I write in a modern world that is defined by the Internet. This is a world where practically everybody can publish his ideas. Not only his ideas but also his sales lines.

I personally don’t think that the average reader is sufficiently aware of the degree to which information on the Internet is intertwined with economic interests. Information seldom is just an expression of ideas or news. It often also is a tool employed to guide readers to a certain consumer behavior. This has always been the case, but on the Internet, it has become much worse than it has ever been before.

For years, I watched as the Internet grew by providing free information. To publish information takes time and costs money. To give away for free a product or a service, the compilation of which has taken time and has cost money, is a luxury very few can afford for any length of time.

Political parties can. They have a far-reaching agenda. And companies as well as solopreneurs can, if the information they provide directs consumers towards buying their products. I don’t say that this wouldn't be legitimate. It’s part of capitalism. When politicians engage information professionals these information professionals operate as spin doctors. And when corporations employ authors to write texts to direct consumers to buy their products, these authors are categorized as copywriters.

Motive and Opportunity

“Becoming a writer is about becoming conscious. When you’re conscious and writing from a place of insight and simplicity and real caring about the truth, you have the ability to throw the lights on for your reader. He or she will recognize his or her life and truth in what you say, in the pictures you have painted, and this decreases the terrible sense of isolation that we have all had too much of.” ― Anne Lamott

I always have written a lot to begin with. Chats, texts, emails, tweets and the like. Now, you might say that that’s not writing. You might say that one needs a document or a blank page, that one must have a goal in mind to call it writing. That’s incorrect though. Writing is writing. One needn’t be a lecturer to speak nor an Olympian to swim. Communicating by the word is writing; so be it.

One of many favored authors, George Orwell (shortly before he began writing 1984) described why he wrote. He summed it up as four basic reasons

1. Sheer egoism.
2. Aesthetic enthusiasm, perception of beauty in the world, or the beauty of the word.
3. Historical impulse: to see things as they are, and to set it down for those who have not seen, or who come after, and
4. Political purpose: desire to change the world, to change people.

The problem I face is I write because I am happy and I write because I am sad or sickened by what I see. The are all sort of writers around, and I cannot begin to even speculate on what percent of the writing one finds on the Internet is either economically, socially, politically biased, or just pure crap!

Global change requires individual-level change:

It hinges on concerted education and mobilization. There are acute illustrations everywhere we look of preventable atrocities that proceeded because of public silence. Short of bringing everyone to afflicted communities to experience first-hand conflict and disease, the next best thing is to find ways to communicate to people who otherwise are content to live in our insular worlds.

I continue to discover how writing exposes me, and yet allows for connectivity and creative expression. Surrendering to my pen and paper or keyboard, my ideas are unbound from the constraints of society that keep me from moving forward. Writing reminds me that my thoughts and my world are constantly evolving and growing, and if I don’t stop thinking about thinking, I will never be able to fully experience the beauty of the journey.

“Our ultimate goal in social media is to enable the totally engaged enterprise where every employee is empowered with the tools to engage with customers and partners” — Charlie Treadwell, Social Media & Digital Marketing Manager for Cisco

Ultimately, when one reads — and subsequently begins the exploratory (or exploitative) practice of writing (especially in any social engagement environment); sooner or later you come face to face with the concepts of Reasons, Motives, and the Opportunities presenting themselves. This was certainly present in an excerpt of email from a friend:

“I may be a writer, and writing may be a theoretical discipline, but I am also a very practical person. I do not live to be a writer. I am a writer on the specific topic of social media by choice, because I have found it to be the most convenient way to earn money without being anybody’s employee, and without being tied down at any specific place, and without needing bulky equipment.”

My Reply

“OK, but I write because I believe that putting down one’s ideas in writing is a great way to organize them. But more importantly, I admit that I enjoy to communicate to others such ideas that present matters in a more truthful manner than commonly encountered.

My motive for writing is still not that quite that simple — and it is evolving. But who knows what opportunities are yet to be explored….