Ricky's Ramblings

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February 01, 2005

Blogging

The recent popularity of blogging is pretty interesting, if you think about it. Actually, it's pretty interesting whether you think about it or not, because plenty of other people are thinking about it.

For those of you who aren't on the DL, "blog" is short for "web log". A web log is sort of like my What I Think page, only most blogs are considerably longer and don't always start off with the same two words. Some are geared toward particular topics, like sports or politics. Some include pictures; some are almost entirely pictures. An entire subweb has developed for people who use their camera phones to take pictures of their daily life and post the pictures so that others will feel better about how boring their lives are. Some blogs are written by freelance writers who want to get attention to their work. Some are pretty popular and are almost a web-based magazine. Most are read by one or two of the bloggers' friends, and that's about it.

By the way, DL is short for "down-low".

Ricky's Ramblings could also be considered a seldom-updated blog, but then again, to some, that's an oxy moron. Also, it seems most blogs are more diary-like that anything I do. If I ever start posting things like "I think the traffic on the way to work this morning wasn't very bad....I saw a funny bumper sticker....I left off the cover page of the TPS report at work...Subway was out of sweet onion sauce...", please shoot me.

At any rate, I think it's both cool and weird that so many people want to express their opinions on the internet. Of course, most bloggers are delusional and think people actually care what they think, which is generally not true. I am under no such delusion. My web pages have a very small number of viewers, and I'm okay with that. Frankly, I'd be a little weirded out by having tons of people I didn't know reading my pages. That's part of why the whole blogging thing is so weird...back in the notebook days, didn't people freak out when someone else read something from their journal or diary? Why is it different on the internet? Is it because of the anonymity?

The media has gotten so excited about blogging that they actually have bloggers writing stuff for major websites, like ESPN or CNN. CNN had some bloggers writing during all of the presidential debates.

I will continue to always mock people who think that the rest of the world cares about their opinions, but at the same time, I'm glad that they have a place to share them now. Once my plan for world domination comes to fruition and I rule the world, all of the blogs will look about the same, because everyone will share my opinions about everything.