The value of blogging and academic writing

So much has changed in the few years it has taken us to become familiar with social media. For example, I can:

• have a thought cross my mind, write a blog about it, get a picture to accompany it from the web, and publish within minutes;
• learn from Google Analytics if anyone reads the blog and puzzle why something, which I think is important, has so few views; 
• tweet a link to the blog and let people know the blog has been posted;
• post the blog as an update on LinkedIn and signpost to it, aswell as gain feedback;
• learn if anyone thinks the blog has any value through retweets, blog, and LinkedIn comments;
• post slides relating to the blog on Slideshare and see if anyone views or downloads.

Now if I had tried to explain to my grandmother, who used to shout at the TV when 'Dixon of Dock Green' was on, thinking she was helping them find the criminal, that she would be able to use #tags to converse with TV programmes, I can only guess what her reaction may have been.

Yet, sometimes I can see similarities between my grandmother's 'converstations' with the television and the value of academic writing. I will return to the similarity later.

When I write a blog, as I have illustrated above, there is ideally something akin to a conversation taking place. I'm engaged in a conversation with you, and you can give me a response which indicates, in some way, how you feel about what I have just said.

If the blog stimulates you to think about an issue which you may not otherwise have done, to me, it has some value. Better still, if you find the lessons learnt, which I frequently suggest, of use, it has some value. But the blog is, more often than not, 'my opinion' and I have previously highlighted opinions may not be worth the value we give to them.

Now it is slightly different with academic writing.