--- title: Why I’m blogging less date: "2014-04-26T13:39:51Z" lastmod: "2021-12-03T07:37:28Z" categories: - how-i-do-things wp_id: 2857 description: I’ve shifted my output from writing to public speaking, trading the permanence of blogging for the real-time feedback of live talks. While I miss search discoverability, speaking allows me to shape data visualization insights dynamically based on audience reaction. keywords: [blogging, public speaking, data visualization, audience feedback, content strategy, gramener] --- My blog’s been through a number of phases. Between 1996 – 1999, it was just a website with a few facts about my and some of my juvenile ramblings. Inspired by [robotwisdom.com](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorn_Barger), I converted it into a blog – except that I didn’t know what blogging was and just called it “updating my site every day.” It was mostly a link blog. In 2006, around the time when I moved from Mumbai to London, I reduced my link-blogging and started writing longer articles talking about my experiences. This was a fairly productive phase, and I was churning a few dozen articles every year until 2012. In the UK, I didn’t know many people, and wasn’t comfortable going out of the way to interact. My blog was the primary means of sharing my thoughts and work. In 2012, when I moved back to India, that changed. I started speaking at various events. (Some of my talks are [recorded](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHCH16htawZbR_-mIqfGmYbhE5S2UckOh).) I’ve been speaking at one or two events every month, which is roughly the volume of blogging I was doing since 2006. So, effectively, my output medium has changed. Instead of writing, I speak. Correspondingly, my blogging has come down. How does it feel? Well, on the one hand,  there’s a lot more direct feedback when you’re speaking to an audience. You can interact with them, ask questions – all of which I can do on a blog as well, but this is real-time. When my audience laughs, I steer my talk more towards funny insights. When my audience claps, I steer it towards more impressive techniques. When my audience reacts like dead fish, I switch to Q&A. When my audience is lost in their own conversation, I terminate the talk early. Effectively, my content is often shaped in real time. And that can be (usually) an exhilarating experience. I used to worry that the talks didn’t have the permanence of blog posts. But like I said, many of them are [recorded](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHCH16htawZbR_-mIqfGmYbhE5S2UckOh). I also worried that the audience response would not be permanent, like blog comments. But Twitter fills that void. For example, yesterday, I was speaking at the [Great Indian Developer Summit](http://www.developermarch.com/developersummit/). Here are the tweets going out as I was speaking. [Kashinath Pai. P.](https://twitter.com/kashi_pai): #GIDS visualising data by Anand [»](https://twitter.com/kashi_pai/status/459622307519295488) [Naresha](https://twitter.com/naresha_k): Looking forward for a cool 'Visualizing Big Data' presentation from @sanand0 #gids [»](https://twitter.com/naresha_k/status/459622833924997121) [ARAVIND CHEKKALURE](https://twitter.com/aravind_oopl): #gids watg for a solution in visualizating bigdata..woww [»](https://twitter.com/aravind_oopl/status/459623527176761344) [Raj](https://twitter.com/rhpatel99): Analysis of big data and visualization of big data is very different #gids [»](https://twitter.com/rhpatel99/status/459624430990536704) [Sundarraj Kaushik](https://twitter.com/xksund): Now to visualize data with Anand at #gids [»](https://twitter.com/xksund/status/459625962355687425) [Raj](https://twitter.com/rhpatel99): Anand's session on visualization of big data surly interesting talk of day. I attended previously #gids [»](https://twitter.com/rhpatel99/status/459626845571661824) [UK Gupta](https://twitter.com/TechButthead): Another Excitin &Interestin Session "Leveraging #Cloud Services2Build & Integrate Analytics in Ur #IoT Solutions" by @Ragural #IntelDZ #gids [»](https://twitter.com/TechButthead/status/459626952261767168) [Siva Narayanan](https://twitter.com/K2_181): Doordarshi party is the worst loser in Indian politics #gids [»](https://twitter.com/K2_181/status/459627747091185665) [Siva Narayanan](https://twitter.com/K2_181): Very cool viz about Indian Elections from gramener #gids [»](https://twitter.com/K2_181/status/459628446470389760) [ARAVIND CHEKKALURE](https://twitter.com/aravind_oopl): Examples for visualiztion that anad took is rally imprazv #gids [»](https://twitter.com/aravind_oopl/status/459628832082120704) [Siva Narayanan](https://twitter.com/K2_181): Margin of victory for winner isn't affected by number of candidates. Affects runner up. #gids [»](https://twitter.com/K2_181/status/459629135598735361) [Goutham G](https://twitter.com/G12Goutham): Enjoyed every bit of information on xls by vinod #GIDS [»](https://twitter.com/G12Goutham/status/459629189541687296) [Sanaulla](https://twitter.com/sanaulla): Very interesting facts and presentation by s anand in visualizing big data #gids [»](https://twitter.com/sanaulla/status/459629358265954304) [THIYAGARAJAN.R](https://twitter.com/thiyaga_rt): #gids Hi everyone, Anand session on Data visualization is interesting... happening on Main Hall [»](https://twitter.com/thiyaga_rt/status/459629388875571200) [Sanaulla](https://twitter.com/sanaulla): Visualization helps grasp huge amount of data quite easily #gids [»](https://twitter.com/sanaulla/status/459629511743905793) [Vignesh Rajendran](https://twitter.com/vickyonit): Sanand might be called @NateSilver538 of Indian politics analysis #gids [»](https://twitter.com/vickyonit/status/459629513438412800) [45hw1nk5](https://twitter.com/ashwink_s): By far the beat talk so far, visualising data by S Anand from Gramener. #gids [»](https://twitter.com/ashwink_s/status/459629982793601024) [Rahul Sharma](https://twitter.com/rahulsh2010): On the Everest of knowledge with S Anand.. Courtesy - 'Big Data' :D #gids [»](https://twitter.com/rahulsh2010/status/459630309324390400) [Sundarraj Kaushik](https://twitter.com/xksund): A very pertinent subject visualization of election statistics at #gids. [»](https://twitter.com/xksund/status/459630721284718592) [Siva Narayanan](https://twitter.com/K2_181): UdayKumar has 1600 cases against him #gids [»](https://twitter.com/K2_181/status/459630940382580738) [Rishi Raj Srivastav](https://twitter.com/rrishee): Great Indian politics (data) visualization by Anand. #GIDS [»](https://twitter.com/rrishee/status/459631210403491840) [Siva Narayanan](https://twitter.com/K2_181): Singh has been most popular last name in Indian elections every time #gids [»](https://twitter.com/K2_181/status/459631214266445824) [ARAVIND CHEKKALURE](https://twitter.com/aravind_oopl): Big data visualization is this much easy..like anand speks #gids [»](https://twitter.com/aravind_oopl/status/459631374451113984) [Sundarraj Kaushik](https://twitter.com/xksund): A very colourful presentation without actual mention of big data or visualization. Wonderful presentation at #gids. [»](https://twitter.com/xksund/status/459631443443220480) [Govind Kanshi](https://twitter.com/govindk): Gujarat, Maharashtra have longest names fighting in elections #gids powerful story as usual by @sanand0 [»](https://twitter.com/govindk/status/459631519938924544) [Venkat ramanan v](https://twitter.com/techie_venky): Data visualization at it's best. #gids [»](https://twitter.com/techie_venky/status/459631559206002688) [Kamlesh ®](https://twitter.com/kamleshrao): RT @govindk: Gujarat, Maharashtra have longest names fighting in elections #gids powerful story as usual by @sanand0 [»](https://twitter.com/kamleshrao/status/459632048643117056) [brntbeer](https://twitter.com/brntbeer): Talk about last names and regions of India. I’m definitely an outsider! #gids [»](https://twitter.com/brntbeer/status/459632093145104384) [Sundarraj Kaushik](https://twitter.com/xksund): Is the dropout of girls the cause of better results of girls. Anand at #gids [»](https://twitter.com/xksund/status/459632713230974976) [Sanaulla](https://twitter.com/sanaulla): Best session of the day: visualizing big data #gids [»](https://twitter.com/sanaulla/status/459633283253678080) [ujwala](https://twitter.com/ujwala): Visualizing big data session is very very interesting. Nicely done. #gids [»](https://twitter.com/ujwala/status/459633435423027200) [Siva Narayanan](https://twitter.com/K2_181): Sun sign has a big impact on exam performance #gids [»](https://twitter.com/K2_181/status/459633596505264128) [Venkat ramanan v](https://twitter.com/techie_venky): Intriguing session on visualization #gids http://t.co/sezeRP48BM [»](https://twitter.com/techie_venky/status/459634051151040512) [Siva Narayanan](https://twitter.com/K2_181): Almost nobody is born in august in India! #gids People are fudging birth dates. [»](https://twitter.com/K2_181/status/459634561409114112) [Raj](https://twitter.com/rhpatel99): Thanks #saltmartch for invite such a good speaker. #gids [»](https://twitter.com/rhpatel99/status/459634849834598401) [ujwala](https://twitter.com/ujwala): RT @K2\_181: Almost nobody is born in august in India! #gids People are fudging birth dates. [»](https://twitter.com/ujwala/status/459634911050465280) [Vinod Srinivas](https://twitter.com/vinodsrin): @greatindiandev #gids #Anand was at his best in his session on #Visualisation [»](https://twitter.com/vinodsrin/status/459635259475099648) [Kiran Bhat](https://twitter.com/codejammer): Lets get people to SEE data #Gramener #gids [»](https://twitter.com/codejammer/status/459635373598318592) [Sonali Patnaik](https://twitter.com/sonalimca): #GIDS "lets get people to see data" good session @sanand [»](https://twitter.com/sonalimca/status/459635505521754112) [Amol Khanapurkar](https://twitter.com/amolbpk): Easily the best session at #gids