Does anyone read blogs?

Friends say I should start a blog. I like to write, and I have lots of wide-ranging interests and ideas. So why not post some of that to the web and maybe make some money?

I find myself drawing a blank about what I'd blog about, though. Who would I write for? What would be their purpose in reading?

I seldom read blogs. I find them boring. With one exception, I don't see why anyone would read them. Seriously, does anyone except your spouse and closest friends care what random thought crossed your mind today?

The exception is blogs about fast-moving domains, written by people who themselves follow the domain closely. Following the blog would be of interest to others who want to keep up with that domain. Indeed, my understanding is that the most popular blogs are about gossip, politics, and specific industries. This is what we used to call "journalism". Similarly, a kind of blog that I can see the value of is a blog about some skill, like "lifestyle design" or getting straight A's in school. Not "any random thought", but "the latest about a specific topic from a very good source".

I hate to shoot down an idea without even trying it. Without a purpose for writing, though, I don't see how to even try writing a blog. Any suggestions?

I started to blog mostly for myself (Dec 2008), and initially that was the audience. After a while I started to find my focus areas and now I have changed the name of the blog twice - and become a tech source magazine like publication with a bunch of writers and hundreds of readers (maxping.org). Money? No, at least not yet - unless $60 from google adsense counts. I recommend to just start doing it and find out how it folds out.

I read a number of blogs. The best ones focus on specific niches but often use those niches to explore the wider world. For example, Marginal Revolution at http://www.marginal revolution.com is nominally an economics blog, but it also discusses foreign travel, ethnic cuisine, books, and more. The blogs I contribute to try to follow the same general principle: The Story's Story at http://jseliger.com focuses on books (except for the present top post, which is about keyboards—sometimes exceptions are interesting) and Grant Writing Confidential at http://blog.seliger.com . The latter is part of my family's business and so has a purpose beyond random musings.

If you're thinking about writing a blog, read Penelope Trunk's comments: http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/penelopes-guide-to-blogging/ which are invaluable if not always accurate. In addition, I wrote a post called "You’re Not Going to be a Professional Blogger, Regardless of What the Wall Street Journal Tells You" that got slashdotted and ought to dissuade you from the idea you're going to make money directly at it: http://blog.seliger.com/2009/06/17/youre-not-going-to-be-a-p... .

"Without a purpose for writing, though, I don't see how to even try writing a blog. Any suggestions?"

As others have said, don't write a blog if you don't have a purpose. Your purpose should come from something you care about deeply enough to know something about that you'd like to transmit to others: in my case, that means books, chiefly, but also grant writing. For many HN readers, it probably means programming. Remember too that the deep knowledge/writing/transmission process isn't linear, but recursive: I've probably learned more about books by trying to sort my ideas about them out in a logical, rational way than I would if I just read a lot (this, incidentally, is why good schools require you to write a lot: writing forces you to embellish the ideas you do have and often to come up with ideas you didn't have previously).

> This is not a good reason to start a blog :-)

I dont know - we dont really have enough data about his friends and why they think this.

It could be good advice. For example if I was considered expert and insightful on, say, a security forum my friends there might suggest I start to put some of it in a blog for a wider audience :)

To the OP: It really depends how good a writer you are and what sort of topics you can write about. If your engaging to read then your audience might range across a number of sources.

Yes, people do generally read a small set of core blogs - but we also sit and read interesting stuff that goes by our radar. You might not get people checking your site every day but if they can find good content on there once or twice a fortnight (say) they might look out for your links on HN et all. That, to me, is as good a readership as any :)

(if you in it to make money though that's a different matter)

Start a blog on a subscription basis. Your friends can pay up their subscription and if you hit some threshold, then you start it. The old ... let them put their money on the table gambit. Other than that, I agree with the other comments. Blogging is something that you should do if you're prepared to do it with no reward.