USING JAIKU to pose a question that will arise on the anniversary of the Irish Internet Association's tenth anniversary, Krishna De wonders if anyone makes money while blogging. I have always thought that perspective is too capitalistic, assuming that every measure of merit must have a direct monetary aspect. Instead of trying to distill direct monetary value from blogging, I think one should value the impact of blogging on a wider spectrum of measurement. Doc Searls puts it this way. "It’s going to dawn on people that not everything needs a business model. And that far more money is made because of the Net, blogging, Linux, IM, and even businesses such as cellular telephony, than is made with any of those things."
Marshall Kirkpatrick further illuminates this rationale, explaining how microblogging is paying his rent. "Earlier this week I was remarking (on Twitter) about how many of my recent story leads came from Twitter. I counted and at that time 5 of my last 11 stories were based on news I learned first from my friends on Twitter. It was amazing."
Like Searls and Kirkpatrick, I have experienced a wide range of financial benefits from blogging, microblogging and podcasting. Those financial side effects more than offset the time burden of creating online content.
Doc Searls -- "Adventures with Because Effects"
Marshall Kirkpatrick -- "Twitter is paying my rent"
Krishna De -- "Three tips to making money from blogging"
