[thelist] What's with this blog thing, anyway?

Arlen.P.Walker at jci.com Arlen.P.Walker at jci.com
Thu Mar 28 17:04:00 CST 2002


>So now they're everywhere, the blogs. I'm wondering if it's some sort of
an
>indicator of what's going on socially on the web, or if it's some sort of
an
>indicator of what's going on economically with web developers.

It's a social phenomenon; as someone else pointed out, it happens
independently of having something to say.

Blogs, in their simplest sense, are publicly available diaries. They
satisfy the voyeuristic impulse of our nature, to peek into other people's
lives, and the exhibitionistic parts of our nature, to expose ourselves to
the public; in both cases with something near to anonymity -- we don't know
who's reading, we don't really know who's writing (as witness, the blog
hoaxes).

Blogs have been happening for years. I was a regular reader of lemonyellow,
for example. There are wonderfully informational blogs, such as Glenn
Fleischmann's 802.11b blog, purely personal ones, such as lemonyellow, and
ones with a mixture of the two, such as Doc Searls. (Yes, I know I didn't
provide the links. That was intentional. Finding a good blog is a good
exercise for the reader; serendipity may strike you along the way.)

The best blogs are fun to read; unfortunately, many are the digital
equivalent of masturbation. My list of either will not be yours. The crop
is spotty, but one rule seems to remain unbroken. There *will* be blogs out
there you will love.

And yes, I have one, too.

Have fun,
Arlen
Chief Managing Director In Charge, Department of Redundancy Department
DNRC 224

Arlen.P.Walker at JCI.Com
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