BuzzMachine

The media pundit's pundit. Written by NYC insider Jeff Jarvis, BuzzMachine covers news, media, journalism, and politics.

How has blogging changed lives?

58 comments on How has blogging changed lives?

How has blogging changed lives?

: Please leave comments about bloggers whose lives have changed in major ways because of their blogs (doesn’t matter whether you know the bloggers).

A reporter from a big magazine asked me for examples of “people whose blog has negatively affected their life” (e.g., getting fired for blogging). I replied that I couldn’t think of any but I sure could think of people whose lives had changed postively because of their blogs — bloggers who now do this for a living, bloggers who became famous, bloggers who are changing the world. This good reporter convinced her editor to include this in the story. And so I volunteered to ask you all for suggestions.

So please leave comments with ideas. (Don’t embarrass me by saying nothing!)

58 responses to “How has blogging changed lives?”

  1. Lisa Williams Avatar
    Lisa Williams

    Joey and Wendy met via bloggging and will be married in September.

  2. Seth Avatar
    Seth

    Ben & Mena of Six Apart (Movable Type & TypePad) got married after Ben built Movable Type to power her blog.
    Heather Armstrong (Dooce) got fired from her job because of dooce.com

  3. carpundit Avatar
    carpundit

    Can’t help with the good news, but I’m surprised you don’t recall the Washingtonienne scandal that got so much play on Wonkette. Jessica Cutler was fired from her Capitol Hill job for blogging about her sexual adventures around town.
    http://washingtoniennearchive.blogspot.com/

  4. Anne Avatar
    Anne

    ?????(s

  5. Anne Avatar
    Anne

    In addition to Dooce, Bryan Keefer of Spinsanity, who worked at the SEIU, was told he could be fired for blogging — he decided to quit, and Allen Reece, a teacher for Teach for America was pressured by the organization to give up his blog, AppleaDay.com.

  6. jeremy in NYC Avatar
    jeremy in NYC

    I don’t remember the real name (Jim Treacher will, if he’s around) but there was a blogger going under the name of “Moxie” (notmoxie.nu) who got into a fight with moxie of moxie.nu and, in the end, wound up getting fired after somebody on the other side of the fight contacted her boss.

  7. alan herrell - the head lemur Avatar
    alan herrell – the head lemur

    My mother divorced my father when I was 2 years old. I grew up as an only child. My mother told me that I did have a half brother, but no more mention was made of it.
    About 2 years ago I received an email from my half brother whom I had never spoken with.
    We talk weekly now.

  8. Scott Hanson Avatar
    Scott Hanson

    Well, just last month I was hired by a fellow blogger to work for a blog company just a couple weeks before my old employer applied for bankruptcy. I consider that a very positive change. :-)

  9. Terry Heaton Avatar
    Terry Heaton

    I don’t blog to make money, because I believe the currency of the Web is influence. As such, I use my blog for two things.
    One, it helps me challenge my assumptions. My business is new media consulting — selling new ideas — a field that is literally filled with hype and constant innovation, and seeing my own words in writing about this stuff helps me separate wheat from chaff. Readers also help with this task through comments, and I’m ever appreciative of that. In the modern world, one’s credentials assumed an authority that rejected investigation, but in a postmodern world, transparency and experience have the upper hand (so to speak).
    The second reason I blog is that it’s a remarkable way to get your own ideas into the stream of new media thought. I’ve met people and been introduced to companies I would’ve never been able to reach otherwise, simply because somebody read one of my posts. I love this, because it’s so anarchical (and natural). If you’ve got something that has value, I believe people will find it without you jamming it down people’s throats. This is the new model, the new power, if you will. I call it the Law of Attraction.

  10. rh Avatar
    rh

    A writer for the “St. Louis Post Dispatch” was fired in December for citical remarks he made on a blog about the paper’s annual “100 Neediest Cases” fund drive. I can understand the paper sending him packing and seizing his hard drive, but I don’t really agree with Blogger’s decision to cancel his blog.

