Is Blogging Self-Serving?

I was so excited the other day and mentioned it in a previous post "Turning others on to blogging" . Two days ago my new blogging friend, Kathy, and I were discussing how great I thought her's looked and by reading her first post why I now understood and could stand by her decision to go to India.

The two of us sit about 30 feet from one another in a library setting, but you would never know it's a library as we are running back and forth giddy ("can a thirty something and fifty something be giddy...sure why not?") about something new we've discover to blog, a new title, a new add-in.

This excitement between the two of us was quickly deflated when another co-worker firstly insulted some aspects of her site (he hasn't seen mine yet) and then secondly stated that blogging is nothing more then egotistical and self-serving.

Our backs went up so quickly. How dare he take such a stuffy and limited view of the purpose of blogging. Kathy was now threating to take off her blog before it even really got going.

Egotistic by definition is (dictionary.com)

1. pertaining to or characterized by egotism.
2. given to talking about oneself; vain; boastful; opinionated.
3. indifferent to the well-being of others; selfish.

Sure there are some people out there that only want you to know what they are eating now and how many times they went to the washroom today. But I'm guessing the majority of them truly are portals of information. The blogs I want to read aren't the ones that are talking about themselves "boastfully". The one's I'm looking at and admire are the ones that disseminate a variety of information and experiences that the composer has found truly fascinating and wants to share it.

The definition of self-serving (dictionary.com):

1. preoccupied with one's own interests, often disregarding the truth or the interests, well-being, etc., of others.
2. serving to further one's own selfish interests.

Again the blogs I am looking to for ideas and inspiration are the same ones that are looking to try and help others with "the best of the best" of any particular topic and/or are looking for input and collaboration on a subject. Certainly not the ones that aren't trying to share facts or "the truth". Any blog that might be shamelessly promoting their own self interests is most likely a blog I will never stumble upon, nor will the people I'm looking to in "my blogging community" referencing either.

I am happy to report Kathy's blog is still alive and well and she has a billion new ideas to post regarding her upcoming adventure. Also, for those who would like to discovery a little more on the history of blogging, I found a nice little history and origins at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog.