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
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
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
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
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
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 now.