  11. Dave Schuler Avatar
    Dave Schuler

    My story isn’t as dramatic as some of those posted about but it’s major to me. Blogging has enabled me to focus my mind in a way that I hadn’t been able to for a long time. And that, in turn, has helped me focus on my work. So—although I spend a lot of time blogging—I’m actually able to work more, too.

  12. jonny goldstein Avatar
    jonny goldstein

    Just reconnected with an old friend who I had lost touch with who found me via my blog. He’ll be coming to my wedding in June, which might seem like a small thing to other people but means a lot to me.

  13. Josh Hallett Avatar
    Josh Hallett

    Partial list of firms that have fired bloggers:
    1.) Delta Air Lines
    2.) Wells Fargo
    3.) Ragen MacKenzie
    4.) Starbucks
    5.) Microsoft (some say yay, some say nay)
    6.) Friendster
    7.) the Houston Chronicle
    8.) the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
    9.) Nunavut Tourism (Canada)
    10.) the Committee on Degrees in Social Studies, Harvard University
    11.) Maricopa County Superior Court of Arizona Self Help Center and Library
    12.) Mike DeWine, US Senator (R-Ohio)
    13.) the Durham Herald-Sun
    14.) Kerr-McGee
    15.) ESPN
    16.) Apple (according to this blog entry AND this article)
    17.) Statistical Assessment Service (DC nonprofit)
    18.) Minnesota Public Radio
    19.) The Hartford Courant
    20.) the International Olympic Committee (barred athletes from blogging during the Olympics last summer)
    21.) Health Sciences Centre, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada (?)
    22.) the National Basketball Association (NBA)
    from http://www.boingboing.net/2005/01/09/companies_that_have_.html

  14. rossi Avatar
    rossi

    well
    dad
    i think you were there
    when i first started blogging
    my story
    i started my blog
    what was supposed to be a humourous rant
    and then one week later
    911 happened
    and my blog became
    not only the way i conveyed to the rest of the world
    what it was like to live in downtown nyc
    and to volunteer at ground zero
    but it also became my salvation
    i think one of the largest reasons
    i came thru
    the 911 disaster
    mentally together
    well somewhat
    now my blog is the way i
    voice my intense frustration about the political climate in this country
    and the way i reach out to friends
    old and new
    i have friends who i have never met
    and probably never will
    who know how to read between the lines in my posts
    and ask me if im okay
    i have readers who hate my political views
    and leave comments asking me if i want to go to hell
    all in all
    having a blog
    is a bit like having
    a very, very loud mouth
    that thousands of people can hear
    and thats
    mostly
    a wonderful
    thrilling
    and sometimes
    frightening feeling

  15. paul Avatar
    paul

    It’s realy about forming a community through links, trackbacks and comments. The best bloggers blog about what they do for a living, it’s not making a living from blogging.
    Blogging is about sharing and you get back much more then you give.

  16. rossi Avatar
    rossi

    and of course
    i met you
    blogging
    which means
    blogging changed my life
    by meeting the dashing man
    in the conde naste cafeteria
    wink

