be a difficult endeavor unsuited for the faint of heart.
The ability to craft compelling prose for dissecting, analyzing, and synthesizing problems and solutions will remain popular after artificial intelligence has replaced antiquated skill sets.
Introverts are well-versed in monopolizing intellectually driven opportunities through their ease with long periods of solitude, thinking, and writing.
It would be self-betrayal for introverts not to use their hardwiring for a new world looking for challenging problems to be solved.
The new frontier for education
As education reform and college tuition costs continue to be a hotbed of controversy, the private sector will innovate 21st-century education.
For introverts, blogs can be hubs for online education, literary publishing, and intellectual property repositories.
And the global economy allows underserved populations worldwide to benefit from educational innovation.
In his article, “The Rise of Online Learning,” Ilker Koksal, former contributing writer for Forbes, wrote: Research and Markets forecast the online education market as $350 Billion by 2025.
Education platforms such as LinkedIn Learning, Thinkific, and Udemy serve millions of users and will continue to grow exponentially.
Introverts operating as applied researchers, thought leaders and public intellectuals could be the vanguard for these educational opportunities.
As a result of all this activity, blogging has come a long way from its humble beginnings.
Introverts can become mandarins in different spaces without having to leave the comfort of their homes.
Now is the time for introverts to reign
One thing that has remained constant in blogging is its solitary nature.
Blogging will always be the brainchild of someone’s imagination.
Although blogging has become a big business, it generally begins with one person with one idea.
A good example is the Huffington Post (now HuffPost). In 2005, Arianna Huffington and former AOL executive Kenneth Lerer started the Huffington Post blog as a liberal response to the conservative Matt Drudge’s Drudge Report.
HuffPost would later expand to aggregate news from various online news sources.
In 2011, HuffPost was sold to AOL for $315 million.
Whether introverts opt to remain niched subject matter experts or corporate media moguls, blogging allows introverts to determine their fate.
The pen (keypad) is still the mightiest in a world of talking heads.
Sir Francis Bacon once said, “Reading makes a full man, conversation a ready man, and writing an exact man.”
—Edward S. Brown
References
Couturier, L. (n.d.). 5 reasons why blogging is good for introverts. Lifehack. Retrieved from: https://bit.ly/3qVPLB1.
Deane, M. (n.d.). Can an introvert run a successful blog? Alina Bradford. Retrieved from: https://bit.ly/3nCFZSc.
Pgbhat (2012, Apr. 19). Writing makes an exact man. PG’s Pensieve. Retrieved from: https://bit.ly/3DG0DGI.
Sarno, D. (2011, Feb. 7). A brief history of the Huffington Post. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from: https://lat.ms/3HHS6oV.