What are my reasons for blogging!

Recently, my main blog -- Pradeep Chakraborty's Blog -- was nominated for the Best Technology Blog by BlogNet Blog Awards.

Well, my friend, Jonathan Lloyd, from the UK, sent me a very nice congratulatory mail and also asked me what made me take up blogging! By the way, we met on LinkedIn, and also share a group -- the FastTrack 100!

Jonathan is the founder of BusinessMedia, UK, and plans to feature a post that looks at business related (B2B) blogs. The eventual plan is to recommend the top 10 business blogs for their readers. He specifically wanted to find out a little more about what made me set up my blog.

Well, my reasons are fairly simple and straightforward!

1. I am realy tired of searching Google and Yahoo, and other search engines for information, and hence, decided to write on key information on semiconductors.

2. My blog is also my archive -- I am really frustrated at NOT being able to FIND my old articles on the Web. The few, I found on other sites, actually wanted me, as a user, to sign up! To read my own articles... really! So, Pradeep Chakraborty's Blog now archives all of my articles written over the past two years.

3. India DOES NOT have any magazine on semiconductors yet, and till I also spun of a semiconductor site off the blog for CIOL, there wasn't even a semicon portal in India! I hope I have managed to give India a small and decent site on semiconductors!

4. I wanted to be THE resource for the semiconductor industry... again, I have miles to go. It is not easy being a lone ranger :)

5. The sheer thrill of doing something difficult -- sitting in India -- which does not have such detailed blogs on semiconductors, especially. And well, it has really been difficult :) but very thrilling! My colleague, Usha, pokes fun at me -- saying, go, light your bulb (a la the Sharukh Khan movie, Swades!) Ok, I've done nothing of that sort, as this movie showed...

6. My blog posts are all exclusive pieces, as I'm a believer in: great content = great traffic! Again, it is really difficult writing exclusive posts, especially on semiconductors.

7. I wanted to see where I stand, as against my former employers :) -- EDN, US (Reed) and EE Times (Global Sources). Yes, I can never match them! ;) These are the places where I developed myself as a writer and an editor, and I will forever remain indebted to Global Sources and Reed!

8. I also attempted to create a brand out of my name, using semiconductors, essentially, as a platform. I have yet to see how successful it has been :)

There you go! These are my reasons!!

TechFools, is what I call my fun blog, where I can write leisurely blog posts such as these.

If you notice, traffic has really not been among my top priorities. These blogs and blog posts are my own, and so are my opinions, and well, for my own consumption. If readers on the Internet find something useful on my blogs, and choose to stop by, that is a bonus and very humbling.

One other reason for my blogging: I really enjoy meeting new people, and my blog has managed to bring a whole lot of new friends to me -- from all over the world. That's really priceless!!

I am sure you have your own reasons for blogging. :) Keep it up, my dear friends!