  17. Joe Gandelman Avatar
    Joe Gandelman

    Blogging has changed my life for the BETTER in terms of how I sleep at night, being generally happier and getting my original professional goals on track. There has truly been a huge change for the better.
    To make a very long story short, I left the newspaper business in 1990 after freelancing overseas from various countries in Asia and Europe (this included being Special Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor — which they told me was “full time contributor” — in Madrid from 1975 through the first democratic elections in 1978. Towards the end I also contributed several Madrid-based news reports to NPR’s All Things Considered), and working as a staff reporter on two chain newspapers (Knight Ridder’s Wichita Eagle and The Copley Press’ San Diego Union). I quit my newspaper career because wanted to do thematic (for kids in schools) and nonethematic (fairs, festivals, corporate) comedy ventriloquism PLUS twin that with freelance writing projects. I realized when I worked on the staff of the papers that I had loved writing but didn’t enjoy working with the constraints of a corporate journalism structure. The idea was to do the entertainment, and also go back to the intensive freelancing that I had done overseas.
    I underwent a series of big crises over the years and also spent my time consolidating the entertainment business — and what happened was that I NEVER got the writing component off the ground. (My vent website is http://www.familyentertainer.com and you can see the redesign that isn’t done yet at http://www.joegandelman.com)
    By late 2003 I learned about blogs — I had no idea what the word even meant and had never read them — and around Xmas did an anonymous version of my blog with my name to see how it looked.
    I sent links of the first posts to friends with a note saying, “This guy really makes sense to me! What do you think?” and I got back answers from some 30 people on my joke email list saying they loved the….SO…
    On Jan 1, 2004 I launched The Moderate Voice (originally at blogspot). My sister gifted me an IBM Thinkpad (which died two weeks ago, creating some problems on the blogging since I travel a lot). I made the decision to do the blog by doing things I would want to read and reflecting my OWN rpt MY OWN viewpoint — NOT what either party, any talk show host on the left or fith or any blogger no matter how big or influentiual felt I should write. I decided that if it didn’t make X number of hits by the end of the year, I’d walk away from it.
    What has happened since is that even though I am absolutely not tied to either party, I am developing a growing readership that stays with the blog even though I periodically seem to lose liberal readers and conservative readers when I criticize something or someone they like (a post today talks about Howard Dean as DNC chair politically suicidal and some won’t like that). I also do certain posts because I enjoy writing them — offbeat posts, posts on media issues and blogging.
    Positive impacts:
    –I used to have to take sleeping pills at night and was always on edge. Starting with the primaries, I found I enjoyed blogging most very late at night to the point where I am battling to keep my eyes open (hopefully readers of the blog don’t have the same problem). I jump into bed and I’m out like a light (another blogger said he notices the same thing). I’m much calmer than I used to be and people who know me have noticed it (and this is all mind you having a blog that does NOT attack other bloggers but tries to focus on ideas).
    –I’ve sharpened my writing skills back to what they were when I left the paper (which doesn’t mean I don’t make some dumb typos or occasionally overwrite or underwrite). Of course, if my writing skills were lousy in 1990, that means I returned to the same degree of lousiness…but the point is I regained what I had lost by doing very little serious writing in 14 years (which is something for someone who got a masters in journalism for Northwestern: it was as if I had walked totally away from my training and passion in writing news).
    –I’m all fired up about writing again and with my new laptop (which will be set up today) am ready to do more blogging throughout the day when I have time and on the road, plus finally get some modest per-pay writing projects off the ground in 2005 with a goal of truly dividing my time between entertaining and writing.
    –I used to write very fast when I was on a newspaper and am back to the same speed I had before I left the paper.
    –I’ve “met” all kinds of interesting people while blogging. I’m especially impressed with the quality of thought and style in some of the writings by some of the very young bloggers on the Internet who clearly have huge futures ahead of them if they stick with it and are encouraged. I use every chance I can to let them know that they have great talent (it doesn’t matter what their political views are to me).
    –It’s gotten me back into a routine of writing every day.
    Before my blog, I started trying to get back into it by writing reviews on Amazon.com and was ranked in their Top 500 reviewers (I think I’m just barely in that category now).
    I tell people “before my blog I used to read lots of news and talk to people about it. Now I read it, link to it, and quickly write about it. I basically still do the same old crap.” Of course, in this instance, there is an audience for this crap. But then, if you read lots of blogs (like I do) you realize there seem to be audiences for lots of crap.
    My personal goal remains that if the blog continues to grow, even slowly, I will continue it at the end of the year. If it looks as if readers are leaving not coming back, I’ll walk away from it and turn exclusively to the paid projects. But so far the trend is steadily upwards. Finally, I’m moving from Typepad to Powerblogs soon and when I do I’ll be putting blogads on my site, etc.
    So in a nutshell: blogging made me calmer, helped me sleep, introduced me to some great people with ideas from all over the political spectrum (the people who encouraged me were the liberal The Talking Dog, the conservative-independent Citizen Smash, InstaPundit Glenn Reynolds, and the crew at Oxblog…and none of them had met me or knew much about me). I’ve met two bloggers in person (Stephen Green while I was in Colorado at the Rocky Mountain Association of Fairs Convention and Citizen Smash, who it turns out lives about 5 minutes from my condo and invited me and other San Diego bloggers over to watch the 2004 Presidential election returns and blog from his home). And when I met them it’s as if we belonged to a fraternity and had known each other for years.
    Negative impact? Relatives say: “How can you write all that stuff for free? It’s taking away from your work time.” Nope. I consider the blog a constant writing exercise that will hopefully pay off when I do some of the for pay projects. (But it ain’t art. I make no pretensions about my posts being literary or journalistic masterpieces — but my rule is I have to think before I write and post, even if it’s a silly post). And I’ve just replaced some of the time I used to spend reading books at night or early morning or watching TV (I watch little TV now).
    PS: When I do programs in schools and libraries on reading now, I always stress the importance of reading on the Internet and mention and explain weblogs. “Reading” now means more than just taking out library books.

