Sunday, November 8, 2009

Is Blogging Really Work?


Well, some people seem to think so and I happen to agree that it's work. It takes upkeep and constant intellectual work to write the posts and to continue coming up with blog topics for the future posts. I'm not necessarily saying that it's real hard work, but it is work regardless.

As far as whether it's technically considered a job, the state of New York happens to think it is and they also feel it's a viable income source as well, as witnessed by the decision to cut unemployment benefits for one laid off attorney in New York. The article is found here, which talks about this particular case. This is a particularly interesting case as the laid off attorney is making a paltry $1.30 a day in income, which in no way supports the blogger in food or living expenses (it doesn't say this, but we can clearly assume).

This will be interesting to see how this actually turns out given the magnitude of this decision. We are in a generation where many bloggers are actually making decent livings from their blogs, which can in turn lead to book deals, freelance writing, advertising, and guest posting that all pay pretty well when, as a writer, you're well established. The site jobs.problogger.net is a fine example of how one can make a living from blogging, not to mention getting the benefits from your own blog (advertising, Google Adsense as the example article above represents, etc.) if applicable. In my opinion, there should be an income limit that is applicable to qualify someone as being truly able to support themselves on a blog alone. For instance, one does not need to file a tax return if earning less than $400 of self employed income for the year. In this case, this person should not have had to file a tax return when making $1.30 per month, but maybe we're not hearing the whole story.

What do you think? Is blogging for $1.30 a day a living and should it disqualify someone for unemployment benefits?

I find this a hard pill to swallow considering the fact that our government has extended unemployment benefits for 14 additional months. Don't get me wrong, I agree with the writer of the article (linked to above about extended unemployment benefits) that unemployment benefits are not incentive to find new work, however, let's be fair across the board for all employees/people.

People are finding creative and new ways to make a living and put food on the table in addition to their unemployment benefits, because we all know it would be difficult to live on just an unemployment check. Is that really fair to someone trying to eek out an existence?

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for incentive to work and for people to support themselves in society, but I think we all need to be a bit compassionate given the hard economic times. I'm curious to see how other states take issue with blogging income. New technology brings new income sources, and states have to adapt to this new income in their own ways.


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