#1 ~ Blogging is an ideal way to make new friends and come in contact with more people than you can do in the actual word, from all quarters of the world. Such diverse people will obviously have differing viewpoints. Therefore, this gives scope for a good deal of discussion and debate with all points of view being taken on board. This gives you the opportunity to test the waters.

Blogs can also be for the sole purpose of making new friends and socializing. That is why social networking sites have picked up the clue and in these times social networking and blogging has, to some extent, been combined, and almost become indistinguishable. Using the old saying ~ go forth & multiply.

It would be interesting to note that the word ‘blog’ is both a noun and a verb. This leads us to the fact that blogging in some sense also helps get rid of hassles of publishing. Though your work will not come out in print, you know that you can publish your work – your articles, pictures, videos, etc – yourself through you blog.

Therefore, it may be your own personal journal that you wish others to read or you works of art in terms of the stories or articles that you write, or the movies that you make. You can share almost any content with the world at large.

It must also be noted that just like you do not have to be a web designer to create your own blog, you need not be a professional writer, a film maker or a photographer to publish content on your blog. It is just a space for you to indulge in your own small artistic pursuits and share those moments with others. Blogging must therefore be exploited to its full potential.

#2 ~ Cost can never be a problem because free blogging services are quite popular all over the world.

If you choose sites like Wordpress, Blogger or LiveJournal, you are sure to get exactly the kind of platform you are looking for. They are absolutely free.

If you are not very comfortable with web designing techniques, you need not worry. Creating your blog is not as complicated as designing template for a website.

These blogging services provide a wide range of templates from which you can choose the one most suited to your tastes.

# 3 ~ Blogging as a platform, is on a par with writing articles and making Hub pages, without the need to write long essays.

You simply jot down your thoughts ~ publish, then add more content at your leisure. Your blog posts are automatically stored in the archives of your page and readers may gain access.

# 4 ~ Blogging has come to be considered a highly effective marketing tool.

You can easily create awareness of your product and get clients and customers to interact with each other, not only customers, also those who are relatively new to your product get a platform to ask questions and clear their air about your product.

# 5 ~ SEO! ~ Blogging increases your website page rank.

Rankings can increase because the blog is constantly being updated, commented on, and discussions are always going on. Because of its sheer activity, the rankings improve, creating more awareness of the product.

# 6 ~ Links are created as you make comments on other peoples blogs, they in situ, may return the favor and comment on your blog, providing you do not use the 'no follow' rule.

Having your blog as an open discussion board may increase the likelihood of spamming, but readers usually ignore spam.

# 7 ~ Blogging is a great way to advertise for free. If you have a unique product, you may promote it within your content (do not post total spam).

# 8 ~ Artists and video editors (like myself), can generate awareness of their creations through the blog, through links to a video hosting account, or the artists web page.

# 9 ~ Your personal beliefs can be broad casted to a wide audience because you reach out, to the masses.

# 10 ~ Your blog actually becomes part of a massive social network in which millions of people participate ~ it is viral!