  18. Mack Avatar
    Mack

    Does anyone else think the nauseating self-importance of most bloggers is getting a little bit out of hand? Just do your thing and let others judge your place in history.

  19. /pd Avatar
    /pd

    For me blogs are alive. Its web2.0 with pingbacks, RSS and its dynamic !! It permits me only to aggregate areas of interest where no MSM worth their salts would want to venture.. its about the “long trail” and being part of that trail is whats its worth. No I don’t blog for money. But I blog for fun. Blogs permit me to create the echo chamber with no hassles !!

  20. Kim Avatar
    Kim

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/01/28/man_sacked_for_blogging/
    Iain Murray (Insta has linked to him in the past).
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/weblogs/story/0,14024,1388466,00.html
    Joe Gordon was sacked.
    http://www.powertrip.co.za/blog/archives/000196.html
    Friendster Network fired Joyce Park.
    http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/146115_blogger30.html
    Michael Hanscom was fired from Microsoft for posting pic’s of new MAC’s being delivered to…Microsoft.

  21. Dishman Avatar
    Dishman

    The next post is a pretty clear example of how blogging has changed Jeff’s life.
    For myself, having Jeff quote us on MSNBC during Rathergate was deeply satisfying. I helped wind him up on that one. I’d previously contributed (maybe primarily) to Sullivan’s hit on “imminent threat”. It may be just a nudge here and there, but it’s actually something. I’ve been a part of something that is both far larger than myself and based almost entirely on free will.
    It has kept me going.

  22. Alex Avatar
    Alex

    I’ve meet some great people, I’m typing a lot faster, much much faster and thinking about my writing in different terms. As a writer it’s done wonders for my craft.

  23. Ed Rusch Avatar
    Ed Rusch

    Hanscom was not an employee of Microsoft. he was not fired for his pictures; he was fired for violating his temp contract.
    Gee, Microsoft produces Mac software; ya think they might use Macs?

  24. trolita Avatar
    trolita

    I’m not a blogger – I’m a blogger’s ramora. In these past 3-4 years, I’ve gotten blogger’s butt – a solid 15+ lbs, yoga simply fell by the wayside. The boyfriend has dropped me to boot, he tired of sauntering into the spare room to talk to a woman who would swivel around and who would try real hard to be engaged when he described what he was fixing for dinner. (Not all is lost on that front, he still shares his meals with me.)
    I do worry that being a blogger’s ramora has had a tremendous impact on work productivity – not good. If I didn’t have an absentee employer – I’d be in real trouble. (Why crunch numbers when you can while away 10-15 minutes reading what’s on Jeff’s mind?)

  25. Grumpy Avatar
    Grumpy

    “Does anyone else think the nauseating self-importance of most bloggers is getting a little bit out of hand? Just do your thing and let others judge your place in history.”
    I’m tired of blog posts that are about blogging. “Hey, I’m at a blogging convention and I’m blogging right now!” Yipee.

