My Blogging Experience: Cost-Benefit Analysis

When I first learned the medium for displaying my class writings would be a blog, I was a bit hesitant. I do not consider myself to be a technologically savvy individual. My only previous experience with blogs came from celebrity gossip sites like celebspin.com or jossip.com . My professor recommended that the blog center on my major or an area in which I have a strong interest. I knew, then, that my blog would be the perfect opportunity to more fully explore my newly selected major of economics. Economics is the study of choice and decision-making in a world with scarce resources. With that in mind, I wanted my blog to focus on applying the knowledge I was learning in class to events happening currently in society. There are so many blogs out there that it is difficult to make one’s own blog stand out above the rest. I had no previous experience working in a blog environment so I was unsure of what was required to make my blog stand out and receive some attention. I think if I had named the URL of my site something different it would have gained more attention form those interested in the field of economics. Overall, I think the focus of my blog remained true to this initial concept, changing slightly from assignment to assignment.

At times I had difficulty picking a topic for an assigment that addressed economics and that I thought would be both academically competitive and interesting to readers who were scanning the blog. I think the topics I chose to discuss were relevant to current events. I struggled, however, with the voice of the blog. I wanted to foster an engaging argument based on the confines of the assignments but still be informative and inviting. This confusion was often reflected in my writing which at times was congested and wordy. I learned new things while researching for topics to write on. For example, in one of the essays the focus was to write about an award winning sight. I chose to discuss the World Bank’s outreach sight entitled “Youthink!”. I think it is important to expand my knowledge about what economic organizations are doing beyond their designated parameters. Many organizations are making an impact on the world by helping to educate others in addition to the normal economic purposes their institutions serve. I hope that by making a posting on my blog more people will be aware of this great site. Awareness was one of my main goals. I wanted to be able to write about something I was interested in learning about while helping to educate others too. In the end, I enjoyed the blogging experience and believe it helped deepen my understanding of the field of economics.