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I'm sure the Web will be inundated with this, but it's something I didn't know until today, Aug. 1.
It's the 10th anniversary of blogging. Rah, rah, etc. Hip-hip hooray and all that.
Let's give all bloggers the birthday bumps. Alert the media. Stop the presses. Let's get it on CNN, Entertainment Tonight. No, wait! We're not stars! We're just ordinary people! Oh, OK. Forget it then.
Yada, yada, yada.
I am excited about this, actually, but only on a personal level.
I don't much are about the World Wide Web's main features, although they are useful.
I tend to avoid the dribs and drabs and crapola that get 220,000 results when you Google them, although you might want to check out this Wall Street Journal piece:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118436667045766268.html
All that blogging means to me is my exchanges with people like Homo Escapeons, Laurie, Keshi, Dinahmow, Aidan, Stace, Ziggi, Cherrypie, Pam, Gautami, Andrea, MJ, Bibi, Anna, Divian, Clare, Lee, Angel, Hildegarde, Shelly, Menchie and others.
And this element of blogging -- which to me is what blogging is all about, the mostly warm, engaging exchange of ideas and lives -- was sadly lacking in one Canadian Broadcasting Corporation report I saw today.
What they talked about was the 10 per cent of famous people who blog and who want to connect with their public and the other 90 per cent, they said, who blog more or less just for their families and friends.
Almost as a replacement for emails, one analyst described it as. What a doink.
Later in the report, there was a reference to those people who blog just to get news on the Internet...news of an earthquake they felt, or news of a massive fire they witnessed, whatever.
There was no mention at all of people like us...
...People who blog just to get their own thoughts and feelings and lives out on the Web, who seek out exchanges with other people from the planet in an open, caring way, who develop relationships the UN can only dream about.
The mass media, really, seems not to have a clue about what blogging's REALLY all about.
They can't acknowledge that for some people, they and what they report on and how they report it are so inconsequential.
They don't get it. But we do. And they're ignoring us.
It's ridiculous.
Thanks for the link, WW. Interesting stuff. Yes, it's for a feeling of community and I think the "community blogosphere," to which we belong, must be growing every day. So many of these articles are written by non-bloggers who don't really get the deeper qualities.
ReplyDeleteIn my little niche (art), to which I only loosely adhere, the first blogs to lose my interest are the self-promotion blogs. It's those who talk about the Art Life that are way more interesting, but finding good art blogs is really hard and why more than 75% of the ones I read aren't by artists.
You're right, they don't get it. And I'm ok with that. What's important to me is that I get it and you get it and so do most of the bloggers whom I read on a regular basis.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I love Annie Lennox live. I admire her voice, her image of strength and beauty... I could go on and on. I want to be more like Annie Lennox.
Nice piece of insightful writing here. All over the globe, I am sure there are other "groups" of bloggers who tend to stay with their own kind, much as we do.
ReplyDeleteI was talking one day to a non-blogger about the wonderful connections that are made. And this woman said, with a frown, "But how boring! To talk to the same people all the time!" I asked if she reads a newspaper and her answer, in a crisp, positive tone, was "Of course.I have my 'Herald' delivered every day!"
And there, I think, lies the problem.She does not venture beyond the opinions expressed in her Herald. We, on the other hand, can argue and rant (amicably,for the most part!)in diverse company.
Happy Blogday to all of us!
Well Happy Anniversary to us! Who cares what those silly people think?
ReplyDeleteLike you, I love the people I interact with on the web.
Nicely written, WW, and I concur absolutely. Now I'm going back to bed with my bucket.
ReplyDeleteWaaaaaaahhhh...
**There was no mention at all of people like us...
ReplyDeletemost prolly cos the ppl who did that report arent like us. :) Tell em to give us an opp to do that report...just imagine that! hehehe...
HUGGGGGGGZ!
Keshi.
I believe the blogs that garner the most attention via the 'real' journalistic world, are those that talk about politics and/or celebrity gossip.
ReplyDeleteSince we do neither (usually) then we're hardly noticed. Although I did get an invitation to attend a Seattle's Blogger party at our local ABC television affiliate here in Seattle. It was held this evening. I didn't go.
No, many people don't get it - but hey it's their loss and if they have an enquiring and empathic mind they'll find their way here sometime and will be welcome -
ReplyDelete(well maybe ;o) )-
meanwhile if I have to read anymore blogs I won't have time to do anything else!
I consider all my visitors my friends - I hope that's not presumtious, talking of which, your teeth are making an appearance on Cherrypie's blog WW!
Go US!
ReplyDeleteI don't want the great unwashed to spoil it. Let them think that we are all sittin' in our jammies scratchin' ourselves and posting pictures of our cat's boils.
A decade eh....I'm glad that I caught the bug because all of these cool people have enriched my life and opened my eyes.
Let them eat cake!
One other thing...we share our special day with equine greats. How cool is that!
