Hello World or why start blogging in 2026

A little preface

I’ve hesitated a little long enough on writing this post that I turned 30! Yes, just happened last week. This occasion only makes it better: a new decade, a new life chapter, a new hobby I’m so eager to pick up. In this introduction post I’d like to share my thoughts on why I (and probably you) should start blogging in 2026.

Ekhmm, ehmm… I’m not a writer. English is not my native language. This text is written manually by me right in WebStorm IDE where I work on this website. It highlights typos and informs that my sentences are too long. But I’m Russian, heh. In a moment about it. I might ask AI to help me with styling in cases I won’t be able to properly structure my thoughts in English the way it should be, but besides that I want to stay as real and authentic as much as I can, so rest assured I will not delegate writing to generative AI. This approach is not only honest to readers, but also a good practice for me. If I stay persistent on this path I’m sure I’ll see improvements along the way.

Another potentially annoying disadvantage of this method for my readers would be chaotic placement of articles (a/an/the). You see, my fully developed Russian brain cannot comprehend the necessity of this language concept. We built empires, went to space and created nuclear weapons, all while having no articles. Maybe this is the reason of my internal subconscious resistance. Therefore, I sincerely apologize for any future a 100% happening misplacement of articles. In fact, you know what? Fuck articles!

People also tend to mention inspirations when they start writing but to my shame I never had a favourite blog. If I had to dig up my mind and name a few I’d pick Mark Manson’s site. There was a period when I found it very helpful. Nowadays I still follow him but on YouTube.

Another one would be Flavio Copes’ blog, whose article about AHA stack I read and told myself “That’s how I’d like my website to be!”. He’s also extremely consistent writer and tech relevant developer. Even in these turbulent times.

Yeah, I guess this will do.

Let’s roll !!!

1. Content ownership and audience reach

Social media giants killed thematic forums. Everyone was scooped up by Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok… Finding an alive and thriving independent community out there in the internet wilderness is rare. And it’s understandable. Big players attracted audience and bestowed tools to create in the limits of their ecosystems. Then they introduced algorithms which solved one of the hardest problems of authors: content discovery.

Those times were great until people realized that they have no control over their content, that their audience was merely borrowed. Times and times it’s been showed that no matter how big and important you might think you are, you may lose everything at any moment. Whether it’s a rule violation, a political situation or a simple algorithm change. So people started to make moves.

A bunch of high profile YouTubers organized and launched Nebula. Founder of Patreon says that creators should have access to their fans’ emails. Russian YouTubers heavily promote their Telegram channels after YouTube was blocked in the country. Influencers of all sizes and flavors collect emails for sending newsletters. And so on.

Having your little corner on the internet shields you from those risks outside your control. It comes with a price though: you need to be liked by (AI) SEO gods to be discovered since this moment. So to leverage this trade-off many bloggers keep their presence on social media platforms while redirecting their audience to a safe harbor.

2. Teaching and sharing knowledge

It gives me a great feeling of fulfillment being helpful to people. Digital mediums specifically can be easily made by one person and then shared with the world. Indeed, an amazing value creation. Take for example this short video of me being stopped by Thai road police. Yes, it doesn’t have lots of views but it helped people who were preparing for their trip to unknown lands. Getting a “thank you!” from a stranger living on the other side of the planet has a meaning to me.

Another part of it is the fact that I’ve learnt a lot of things from the internet for free. I think it’s our responsibility to give back to community. Helping others just as others have helped you.

I believe writing will be another powerful tool in my arsenal for this purpose.

3. Journaling and clarity of thoughts

It’s an interesting phenomenon that writing helps to clarify your thoughts. It was explained many times proving how it structures fragments in your head and makes space for new ideas. I personally found it very helpful in understanding complicated situations in relationships. Whenever I sit and reflect into a text what happened and how I feel about it, I see a new angle and the whole picture becomes clearer. This helped me to close some chapters in my life and move on.

Of course this is a type of writing you usually don’t share online, but it illustrates how useful the technique is. With the same approach you can write about general feelings of yours, life experiences, tough life decisions, and so on. We’re all humans and I’m sure your stories will resonate with someone.

4. Practicing for YouTube script writing

I’m a YouTuber. Although, not a consistent one. That’s why I put “released N days ago” under the latest video on this webiste home page. Sort of a reminder and a badge of shame.

I know that not every video has to be directed like a well written play. But mastering both mediums of video making and writing definitely contributes to a shared underlying skill of delivering ideas to a broader audience and making yourself understandable.

5. Freedom of medium choice

This one is probably a unique itch of mine, but I simply don’t like limitations the big platforms impose on the types of content they support and the way they do it.

Try to write a text post for a YouTube community. How many people will read it? How many people even know it exists?! That’s how we get “This video will be deleted in 24 hours” formats for mere announcements. Think about posting a brand new camera overview on Twitter and get bonked with a 4 image per post limit while platform itself pushes long posts further. And you’re sitting there thinking which 2 really illustrative images you need to let go in order to fit into restrictions. Meh.

Some things are better represented in text. Some in videos. Some in charts. Some as an interactive demo. Custom blog platform grants you this freedom of choice.

P.S. This is a note to myself that I’m not completely satisfied with the post but I find deep wisdom in the motto “Done is better than perfect”. Come back to see my writing (and articles placement) after 100 posts. Cheers!