We all have those typical stereotypes etched into our head when we think about people who put pen to paper for a living.

We think of the struggling writer, alone in a house with a laptop, suffering from writers block and drowning their sorrows because they just cannot finish that novel.

Or the journo’s,  the ones who would step over their own mother, let a lone a colleague for a scoop (I know you are not all like that guys, but I’ve yet to have a positive experience with one so feel free to try and change my mind).

Neither of these paints a very friendly community picture. Competition is rife, and every man is for themselves.

So what about bloggers? Is the blogging community a cut throat community where everyone is competing for the best blog? This new media outlet is taking over the traditional tabloids and new outlets and becoming the forefront of how we get information.

So people will be pleased to know, not only is the blogging market not competitive, but it’s actually friendly. Yes would you believe it, all the thousands upon thousands of bloggers have found a way to work together. Not only does it make for a pleasant working atmosphere, but it also means you can meet other people with the same interests as you (how many of us have friends that point blank fall asleep when we talk about WordPress layouts?).

Rather than decide to compete and compare, early bloggers forged forward and set up a community. That’s right, a community. There are plenty of people reading blogs to go round, and unlike newspapers, which people are fiercely loyal to, most people ‘blog hop’ and read well more than one.

Twitter has become a fabulous tool which is at the forefront of connecting bloggers, and through the use of specific times and hashtags to create ‘chats’ bloggers from all over the world can connect and share ideas.

#bbloggers is a great hashtag, and anytime I need any beauty advice I just ask and use the hashtag, so not only am I connected to people that follow me but loads of beauty bloggers who will pick up the hashtag.

There is another idea which is working out great for connecting bloggers, and the best example is http://www.joeblogsnetwork.com/.

A bloggers network not only connects bloggers to each other, but brands to appropriate bloggers as well. Joes bloggers is a fantastic example. Run  by three bloggers themselves, they understand how hard it can be to do all of your own networking from scratch.

As well as bringing brands to you, they also have fabulous blogger events. I am kicking myself that I have been busy for the last two, because they looked awesome.

This photo is from a recent casino themed night in Missoula, Romford. They do loads of events up and down the country, and unfortunately I missed this as I was in court late (FYI: I am not a criminal, I got called in as a witness).

It’s not just an Essex network, here’s a murder mystery evening in Manchester and Aqua swimming in Edinburgh.

Follow them on Twitter: https://twitter.com/joesbloggers 

It’s not just people setting up specific networks either, companies have caught on too. Lush stores always have great blogging events when they are releasing new stock.

So why is blogging, which should be in effect very competitive actually not?

Well I think the answer lies in the sheer popularity of blogs themselves. There is plenty of room for all of us to get thousands of hits a day, because people rely on the internet for every piece of information.

I can honestly say after a year of blogging, I have had some very positive experiences. There have been a few negatives along the way (a lot of people don’t understand the sheer time, blood sweat and tears I have taken to build up my Twitter account and feel I have cheated them in some way by using this to get traffic and readers – these are the people who’s blogs are crap), but in the most part, I have experienced nothing but lovely, friendly people who are nothing but helpful.

Mind you, I do luckily come from the region of the great Essex Bloggers, so maybe that’s why!