Why do you blog?  Why do you read other people’s blogs?  See if you can answer those two questions in 140 characters or fewer.  I have spoken to dozens of bloggers recently, and found some interesting and surprising responses.  As you can imagine, the responses differ between individual bloggers and those who blog for their brand.  Here’s 5 reasons individuals blog.

• helps me clarify my thoughts, when I know other people are going to be reading them.
• forces a certain discipline on my erratic and hectic schedule.
• is my personal thought outlet.
• is my way of communicating what’s going on in my world with those I rarely talk to.
• forces me to maintain excellent communication skills.

All good reasons. Then I asked why people read other people’s blogs. Here are 5 of those answers.

• How I keep up with a certain topic that I know in which I know that person is an expert.
• How I maintain my knowledge in a certain industry or space.
• Entertainment or high value content on any particular subject.
• I read blogs for constantly updated content.
• Part of my daily routine.

Personally, I blog to share my experience and knowledge to help others who are going through or will go through what I have already experienced in my years in the tech startup world.  I blogged for several years about the international adoption process, also to share my ongoing experiences in that very specific part of life.  I read many, many blogs for the exact purpose that I write: I want to see the potholes, ditches, train wrecks, and brick walls that I’m about to hit so I can avoid them or have the proper tools to knock them down.

This reason is the same reason I created Atlanta Tech Blogs. There are so many similar startups in Atlanta – we are very strong in the marketing software, med tech, fin tech, and security spaces – that it’s silly not to keep up with the successful and unsuccessful startups that you may be trying to emulate along your way to unicorn land.

That’s why I blog and why I read lots of other blogs. Why do you?