Using 'I' and 'we' in a blog or business

Darren: Hi there, it’s Darren from ProBlogger. I’d like to welcome you to Episode 124 of the ProBlogger Podcast. 

Today, we’re going to talk about “We’s” and “I’s.” Not “we’s” and “I’s” but we’re going to talk about using the word “we” and “I.” It’s a question from Sally, one of our readers. I’ll play it for you in a moment. 

Before I do, a couple of housekeeping things that I want to mention. Firstly, I am on a beach in Thailand, just thought I’d slip that one in. I’ve recorded this one earlier. Today’s show notes are at problogger.com/podcast/124. I’m still on a beach in Thailand. You can check out my Instagram @darrenrowse. I’m sure I’ll be sharing some photos of that beach over there. Thirdly, if you’d like to join us at our ProBlogger event on the Gold Coast here in Australia, on the 9th and 10th of September, you have just under two weeks left to save $100 on your ticket for that. You can check out all the details of that amazing event and the peak of what we do at ProBlogger every year. You can check out all the details of that over probloggerevents.com.

Don’t wait too long because on the first day of July, to get prices, we’ll go up to $100. If you’re waiting for information on the virtual event tickets, hold on because after the first of July, we will release details on where you can pick up a virtual ticket. 

Now, I want to play you a little question from Sally. It’s not her real name. She asked me to keep her real name private. I understand why. She asked this really interesting little question. This is going to be a short episode today, I promise. I do have some stuff to say about whether we should use the word “we” or “I” when blogging.

Sally: Hi, Darren. Thanks for the great work you do. I’m learning so much from listening to your blog and your podcast. I have a question. I’m starting out as a blogger. It’s just me. I don’t have an assistant, I don’t have a team. I don’t really have a need to convey that I’m any bigger than I am. I’m comfortable saying, “I.” I noticed all over the internet, people use, “We.” Like, “Contact us. Here’s what we do.” Often after poking around the site, you’ll realize that that person saying “we” is really just one person but they’re still saying “we.” 

Is it better to make it seem like you’re a “we”? Like you’re more than one person? Or, is it, which in my opinion, is inauthentic? Should I just say “I” until I get an assistant and grow a team? Then, we become a “we.” What’s your opinion on that?

Darren: Thanks for your question, Sally. I think it’s actually a good one. I hope Sally’s not your real name. I’ve just given it to you, I have to say. Anyway, I’m sure that a lot of bloggers can relate to this question. I know there’s been a few times where I’ve been speaking at a conference and people have picked me up on this exact thing. They’ve actually said things like, “You’ve just mentioned ‘we’ but is it just you or is there actually a team behind what you do?” I know this is something I’ve slipped up on at times. I’m going to tell you two ways that I’ve slipped up on it in a moment.

For me, yes. I found myself starting to slip into the “we” even though it’s just an “I” in the early days of my blog. My blogs, I’ve slid in to them being a collaborative thing. It was quite early on. While for the first couple, maybe even three years of my blog, I was the only one really blogging. I did have people helping out just because they were helpful people. I had someone help out. Rachel kind of helped me out with the design of my first blog—helping out with the backend. Her husband started to help me with the server of it even though I wasn’t really paying them to do it, they were just helping me out.

There were other people who occasionally would write guest posts. I guess things became a little bit more collaborative even though it was just really me. It was just my business even when I started as a business. It was just really me. There was this sense in my mind that at least other people who were part of it. I don’t think I was trying to project that I was bigger than I was, it’s just the way that I felt about what I was doing. It was more of a reflection of that collaborative nature. 

It was also the readers as well. When you started talking about your blog, sometimes, you start thinking about your community. I would sometimes slip into “we” with that as well. 

In time, my blog did begin to feature regular guest writers. I did start to get people to help me with moderation. All that started as a volunteer basis in the early days. Gradually, overtime, I began to hire people as well. It definitely did become a “we.” I’m not exactly sure when that happened. I guess the reason I’m telling you this story is that, for me, I slipped into the “we”. I don’t know where it began and ended. Was it when I hired someone or was it when I started to get people help me out in different ways? I guess I want to share that story partly to give a little bit of context to why some people possibly use “we” when they are just an “I.” 

I struggle with this on the other side of things, today, a little bit too. Sometimes when I’m talking about my blog, I use the word “I,” then have to correct myself because it’s not just me anymore. I might talk about a blog post that I wrote. Whilst I did write it, I’ve had a team of other people look at it, edit it, and proofread it, maybe even design an image for it. It’s become a little bit of a collaborative experience as well. Sometimes, I struggle with the other side of the question as well.

In terms of my advice on this question, personally, I would love to hear what other people think about this. I think there’ll be some real wisdom in our community on this question. My advice on this, I think it’s probably good to be as accurate as possible, and as transparent as you can with your readers on this particular question. I actually think that sometimes when you use the word “I” and you talk about your business as just you, that actually can make you a little bit more relatable with your audience. I know on ProBlogger, that certainly has been the case over the years. Sometimes, when I do use the word “we” I wonder where that makes me relatable to people who don’t have a team yet. I have to do that because I’m just going to be true to myself as well.

Be as accurate as you can. Be transparent. You can do that not just with the language you use but also showing people what you’re doing—showing photos, showing your offers, these types of things as well can help in being more relatable to show people that you aren’t the polished brand that everyone might think you are. 

The last piece of advice I’ll give you is that there would probably come a time where “I” turned into “we.” You’ve just got to go with that as a little bit of a muddled process as well. Be kind to yourself and to each other in that particular one as well. At that point, when you are making that transition between “I” and “we”, I guess transparency’s probably really good there as well. 

I remember in the early days of my own blogs when I did begin to get people come on to help me moderate comments, I actually had someone volunteer who really loved Digital Photography School, wanted to help with the moderation. She was just like, “You’ve helped me so much. I want to help out in any way.” I wasn’t in a position at that point to pay her but we did send her some gifts from time to time.

I talked to my audience about the fact that we now had this little team going on. I share that journey with my readers. I guess it’s about being transparent in that way as well. It takes some getting used to. I still slip up on this today. I can’t understand where people are coming from as well.

I hope that makes sense. I would love to hear other people’s opinion on this one. When did you start using “we”? Or have you slipped into using “we” when you shouldn’t? You used “I” when you shouldn’t as well. Do you have any views on when the time should be? Is it when you hire someone? Is it when they volunteer? Is it when you get more than one reader and your blog becomes a “we” in that way?

I don’t know what the answer is particularly but I’d love to hear what other people think over today’s show notes at problogger.com/podcast/124. I’ll chat with you in a couple of days time in Episode 125.

Before I go, I want to give a big shout out, and say thank you to Craig Hewitt and the team at PodcastMotor who’d been editing all of our podcasts for some time now. PodcastMotor have a great range of service for podcasters at all levels. They can help you to set up your podcast but also offer a couple of excellent services to help you to edit your shows and get them up with great show notes. Check them out at podcastmotor.com.