To begin, why do we blog?
To be honest, all these options, “tagging”, “pages”, posts” and such have completely baffled me. I have no idea how to organize a nice working blog, so it’s just going to have to be a bit rubbish until i figure it out. And what is a “widget”? I think that makes me completely out of touch with modern society. I don’t care, it’s a stupid sounding word anyway…
Anyway, “old man moment” over, I reckon the best way to start is the whole process of blogging, namely, why are we strangely compelled to publish our thoughts on an open medium? Actually, I think it’s fairly simple: because we want our opinions to matter, and be heard. The internet’s capability for social networking, youtube, blogging etc is quite an amazing phenomenon, giving anyone the chance to express themselves in an (almost) uncensored environment. It gives the “everyman” the ability to be of “importance”, having access to an arena only a minority had previously, i.e the organized media.
This, of course, leads to a multitude of diverse opinions, exteme political views and bigotry to be given a platform too, but it depends on an individuals stance on freedom of speech to decide whethere it is a worth-while sacrifice.
I find it odd, on a person level, the way in which I decided on setting up this blog, and why I did it? Just as those mentioned, I did it because i believe my own observations and theories are important and valid enough that another human being, mostly strangers, would get something out of reading what I think. It’s a very egotistical motive, which is unsettling, but I am unsure whether it comes from an inflated sense of intellectual self-worth or, alternitively, a lack of confidence. It’s probably a bit of both. I’m not writing this blog in a desperate “Look at me! Look at me!” sort of way, but the chance for discussion and exchange of views, hopefully, with a dynamic and diverse audience. This, I admit, is also a way of stroking ones ego, but I believe it is healthy in moderation, esspecially when you recognise when it’s there.
Okay, at least I’ve made a start. I’ll leave “facebook” for another time.
This entry was posted on August 17, 2008 at 3:04 pm and is filed under Politics/ Media/ Culture, The Web. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.
Tags: blog, blogging, ego, fame, internet, web, widget
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