You have a Voice too, let's hear it.

Everyone enjoys watching the viral videos that websites like YouTube and eBaums World put up. They offer hours of senseless fun as well as an escape for the common procrastinator. Some also like perusing the latest blog entries full of original content and underground news. But why restrict yourself to only being a viewer and reader? You have thoughts and ideas of your own, why not tell people about them in posts and videos of your very own? With web 2.0 in full swing, it is now easier and simpler than ever before to share with people who you are and what you stand for. Literally anyone can think, create and upload. It’s really that easy.

Originally, I had never really seen much importance in creating an online journal of any sort. I flat out didn’t think people would care to read about my life and what was going on, what I had for breakfast, what I was thinking about and all that other ‘who gives a shit’ type of stuff I had seen posted on so many blogs already. I had always viewed blogs as a sort of digital, dear diary for anyone to read and frankly I didn’t find it appealing in the least.

This changed once I started writing for the newspaper. I wanted to receive feedback on my articles. Although I was given good feedback from the campus community, I needed a way to send my articles to people outside the area. I wanted to have a place for readers to access the articles I wrote presented in a style of my choosing. I wanted them to view the articles in a full, uncensored context, so I created a blog.

After I started uploading articles to my blog some strange things began happening. I found myself compelled to upload more and more content. I would find a news story nobody had heard about, a picture that was too good to pass up, or even a video that I knew would go viral in the weeks to come. I found myself posting my discoveries and ideas more often than even my articles. I wanted to share what I had learned with people so they could be informed and hopefully enjoy it as much as I did.

This is the fundamental reason people make their YouTube accounts and update them. This is why people write in blogs. To share. If you keep a diary and although this is the 21^st century, I know many of you still do, I would suggest starting an online journal of sorts. A blog, a YouTube account, a Twitter account, something. Don’t try to justify it or spend time wondering what you would post, just create it. Once you find yourself yearning to tell people about something; information nobody knows about or an original idea that no one has thought of, post it. Develop your thoughts, compose your voice and share it all.

If writing in a diary can bring realization and meaning to a person’s life, then why can’t a blog? Post what interests you, post what makes you angry, post what makes you happy. The pride you’ll feel from being original and producing something which others enjoy is priceless. The world is your audience, what do you have to say?