What College Students Can’t Get From Blogging

May 22 2008 Comments

When it comes to college students, a lot of us don’t blog even though we should. I can definitely state that I’m part of the handful that do and it can be a tad infuriating when you see the benefits that your peers don’t. The benefit for me is being able to see both sides of the coin. For college students, it all comes down to this question: What do you want from blogging? Well, here’s a look at what we want, and what most of us aren’t likely to get.
     

Money

Money There’s just not enough money in blogging for college students. This correlates with Meg Robert’s point about college students not having enough time to blog. With so little time to actually put into developing a successful blog, the chances of making money are slim to none and slim left town last year.
   

Attention

stats_icon College students love attention and with blogging that’s not going to come immediately nor is it even guaranteed within the first 6 months of blogging. Low pageviews and low stats equates to no love for college students. While those who have been in the business and understand that patience is required, patience is a virtue that not many college students have.
   

Job/Career

office There are plenty of sides to this coin. However, ask any college student how many of their friends got a job through their blog. My friends would mention me. I wouldn’t mention anyone. Once again, with a lack of time to put into developing a successful blog how can one possibly think to get a job?
   

Instant Gratification

accept Oh how we love instant gratification. Blogging is a long-term thing. If you’re not going to be in it for the long haul, I’d advise you not to join it at all. We like instant gratifications in order to keep our affections and attention. Without this, blogging is a lost cause for college students.
   

Long-Term Gratification

calendar While instant gratification is fine, as college students we eventually start to think about the long term benefits of things. Although is stated that blogging is a long-term thing, or at least it should be, there are no guarantees that it will work out after a year or even several years. There are other benefits to blogging long-term that college students are not interested in at this point in time.
   

Not Enough Rewards

In the end, it’s all about rewards and incentives when it comes to college students. While we may do a lot of community service, blogging isn’t the same. What we do with our spare time is in some way, shape, or form beneficial in the long run and we see it right away. Blogging isn’t like that. It’s too uncertain for us, which only contributes to why a large majority of us don’t blog. Though having more teachers that accept such advancements in technology and also promote blogging could help where incentives don’t. It’s not that we can’t get these things, it’s just that they are more uncertain than the current economy at this point in time.


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  • Classroom blogging is a means to keep fellow classmates informed of happening, events gossips etc. Blogging can be very time consuming but can also be very addictive. You either love it or hate it. Of course, if you are serious blogger and your blog is generating some revenue, it will spur you on.
  • Nathan Lanier
    College students are better off investing time in a personal homepage than a blog. A nice, clean homepage with CV, a resume, and some personal anecdotes is more than enough to get your name out there. And unless your name is Jason Kottke, it shouldn't be too hard to get yourself hi up in Google's search results.
  • I encourage all bloggers to register in ilounging.com and blogg. Thank you very much.
  • Blogging is fun but do not neglect the essential and objectives of studies.Take blogging as a stepping stone to gain experience before graduation. What seems hard to get can be gotten later.
  • Good post... I once tried to start a blog ..then instant gratification came into play. 12 posts and zero comments later I just stopped. And I think many other college students suffer the same fate.

    Seeing a blog with an extremely active community really encourages you to start your own.. then when things dont go according to the plan you devised you just stop.

    so yeeeeyup blogging is definitely a long-haul thing.
  • Hey Corvida, I'm going to disagree with jobs and long-term gratification. You and I both managed to get an internship via blogging (not actually a job, but work with me here). Do students not get blogs because they're blogging nonsense, not blogging at all, or is it truly not a viable option for employment? I just read and blogged about someone in the UK who got hired on Twitter! it's a crazy world of opportunities right now!

    I don't know how long-term you're referring to, but my "proper" blog has only been up for about 5 months and I'm feeling very gratified. True my subscriber count is in the double digits, but I know there's a small community forming that's very supportive and encouraging, and that's all the gratification I need!
  • While we have had success, it all depends on so much. I had a great support foundation when I started, the topics I'm talking about also happen to be really popular even if the field is crowded. Plus, as a student who took the spring semester off, I had a lot more time to stay on top of these things.

    Too man factors come into play when dealing with the job and long term part of the equation and those factors can become daunting to college students who are short on time and new to blogging.
  • Nicely done. I guess I should just shut down my blog now and go outside and play. (And on top of that I could never get your commenting system figured out for myself. There's like five different places to link. Wow!)
  • I would disagree with the above comments
    Its all about exposure and experience
    How on earth do you know the skills and / or contacts you make will not lead to anywhere
    People read blogs , it does not cost much and its certainly no worse or expensive than a night at the frat house , movie or bar
  • Interesting post Corvida. I can tell you that I ALWAYS look for evidence of something special, intelligent and passionate in the online presence of the people that I hire. And to be honest, if the first I hear about someone is when they hand me their résumé, I'm unlikely to hire them. There's just no excuse in the era of social media to not have developed "brand you."
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