benjaminchristen

Why Blogging is better than personal websites of the 90s

Blogging

I was talking with a friend about my new found interests in blogging and they compared blogging to the early web filled with arcane personal web pages.  Well, I feel that there are certainly similarities (random people posting about random things, most of which, no one cares about), but, I do feel that blogging is better than that.  Thus, here are some of my reasons (in a quasi-order):

  1. Community

  2. I feel some of the real power of blogs comes from the communities that are formed and the networking connections that can be made.  E.g., bloggers who have been laid off (if their blog proves their tech skills) are given job leads in their blog comments. Conversation, dialogue and debate

  • Syndication (standards)
  1. Syndication allows us to not have to go to every crap site to get our content.  We know when something Content can now come on our own terms--making it all the more accessible.
  • Search
  1. With Google and the other search engines, the web has become much more manageable.  We can now find those random corners of the web that interest only us and the person who created the site.  Also, sites like Technorati specialize in allowing us to find that specific blogger who actually linked to one of your own posts.
  • Publishing Tools
  1. It's just so easy to create a blog, and a nice, well designed blog (if you choose the right template) that doesn't have those crappy blinking smiley faces
  • Continued Growth of the Web
  1. As the web gets bigger, more people are involved, more money is involved, better tools/sites are built and it's faster and more available

There are plenty of other reasons, but these are some that first came to mind.  It was an interesting thinking point to question the validity of blogging.  Blogging is definitely catching on (I'm doing it) and I believe there is still a ways to go.  It's sort of like looking at old pictures and laughing about how we dressed in previous decades -- looking back at the websites we had and thinking -- ugh, did we really build that crap?  And of course we can't help but wonder if we'll think the same thing in 5 years about the blogs of today!  Anyway, blog on!