  26. Bill Avatar
    Bill

    Jeff, I think I have a good, positive blog-related story like what you were looking for:
    A baseball blogger, Larry Mahnken of “Replacement Level Yankees” at yankeefan.blogspot.com, recently had his apartment burn to the ground, and after a few other fellow baseball bloggers reported his plight, donations from readers were overwhelming, helping to turn a horrible tragedy into a happy ending. Both the readers and the blog community responded to help a colleague in need. The story can be read about here:
    http://yankeefan.blogspot.com/2005/01/message-from-larrys-dad.html
    and here:
    http://www.aarongleeman.com/2005_01_23_baseballblog_archive.html
    (on the January 25th and 26th posts)

  27. susanmernit Avatar
    susanmernit

    Jeff, blogging has made me a much more connected and down to earth person because I have connected with so many smart, feeling people and learned from them.
    It’s also sharpened my intellectual skills because I’ve had a chance to join a larger, freel-wheeling conversation where someone always has a great point to make.

  28. Susan Kitchens Avatar
    Susan Kitchens

    Julie Powell of Julie/Julia who took on a blog as part of her year-of-doing-something-different and cooked and wrote through all of Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Absofreakinglutely hilarious writing. She got a book deal from it, it comes out this spring, I think.
    Oh, speaking of book deals, I saw another one from Publisher’s Lunch, which snippet I quote here:

    Memoir
    Blogger Jen Lancaster’s (jennsylvania.com) memoir, BITTER IS THE NEW BLACK: Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smartass, Or Why You Should Never Carry a Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office, in which the author, a former sorority girl and self-described pain-in-the-ass who defined herself by the trappings of success in the heady days of the dot-com era, explores what it’s like to go from having a household income of almost a quarter million dollars to being evicted from a slum apartment in less than two years and ultimately discovering that money has nothing to do with happiness, to Kara Cesare at NAL, at auction, by Kate Garrick at DeFiore and Company. (NA)

    Blogs to Books also has worked for the author of Real Live Preacher.
    I’ve been blogging 5 years, but don’t know if I can say anything one way or the other about it (positive/negative). On the up side, it’s been a release. Bad side, compulsion. (great way to procrastinate: reading others blogs rather than doing what needs to be done). Good side: being informed of out-of-the-way things. Made friends in faraway places, a way to follow local Space Robotic events. Here’s hoping that a new blog in development will turn into something good. Focused, with a market, rather than my general all-over-the-place ramblings.

  29. Anil Avatar
    Anil

    I can think of at least a dozen people who’ve gotten book deals from their blogs. I know of 3 couples just in my circle of friends who married people they met through weblogs. I know of half a dozen companies that wouldn’t have existed if not for blogging.
    “Ben & Mena of Six Apart (Movable Type & TypePad) got married after Ben built Movable Type to power her blog. ”
    Actually, they were married before that. But I think their lives have certainly been changed a little bit by blogging. The effort they started together in their spare bedroom now has over 70 employees on three continents.
    I actually don’t believe anyone’s ever been fired for blogging. Many people have lost jobs due to inappropriate communication, but that phenomenon predates blogs.
    In my own case, I’ve gotten 2 jobs, 3 apartments, a girlfriend, a dog, a cat, and almost all of my close friends either directly or indirectly through blogging.

  30. Bill Avatar
    Bill

    Another neat blog occurrence:
    At the blog of Pamela Ribon – pamie.com – she and her readers have conducted three successful local book drives for libraries that lost their funding. It all started a couple years ago with a single blog entry about Oakland public libraries, and her readers donated 700 books. You can read about that here: http://www.pamie.com/donor1.html
    She also got a book published due to her blogging.

  31. Kim Avatar
    Kim

    Ed – You work for Microsoft, own their stock or just bitter? He doesn’t blame MS. He’s been interviewed by MSNBC, Wired and Seattle P I and has a follow up post here.
    http://www.michaelhanscom.com/eclecticism/2003/10/fifteen_minutes.html

  32. Ken C. Avatar
    Ken C.

    Blogs have been a way of getting information that avoids that the filtering of the right-wing-dominated media. I’ve especially appreciated the writing of Eric Alterman, for example, as well as Atrios, Kos, Kevin Drum, Matthew Yglesias, and many more. There’s also room for the wingnuts, of course, whose nonsensical rants can be pretty scary. Sometimes, too, blogs can help the RNC noise machine blow up non-stories, like “Rathergate”, as distractions from Bush’s shameful behavior, or more generally, Republican corruption and lies. But, overall, blogs have been very helpful in getting a better picture of the political scene.