ReplyDeleteWow 10 years!:)
ReplyDeleteLaura
Andrea:
ReplyDeleteA feeling of community indeed. I don't know if it's growing...didn't HE post a while ago about the numbers having hit their apex?
Anyway, I agree...so many people don't get it because they don't do it.
Yours is the only "art-related" blog I visit because you combine art and your life and just life in general. It's an education.
Anna:
Exactly, and well said.
Annie Lennox is unbelievable, ain't she?
Dinahmow:
That's what I wondered, myself.
I assume there ARE other little pods of bloggers that seem to have found each other and, for the most part, stick together.
It's cool!
And I think your characterization of the woman and her Herald are bang on.
People don't seem to be open to something new or different unless they somehow try it themselves.
Otherwise, out of sight, out of mind.
Menchie:
Yeah, who cares?
Laurie:
Make sure you empty it early and often...
Keshi:
Yep, you're right on. They're not "like us." And that's OK...but then don't try to write "about us" without giving us some input...
Pam:
Yep, I'm with you. I think the big blogs, for the most part, have a particular motivation in mind, and it makes a ka-ching ka-ching sound.
Were you making a statement by not going to that bloggers party?
The thing is, if we try to be like the mainstream media, it doesn't work. You get assimilated.
This is all about speaking as an individual.
By the way Chris,I love that photo at the top of your blog. Its beautiful!
ReplyDeleteLaura
Ziggi:
ReplyDeleteI agree, they'd be welcome...but they'd best observe first and get the lay of the land.
Your belief that your bloggers are your friends isn't presumptious at all. But what the heck could my teeth be doing on Cherrypie's blog?
HE:
Yes, the great unwashed...spoiling it. Hear hear...
Dinahmow:
Equine greats? Huh?
Laura:
Yeah, 10 years...and you STILL don't have a blog of your own!!!
Laura:
ReplyDeleteThat photo was taken just a week or two ago at Lake Winnipeg, about an hour's drive north of here.
My youngest brother, Gerry, took that shot. Those are members of my family swimming at sunset.
We were all there because my other brother, Doug, was in town with his girlfriend and two of his kids.
My middle sister, Lisa, and her hubby Darren have a cottage up there. It's fantastic.
Gerry just last night sent me a bigger photo so I've put that up on the banner now.
There's another photo that I like even more, but I'm saving that one for later :-)
Ziggi:
ReplyDeleteHA HA HA! I finally figured out what you meant by my teeth making an appearance on CP's blog!
Like I said to Cherrypie, those ARE my teeth, dammit! And I want 'em back!
(Actually, he's got an even bigger space than I do; but I love him already, he didn't get 'em straightened)
Thanks for inviting us into your world, I love hearing your adventures anecdotes, political satire and hair do stories.
ReplyDeleteYou are one of the many people who truly enrich my life just by being in... And we have blogging to thank!
Hi W.W.! I love the new photo for your blog header -- really beautiful! And I really like what you wrote about blogging. I've only been blogging since February -- and it has been the richest and most enjoyable thing in the world. And I adore the people I've met -- like YOU and others from around the world. To share stories, humor, creativity, heartbreak, ideas, world events, humanity, compassion, our travels,and this wild and crazy journey called life with each other is such a gift and I am so grateful for it. I know people who don't understand it -- and it's their loss. But for all of us who do know the magic of it, Happy Blogging Anniversary to us. Thank you W.W. for bringing this up!
ReplyDelete:)
Aidan:
ReplyDeleteAw, garsh, uhm all embarrassed-like now...
Thank YOU, mate.
Clare:
That pic was taken by my youngest brother just a couple of weeks ago looking out on to Lake Winnipeg.
It's the 22nd largest freshwater lake in the world (he says, proudly thumping his chest and coughing).
You might not have been a blogger for a long time, but you sure seem to fit right in.
I'm glad you're here.
those are talented teeth eh? :o)
ReplyDeleteoh boy do i wish i'd discovered this ten years ago!!!
ReplyDeleteand you are so right dude- brilliant post!
Ziggi:
ReplyDeleteThey can do many things, those objects inside my mouth...
Angel:
Yeah, but don't you think you might be bored of it by now if you had?
:-)
They are ignoring us, but I do not feel ignored. What do I need with mass media, what care I for the opinions of twats? I am part of this wonderful community, and it does not ignore me. All is well with the world :)
ReplyDeleteStace:
ReplyDeleteI love what you said here: "I do not feel ignored." And here: "I am part of this wonderful community, and it does not ignore me."
Brilliant.
Maybe that's one of the things blogging's mostly all about.
The sensation of being ignored by the wider world, but finding here a sense of NOT being ignored...
Of being listened to. And being able to offer opinions on others' thoughts after listening to them, and that being acknowledged.
:-)
A-GREED, 100%!!
ReplyDeleteTidalgrrrl:
ReplyDeleteAW-RIGHT!
:-)