The Return of Blogging
Do you ever have the sense that something around you is different – that something has changed? Over the last few days I have become increasingly aware that something is going on – that a cog somewhere in the machine that surrounds us has turned.
I keep hearing whispers and murmurings that 'blogging' is making a comeback. I don't mean the traffic chasing niche blogs either – I mean the candid personal journals that proliferated in the early 2000s – intimate records of people's thoughts, ideas, hopes, and dreams.
Perhaps people are rebelling against the established social networks – rebelling against being controlled, constrained, and their information sold. We all have a voice – an identity. We all have so much to contribute – so much to share.
Perhaps the status quo really is changing. Perhaps the very same platforms that democratized the sharing of information on the world wide web have unwittingly forged the path to their own destruction. This is no bad thing.
Nearly two decades ago I was among the first wave posting public journal entries to the internet. At the time we were a curiosity of sorts – seeking each other out, connecting, and forming disparate online communities. Given how steep the learning curve was in terms of setting up a blog, it's amazing how quickly the movement grew. And it WAS a movement – at one time the web was a cauldron of opinions, thoughts, and experiences from all over the world.
In some ways you might describe those that built the first social networks as city builders. People were invited in with promises of ready-made-community, law enforcement, ease of entry, and so on. Few in the cities saw the walls being built around them. Perhaps we can draw parallels between the re-emergence of blogging, and the inevitable exodus that happens from all cities when they reach a given size – for some, city life just doesn't work.
For the first time in a long time, I'm looking forward to what might happen next.