An idea pops into her head. She plans out her next blog post, anticipation building as the pieces fall together. This blogger can’t wait to share her latest update with the world.

The trend of blogging, or contributing to a constantly updated website with articles and multimedia, has grown very popular as technology advances. As the trend spreads, students find different motivations to blog and share their opinion with others. Though the more common themes for blogging include travel, fashion, and food, SM students have proven that there are more unique things to blog about.

Travel, Fashion, and Food

“It’s really hard for students to live balanced lives because school’s such a big priority,” said senior Mara Coleman. “But it’s important to mix in going to new places and trying new things and expanding the world we live in.”

Coleman emphasizes balance with her blog, Life in Style, which she creates through a website called Weebly. Weebly is free as opposed to some bloggers’ Internet domains that cost money to operate.

“It’s called Life in Style because I wanted to do a lifestyle blog and give tips on how to live a balanced life,” Coleman said. “I also like fashion so that’s why I called it that.”

Once she got past the initial awkwardness of sharing her site with others, Sjoberg was able to realize exactly what she wanted her blog to be for herself and for her audience.

“[My blog is] for myself to be able to remember the time[s] I traveled or the food that I ate, but it’s also to express them to other people,” said Sjoberg.

As opposed to Coleman, Sjoberg uses the blog operating website, Squarespace, a paid service that offers many different options for bloggers of all kinds. Sjoberg enjoys posting about her travels, food, fashion and her other fun experiences while sharing her open-minded outlook on life.

“I try to communicate that it’s ok to try new things,” said Sjoberg, “trying new things is really beneficial, rather than staying in the same routine.”

Promoting Awareness, and Commentary on Current Issues

“I have been writing angsty rants in my notes section for years,” said senior Caroline Cai. “I j just started uploading them onto a blog around summer of last year.”

Cai’s blog, “Staying Woke”, promotes awareness of one’s sociopolitical surroundings and important issues in the world. Although Cai doesn’t constantly advertise her blog, it still receives attention from friends and peers.

“I wanted to share my opinions in a way that was more polished than just speaking in fragments to different people, tweeting or through social media,” said Cai. I wanted to actually consolidate my words into a nice whole piece that is coherent and eloquent.”

Cai uses Wix to update her free domain. She shares her perspective on diverse topics that range from Beyoncé to the presidential election. She enjoys using her blog as a personal outlet for expressing herself.

“Writing about something you’re passionate about, it’s kind of just like a stream of consciousness because you’re on a roll once you start writing and it’s very fulfilling” Cai said.

Humor and Life Lessons

Senior Sara Khoshniyati also blogs, but she writes about moments of extreme bad luck in her life. Often these incidences come from perfect storms and turn into hilarious stories.

“I [like] the fact that you can write something down and put it on the internet for so many people to see,” said Khoshniyati. ” I forget about things that happen to me so I like having a collection of events all on one website.”

Khoshniyati uses Weebly, a free domain to update the world on her unfortunate moments. Weebly also allows the creation of customized URLs, however Khoshniyati chose to keep the Weebly.com. This fun format of blogging keeps her voice humorous when she tells her stories.

“My favorite story was probably my ambulance ride just because it happened at school and I fainted,” Khoshniyati said. “It was a crazy series of events and I specifically asked [the paramedic] what happened because I knew I had to put it in my blog.”

Khoshniyati advertises her blog updates with her finsta, or fake instagram account, on Instagram. She enjoys the fun and triviality of raising awareness for her blog. the ambulance ride was not her only case of bad luck.

“I have blogged about my house catching on fire, accidently driving to LA and almost drowning,” Khoshniyati said.

Khoshniyati’s blog began as a more personal website, however it has expanded to include incidents of bad luck beyond solely her own. While on the surface it may seem like she only focuses on the negative sides of life, Khoshniyati also focuses on the positive aspects.

“I usually like to make it positive at the end, just because everything is a little too negative in some stories,” Khoshniyati said. “So I like to say [what] I learned from it. And I like to think that people are learning from my mistakes, so I think that’s the positive message in my tough luck.”