October 27th:  National Blogger’s Day?

Recently, I saw a reference to National Blogger’s Day being October 27^th.  While I have never celebrated such an event (or frankly even heard about that one), I’m always interested in another excuse to have a good time . . . so I decided to look into the matter further.

I understand that we can now find 570 million blogs on the Internet with over 30 million of those in the United States.   (See the First Site Guide article Blogging Statistics 2021: Ultimate List with 47 Facts and Stats by Ogi Djuraskovic that was last updated on August 26th, 2021.)  Therefore, a National Blogger’s Day certainly seemed somewhat between possible and likely!

According to one of the keepers of such information (i.e., WhatNationalDayIsIt? (whatnationaldayisit.com)), their algorithm did pick up October 27^th.  However, the most recent reference was almost five years ago, and you’d be more likely to have heard of the event in Indonesia. 

So . . . why bother asking the question or writing this article?

With about 7 million blog posts per day (see Blogging Statistics 2021: Ultimate List with 47 Facts and Stats), perhaps the bloggers of the world deserve a little bit of extra attention and should unite in adopting this date themselves to enhance the general recognition and raise the profile of the many bloggers sharing information and providing a valuable public service – often without much (or any) personal financial gain.

Whjaddya say?

You in?

What Is a Blog?

According to Merriam-Webster,  a blog is defined as:

“1 computers: a website that contains online personal reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks, videos, and photographs provided by the writer

also: the contents of such a site

2 a regular feature appearing as part of an online publication that typically relates to a particular topic and consists of articles and personal commentary by one or more authors”

Blogs may take the shape of successful journalism such as the Huffington Post or range from personal diaries to business columns posted on corporate web sites to:

• Humanize the people and products of a company.
• Communicate a desired message directly to the public.
• Improve the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) of a company’s web site.
• Provide customer service tips.
• Further develop and promote a corporate brand!

Regardless of the type of blog, the time, effort, and resources expended to communicate a message to an intended audience are considerable, and such commitment does deserve recognition (even those bloggers who may be motivated by less than completely pure and altruistic intentions).

What Can Be Done to Get October 27^th Properly Recognized?

Well . . .

If all the bloggers in the U.S. chose to adopt this holiday as their own, that would be a pretty good start of 30 million people – 570 million upon recruiting fellow bloggers worldwide.  If each of these bloggers then communicated their desire to celebrate to their audience, the total acceptance increases exponentially . . . and would demonstrate the power and credibility of blogging today!

(Sound far-fetched?  Then read:  Finally! Here’s How Cyber Monday Even Became a Thing.)

Clearly, such a process takes time measured in years, not days.  That said, a famous Lao Tzu quote says “the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” so . . .

• Post a blog article acknowledging October 27^th as a day you choose to celebrate.
• Send a press release to your own audience and perhaps the local media.
• Buy a cake.
• Have a drink.
• Toss a little confetti.
• If you’re a company, stage an event.
• Report on the results from the prior year – year after year during your annual celebration.
• Keep providing quality content to your readers.

If enough bloggers were to take such steps, perhaps October 27^th might one day become a recognized “thing” like cyber Monday.  If not and the suggestion fails to capture the public’s imagination and attention, we’ve at least given ourselves a platform for increasing awareness about the ground swell growth of activity and increasing importance of that discipline called blogging.

Note:  In doing some research for this article, I came across the following:  What is a Blog? – Definition, Information, Articles, Tools (marketingterms.com), which I have decided to pass along as some interesting extra reading, which can – perhaps – be saved until October 27^th to add a little additional insight to your reflections on that day.