What a bloggy day!! #blcm

I had set my alarm at 7:30 AM... Had made all the plans to get up early as I was about to go to the blog camp un-organized by @mokshjuneja @ideasmithy @netra @annkur So, this was supposed to be my first ever blogcamp. I was all set to make sure that I don't miss out on this opportunity. Was really excited to meet up fellow bloggers and talk to them casually about nothing.... Just like 'Jerry Seinfeld's' show, this #blcm was about nothing... Haha... well actually it turned out to be more than just that...And I was glad that I finally got to attend it.

So having said that, my alarm at 7:30 AM was overambitious... especially going by my standards of waking up on a Sunday morning, and that too after not having slept at all since Saturday night... Well, all said and done, I somehow managed to wake up by 9:00 and reach the venue at around 10 am... As soon as I stepped into IIT, my college memories were back. Just like @beeayeanoowhy had also tweeted out. So well, yea, it was really a good feeling to be attending this session. I reached on time, and we hadn't started till about 11:00 AM, hoping for some others to join us as well... but, I guess this time around it was a few handful of us say about 20-30 people who were going to talk about our blogging experiences.

One of the best things about this kind of a format is that it encourages you to really talk without any inhibitions about what you want to and as bloggers discuss things openly and not hesitate making an opinion, besides of course on their blogs. Some of them knew each other and had interacted with each other many times, some were new and new to blogcamp itself, myself included. So we didn't kind of know, what to expect.

But when it started flowing it was really what it was supposed to be. With sessions from each and every blogger about their experiences, some about movie reviews, some about poetry. Some about sketching experiences and others about what blogging meant to them. Some about how blogging should be done for passion and why we shouldn't blog if we don't really have something meaningful to say. Some of them talked about really interesting concepts like comics and how blogging helped them realize and reach out to many... Some really enchanted and touched us with their stories of how blogging really helped them woo their someone specials parents (a really nice cue to Channel V's Date My folks :P) and some really talked about how blogging helped them really make a difference to the society and the country's politics. A lot of them had very valid points and all of them really focused on one single point... the point that all of us really crossed tangents with.

That was one of the strong messages that came out and I really felt where a lot of us agreed to was the fact that blogging as a whole is and will be in the future taken as a serious community. Yes there was discussion about 'Are bloggers out there to sell themseves out to Brands/PR agencies? or are we free to write our own independent content and yet be appreciated by these same brands for voicing our honest opinions. Also, whether blogging can be seriously taken or is taken as mainstream media... How does user generated content become important in taking important decisions of buying products, vs just making a simple decision of watching a movie or not. For that matter, what is the definition of the true purpose of why a blog exists and what it achieves to really do

.

Essentially a blog was a 'Web Log' Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. (Wikipedia) but now, we all know that a blog is more than that and a blogger has evolved manifolds.

But what I also felt was a very important point was... 'What next??' and that is what Moksh also asked us... A really serious thought and I thought about it on my way back.. really good point to contemplate about and truly set goals for myself. Where do I head from here?

What do you think?? Where to now??

Read more from other bloggers here: Pradeep Mohandas: Parallel Spirals; BlogCamp Mumbai – MoodI 2010

Ideasmithy's Blog: Mood Indigo-BlogCamp Dec 2010: Visual Blogging, Quality versus Quantity, Travelogues & More Vishal Gadkari: Facebook Photos

Ramya Pandyan: The Idea-smithy Facebook Page Photos

TechGreek Stuff: Facebook Photos

Harish ‘Aham’ Iyer: The Pregnant Thought & BlogCamp @IIT Bombay

Manoj Kewalramani: Voter Files & Blog bang!!

Sampath Iyengar: Facebook Photos