Once upon a time, published content was the preserve of journalists or academics. Paid writers.

Not anymore.

There are something like 60m WordPress blogs out there. People blogging away, putting their thoughts out into the world. All for free.

I started blogging a couple of years ago. My early posts were very well received by my mother. Over time, my blogging has developed, and developed me. The process has made me more creative. Made me think harder. More reflective. But before I started my own blog, I was reading those written by others. And there are some amazing bloggers out there, writing about the people stuff. This particular blog post was prompted by a 24 hour period where I read three fantastic blog posts. All very different, but each making me stop and think in their own way.

Blogs are a rich stream of learning. I read them everywhere. On the train, in the bath, walking from one meeting to the next. Ideas, challenges, learning. Straight to the device in my pocket.

How awesome is that?

I go to plenty of events and conferences. I read as many books as I have time for. I listen to speakers. And I will say simply this. A lot of what I read in the free and accessible HR blogging world is better than paid for content.

There are the blogs that I learn from, like the ones written by Kate Griffiths-Lambe and FlipChartRick.

There are the bloggers that challenge me to think, even if I don’t always agree with everything that they say, like the ones from Barry Flack.

There are the bloggers that are brilliant at events, as they capture it all and get it out to you in the moment, like Ian Pettigrew and Helen Amery.

There are the bloggers that take me say ooooh, like Simon Heath, Perry Timms and Neil Usher.

There are the bloggers that post about things that aren’t my main field of people stuff, so have become my more knowledgable others in that space, like Sukh Pabial, David Goddin or Jon Bartlett.

There are the ones that are beautifully written, like those by Julie Drybrough and Megan Peppin.

There are the sometimes irreverent and funny ones, like those by David D’Souza.

There are the blogs that I look forward to landing in my inbox, like the fantastic annual advent series by Alison Chisnell.

There are the posts from the global HR community like those from Steve Brown, Richard Westney, Christopher DeMers that tell me how our challenges are shared, everywhere.

There are the ponderful, personal posts.

A global community of bloggers, sharing generously. There is power in this stuff.

The one thing that bothers me about HR blogging?

It’s a small world. Not enough HR folk are seeing it, benefiting from it. Finding the learning. It has much to offer, but is not yet delivering. There are ideas here, opportunities here, but unless we help get them out to the mainstream, the every day HR professional sat in their office wondering how to tackle the stuff on their desk, we will never realise the potential of social HR, and blogging in particular.

So I’d like to pose (or maybe post) a question to my blogging, social HR colleagues, writing about people stuff. What can we do about it? How do we make this stuff real, useful, accessible?