for me by S Anand from http://t.co/1lVuBMpPlW [»](https://twitter.com/amolbpk/status/459635678780084224) [isha jain](https://twitter.com/ishajain88): Amazing facts and awesome session on data visualization by Anand... #gids [»](https://twitter.com/ishajain88/status/459635716721758208) [Kashinath Pai. P.](https://twitter.com/kashi_pai): Absolutely mind blowing presentation by s anand #GIDS [»](https://twitter.com/kashi_pai/status/459635830773252097) [Sundarraj Kaushik](https://twitter.com/xksund): Thanks to Anand S for a marvellous and pertinent presentation at #gids 2014 [»](https://twitter.com/xksund/status/459635843549102080) [Naresha](https://twitter.com/naresha_k): @sanand0 Those were amazing visualizations of data. One of the best sessions of #gids. [»](https://twitter.com/naresha_k/status/459635935521415169) [Amol Khanapurkar](https://twitter.com/amolbpk): Data visualization can provide insights that no amount of analytic processing can hope to provide. #gids [»](https://twitter.com/amolbpk/status/459635994653130752) [Vijay Singh](https://twitter.com/vijaysingh0507): Session on big data visualisation was a joy ride #gids [»](https://twitter.com/vijaysingh0507/status/459636075452182528) [Mrugen Deshmukh](https://twitter.com/mrugenmike): @Gramener Most entertaining talk yet. by S. Anand #gids [»](https://twitter.com/mrugenmike/status/459636587396341760) [Kashinath Pai. P.](https://twitter.com/kashi_pai): Wonderful work @greatindiandev . inviting @sanand0 was absolutely amazing. #GIDS [»](https://twitter.com/kashi_pai/status/459636677305462784) [Sachin](https://twitter.com/Sachin_S_Nayak): That was an really awesome session on big data visualisation.. Had fun... #gids [»](https://twitter.com/Sachin_S_Nayak/status/459637281641750528) [ARAVIND CHEKKALURE](https://twitter.com/aravind_oopl): Its reLy gd session by anand on visualizatg Bigdata..but never touch any tools and technologis. DisAptD #gids [»](https://twitter.com/aravind_oopl/status/459639020684070912) [Harpreet Singh](https://twitter.com/harpreet2212): Great session by anand Add visualisation to data to make it information #gids [»](https://twitter.com/harpreet2212/status/459641823741616128) [Raja Guru T](https://twitter.com/rajaguru_t): #gids thing of awesomeness visualization of large data. Lovely session by Anand. Way to go Saltmarch. Loving it. [»](https://twitter.com/rajaguru_t/status/459642904441393152) [Raja Guru T](https://twitter.com/rajaguru_t): RT @ujwala: Visualizing big data session is very very interesting. Nicely done. #gids [»](https://twitter.com/rajaguru_t/status/459644286234267649) [Prashanth](https://twitter.com/ypkonline1): #gids data visualization session was amazing [»](https://twitter.com/ypkonline1/status/459644633363283968) [Subhashish Dutta](https://twitter.com/subhashishdutta): At #gids today, awesome visualization of some big data in the Indian context by Anand of Gramener. [»](https://twitter.com/subhashishdutta/status/459645727548137472) [Japesh Thyagarajan](https://twitter.com/JapeshT): An impressive and fun session from Anand on Visualising Big Data, amazing illustration of Election and Education system , Hats off #GIDS [»](https://twitter.com/JapeshT/status/459649189454950401) [Raj](https://twitter.com/rhpatel99): I must say visualization of big data best session of #gids [»](https://twitter.com/rhpatel99/status/459652203444449282) Apart from being able to preserve comments, I get to hear of this feedback a lot quicker than on a blog. What I miss, though, is discoverability. When I blog, search engines index the content for anyone to find. I still get relevant comments on 15-year old blog posts. That, I suspect, will not be the case even for recorded talks. But in any case, I’m afraid I will continue blogging less and speaking more over the course of the next few years. Please bear with me until then! --- ## Comments - **deepan** _29 Apr 2014 12:37 pm_: My hunch was that since you started your own company, you are engrossed with lot of work. Thank you for the update, do continue blogging. - **Shankar V** _30 Apr 2014 2:15 pm_: I do miss your blog posts though! :) I did check some of your youtube videos and and I liked the ones on data visualization quite a bit. I am working on a product that tries to grab relevant data from twitter feeds and use that as part of its forecasting functionality. I was able to gather some useful insights in those. Of course, my product does not need visualization techniques - like the ones you have used in your seminars. :) - **Bargava** _15 May 2014 3:12 pm_: Really miss your interesting articles. Your talks are brilliant and interesting. It would be good if you would post some link articles/ talks that you attended/ presentations you did/presentations you found useful somewhere (preferably in this blog). - **Vasudevan Panhavoor** _19 Feb 2015 4:16 pm_: Your talk today at Scope international was very interesting.opened lot of new windows of thought and insight.Thanks