  33. geoff Avatar
    geoff

    blogging is for fags.

  34. Jimbob Avatar
    Jimbob

    I know a couple bloggers who are trying pretty hard to change the world. Just take a look at peaceiran.blogspot.com and http://www.nowaroniran.com

  35. Old Grouch Avatar
    Old Grouch

    Today’s addition to the list of blog-generated book deals: Jay Rosen.

  36. Joye Avatar
    Joye

    http://stuarthughes.blogspot.com/
    The most interesting blog, combining news from a journalist’s perspective and real life inspiration is by Stuart Hughes, a reporter from the BBC who lost his leg in a land mine a accident in the Middle East. He retains a postive outlook on life and is an inspiration
    ____________________________________________________
    Stuart Hughes, a world news producer with BBC News based in west London.
    “On April 2nd 2003, while covering the Iraq War in the Kurdish north of the country, I stepped on an anti-personnel landmine. My colleague Kaveh Golestan was killed in the incident.
    Five days later, my right leg was amputated below the knee.”
    I returned to work after six months of rehab and I’m now back on the road, covering events in countries such as Iran, Greece and Cambodia.”
    http://stuarthughes.blogspot.com/

  37. John Avatar
    John

    A little off topic but somewhat relevant. About a month ago I was going to bed and my wife asked me what I was doing and I said, “Reading a blog”, she then said, without missing a beat, “What’s a blog?

  38. Angus Jung Avatar
    Angus Jung

    “Blogs have been a way of getting information that avoids that the filtering of the right-wing-dominated media. I’ve especially appreciated the writing of Eric Alterman, for example, as well as Atrios, Kos, Kevin Drum, Matthew Yglesias, and many more. There’s also room for the wingnuts, of course, whose nonsensical rants can be pretty scary.”
    Trolling is fun!

  39. Brainster Avatar
    Brainster

    Ambra Nykola reported early this year that she had been fired for blogging. Nykola.com

  40. cb/CityRag Avatar
    cb/CityRag

    blogging is like having a place to dump all that loose change jangling around in my head. i don’t have to bug my friends with my boring obsessions anymore – i bug my readers. amen to the comment above that “you get back more than you give”

  41. Kathleen A Avatar
    Kathleen A

    Reading Iraqi and military blogs has changed my life for the better because it’s provided me with a different view of the world I would otherwise not have. The power of connection between people who are world’s away has opened communication that was never there before. I’ve met Iraqis, Iranians, Egpytians, Australians, British, etc. – something I could not do before. We are learning about each other and finding understanding and common ground. Blogs are powerful because they give people control over information and takes that power away from the elite.

  42. John Avatar
    John

    Blogging has helped saved my life and my sannity. I was crippled by a doctor right before I was to go on tour with a big rock band(I’ll tell you privately if you like). I was(still am) in pain and the emotional loss was terrible. Then I found the blogosphere through some friends and of course the political atmosphere and I discovered a way to become part of society again. I latched on to it like a man grabbing for a life jacket. I’m still hopeful that I will regain my music someday, but for now I do what I can and I’m very grateful that I found this medium to express myself and make a contribution at the same time. (I hope that wasn’t too over the top. lol)

  43. LB Avatar
    LB

    A woman found an old friend that she’d parted with on bad terms years ago after doing a Google search on her name. The old friend was a regular commenter on my blog, and her name had come up on one of the comment threads. That’s one of the best things to have happened on my blog.

  44. Grunter Avatar
    Grunter

    Diplomad has quit today, after about 6 months. I was surprised he lasted that long.

  45. Britt Avatar
    Britt

    I know that Rob Smith over at gutrumbles.com got fired for his blog.

  46. Jayme Maultasch Avatar
    Jayme Maultasch

    Wonkette went from an unknown editor into a media darling with all kinds of paid TV gigs.
    Andrew Sullivan became a regular on Bill Maher’s show and many others.

  47. Angus Jung Avatar
    Angus Jung

    Yeah, but Jeff is asking for POSITIVE changes.

  48. tony Avatar
    tony

    ive gotten press, chicks, and money from my blog.
    Front Page never got me laid.

