I love storytelling through blogs. I wish I told more meaningful stories here actually (need to work on that). Blogging is one way you can give a voice to a person, group or organisation that might not have their own voice online yet. I like shout-outs and links on Twitter, but those short-forms posts don’t always deliver.
I experienced the idea of what blogging for a cause means firsthand a few years ago. I wrote a blog post about a volunteer group I absolutely (and still do) adored called Columbus Gives Back. The next month while helping out at one of their events I was talking to my friend Steph who was volunteering for the first time with that group. Even though she was someone I regularly caught up with, she told me that she had found out about Columbus Gives Back from my blog post. I was amazed. Firstly, because I didn’t think anyone besides my mum and flatmate read my blog and secondly, that my writing could cause someone to take an action (that was awesome).
I’m not telling this story because I think I’m special or because I believe that I’m motivating people to volunteer. Steph was a friend, that’s why she read my blog post and she’s a wonderful, caring person so that’s why she signed up to volunteer. This experience was insignificant in the wider scheme of outcomes, but an important lesson for me personally. It introduced me to the idea that we can share a message that’s worth sharing and reach people online far beyond our day-to-day interactions.
While I’ll always tweet links to stupid YouTube clips, and blog about my favourite foods in Sydney, I hope that I also make a choice at times to talk about meaningful topics on my blog. I like having conversations that matter offline and online. Just something to think about more I suppose.
Share your story. Have you ever blogged for a cause?
