I think Dave Winer really nails it with this quote and elaboration:¹

A.J. Liebling said, famously: ”Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one.” That’s so true, and with blogging everyone can own their own, and therefore be free. However, we’re trading that in for a bit more engagement.

– Dave Winer. (2015)

I will link to this post on twitter so likely most of you who read it will find it there. You’re likely tweeting quite a lot yourself, and that is a good thing. I don’t think you should stop tweeting, and I’m pretty sure Dave doesn’t think that either. I am, however, saying that you should also use your own ”printing press” from time to time.

Use your blog for some of your writing!² Don’t have a blog? Get one!

I have a lot of bad things to say about WordPress, but if you want an easy-to-setup, easy-to-manage blog you should give it a try. (This site is a WordPress site.) It’s optimal if you self-host it. That way you definitely own every word on it.

Don’t feel like self-hosting? Get an account at WordPress.com. Yes, you are using somebody else’s ”printing press” but at least that somebody is somebody who is dedicated to open publishing and to ensure that you own what you write and that you can write whatever the hell you want.

Afraid that nobody will read what you write if it’s not on Twitter or Facebook or Instagram or [insert whatever]? Write in on your blog and then link to it on your social networks of choice?

You can even use a tool such as Dave’s Radio3 that allows you to make a link blog, or a list of short status updates, and simultaneously publish to Twitter, Facebook, WordPress and an RSS-feed. It’s a great tool that I use for most of my tweeting these days. That way, what I tweet also ends of as link-posts or status-posts here on the blog as well.

But what if I really don’t like WordPress?

There are other options, for both self-hosted and hosted solutions. If you decide to go with a hosted one, the most important thing is to make sure that it has a clear and easy way for you to export everything you write in full fidelity.