Eleven lessons learned about blogging, so far
This post is to share lessons I have learned about blogging so far, five weeks into this blog. — First, it's hard to believe it's only been five weeks. "Internet time" lives, I can tell you that. — Second, I'd like to truly thank everyone …
Context & Ripple Effects
This lands in the middle of an active 'advice about blogging' conversation rather than starting one: Bokardo published its nine lessons for would-be bloggers in March 2007, and Newsome.Org ran its take on the five stages of blogging life only nine days before this post. What distinguishes Andreessen's entry is the vantage point — a brand-new blog, five weeks old, from someone whose day job is building companies.
The pickup pattern shows why the post matters beyond its content: Scobleizer welcomed the comment culture around it within a day, meaning a five-week-old blog had already crossed into A-list circulation. That mirrors the loop described in Open for Discussion's 2006 piece on listening and learning through blogging — the medium rewards practitioners who treat posting as dialogue, and Andreessen's thanks-to-readers framing is exactly that posture.
First-order effects
- A five-week-old blog is already functioning as a primary channel for Andreessen's thinking, with A-list bloggers like Scobleizer amplifying it directly rather than waiting for press coverage.
Second-order effects
- The practitioner-lessons genre gains its highest-profile contributor yet, validating the format Bokardo and Newsome.Org have been publishing and likely pulling more operator-bloggers into writing meta-commentary.
Third-order effects
- If prominent operators keep building audiences this fast on their own domains, personal blogs consolidate their role as an unmediated alternative to traditional tech press — the 'lessons' genre doubles as evidence that the channel works.
The trend: Practitioner blogs are becoming a primary distribution channel for tech figures, with early meta-posts about blogging serving simultaneously as advice and as audience-building.