  49. Melissa Avatar
    Melissa

    Mark Pilgrim was fired in 2001 over his blog entry “Addiction Is…“, but credits blogging with helping him find a new job. He’s encouraged to keep a corporate blog there, which he says “is just like a personal blog, except you don’t get to use the word ‘m—–f—-r’” (censoring mine).
    Personally, my LiveJournal readers have given me encouragement and advice on everything from walking away from a bad marriage to potty-training strategies. I’ve exchanged holiday gifts, recieved and passed on hand-me-down children’s clothes and picked up a few gigs through blogging; it was also my constant social network through the frequent moves I went through as part of a military family.
    The most touching thing I’ve seen in blogging lately has been readers donating to a fund for a one-year-old who lost his father in an accident just before Christmas.

  50. Sam Churchill Avatar
    Sam Churchill

    At age 52 with no particular skills and little formal education, I started a blog on wireless technology (dailywireless.org).
    After 3 years, Google Adsense now supplies 100% of my income (now about $1800/mo) from some 300K page views/month.
    Now I don’t work at all. I pursue my bliss. It’s improved my self-image (but my love live is still lousy).

  51. miguel Avatar
    miguel

    I’m a political science PhD student. And since I sometimes blog about my research interests, I’ve heard from readers who’ve given me invaluable advice & support. It’s made me, overall, a better academic.

  52. Angus Jung Avatar
    Angus Jung

    “ive gotten press, chicks, and money from my blog.”
    No English lessons? (Just kidding. I think it’s charming!)

  53. Jason Hartley Avatar
    Jason Hartley

    I am an infantryman who just spent 11 months in Iraq with the US Army. My blog got me demoted and fined $1000. But it also made it possible for me to share events with the world about my life and the lives of other soldiers from New York that would have otherwise never have been told. Life changing? Yes, I suppose so.

  54. Corky Avatar
    Corky

    http://www.wilwheaton.net
    Wil started blogging about his personal life a few years ago. His stories about the difficult transitions he’s gone through becoming an adult after growing up in the spotlight of movies and television led to two books: Dancing Barefoot and Just a Geek. His blog inspired him to pursue his writing, and inspires a large readership to encourage him. I read him daily.

  55. Jade Walker Avatar
    Jade Walker

    I write The Blog of Death (http://www.blogofdeath.com), a Weblog of obituaries. In the past year and a half, my life has been enriched by my readers and by the subjects I’ve featured.
    Obits have always been a passion of mine. I consider it a great honor to provide the final word on someone’s entire existence. To do so in a proper fashion, however, I spend countless hours researching each subject’s life. In turn, the 1,300 stories I’ve written have inspired me to live each day to the fullest. (The final obit published on the site will be my own; it’s already written.)
    The Blog of Death also matters to my readers. To date, more than 9,000 people have published comments on the site. These people have mourned together as a community. A few have even reconnected with old friends and family.
    Three notable examples:
    Indian Larry (http://www.blogofdeath.com/archives/001149.html), a motorcycle builder who appeared on the Discovery Channel, died last August. I’d never heard of him before writing his obit, but he’s received more than 3,000 tributes.
    Doris Lund (http://www.blogofdeath.com/archives/000071.html) was a best-selling author who wrote about her son’s struggle with leukemia. Her obituary has generated an entire community of people that have gone through similar situations.
    David Reimer (http://www.blogofdeath.com/archives/000952.html), the unwitting subject of a controversial gender experiment, committed suicide last May. His best friend printed out my obit — and all of the published tributes — and read them to David’s parents. They were incredibly touched by the public’s response to their son’s story. I was too.

  56. Rick Cooper, The PDA Pro Avatar
    Rick Cooper, The PDA Pro

    I’d have to say that blogging has affected the life of Andy Wibbels in an amazing way. He has been been blogging for about four years and has become a Blogging Evangelist. He makes a living out of teaching people how to blog. His site EasyBakeWeblogs provides resources for entrepreneurs and small businesses.
    http://easybakeweblogs.com

  57. Chap Avatar
    Chap

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  58. Mark Avatar
    Mark

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