I read a blog this morning that admonished bloggers to stop regurgitating content taken from other blogs, simply echoing what others have said. I would quote directly or post his link, but then I’d be violating what he asked me to do. But after thinking about it, I really should share Mars Dorian’s blog link. It’s a great post.
Seriously, I was relieved as I read it. I don’t typically write a Penelope-Trunk-kind-of-blog (for example) where it seems every other sentence is a link to an outside source. Penelope’s are among the better blogs, because she often uses their content to make her point. Or perhaps it’s simply that unless she linked to their content, her blog post would be more like a book than a blog post.
And I think since there is no real way to learn how to blog except to do it, I think sometimes that I am doing it wrong. However, I have on occasion, maybe twice, re-blogged a post that echoed what I would have said if I had said it first, or because I couldn’t just write “Ditto what he/she said.”
So I’m taking this advice as encouragement to keep on using my own words. After years of working in public corporations where “social media policy” said we weren’t even allowed to retweet a corporate press release unless “communications was your official role at the company”, one can become paranoid of saying the wrong thing. I never got that rule, but I complied, and still my profile says “tweets are my own”. And they are. And so is this blog.
Do you feel more comfortable re-blogging or writing your own new words?
Thinking Out Loud 
I reblog if I see something interesting and potentially helpful to my readers. Most of my content is generated around discussions with other bloggers or questions I’m answering, so I do post links to other blogs regularly. I think it depends on the nature and goal of your blogging. My blog is about establishing connections and having conversations, so reblogs and links are appropriate.
Hi Rose! When I wrote that post over a year ago, I was still trying to figure out what to do with my blog and what it was going to be. Not that I have it all figured out now, but like you, I will reblog if it is of interest to my readers or if it is something I would have written. Thank you for commenting.