Why you should start blogging in 2011

Quotes from an interview with Seth Godin and Tom Peters:

"Blogging is free. It doesn’t matter if anyone reads it. What matters is the humility that comes from writing it. What matters is the metacognition of thinking about what you’re going to say.

No single thing in the last 15 years professionally has been more important to my life than blogging. It has changed my life, it has changed my perspective, it has changed my intellectual outlook, it’s changed my emotional outlook.

And it’s free."

Don't limit yourself to your blog - use Facebook and Twitter

Blogging can be great for personal growth but there is a lot more interaction on Twitter and Facebook nowadays as compared to blogs. If you have a blog, you must also have a Facebook "like" page (previously called "fan" page) and a Twitter account. These serve the dual purpose of distribution and commenting channels ("two-way street").

For example, Facebook pages get a lot more interaction than blogs for some medical journals - you can count the comments on the NEJM Facebook updates (the range is 9-180) vs. their blog (0). The blog has comments enabled, of course.

Facebook is the clear "winner" in terms of commenting activity, it is not even close:

NEJM Facebook page vs. NEJM blog

The risks of blogging and social media use in healthcare

One Misguided Post, Photo, or Comment Online Can End Your Healthcare Career, according to this About.com guide. It makes you think: Why would any doctor use social media? Some of the benefits are outlined above.

Twitter comments:

@cmeadvocate (Brian S. McGowan PhD): Look at commenting activity on NEJM's Facebook page (100's) vs. NEJM's blog (<10).>

@rsm2800 (Robert S. Miller, MD): Striking difference

@kevinmd (Kevin Pho, M.D.): That's because the NEJM fb page has 170,000+ fans. Blog doesn't generate nearly that much traffic.

@DrVes: One of the reasons, yes. However, the commenting activity on many blogs is down. To compensate, a lot of them started embedding Twitter re-tweets as a substitute for comments. I did it too with this post (you are reading the example).

@DrVes: Thanks for re-tweeting this post http://goo.gl/o9rRl - Blogging introduced me to some of the smartest and most generous people in healthcare. Give it a try. It doesn't matter if anybody reads your blog when you start. If it's useful to you, somebody somewhere will find it useful too.

References:

Seth Godin & Tom Peters on Blogging. 33 Charts.
Effective bloggers are lifelong learners. CopyBlogger.

Why Do I Blog?

Blogging can improve your attention span and focus - unlike social media sites which can be highly distracting http://goo.gl/K4O1V

Is having a blog useful in 2011? Scoble says yes... using Quora http://goo.gl/Gubor