The internet changed the world. When it began to be used widely by the public in the early 90s, the World Wide Web connected us irrevocably. No other invention has had as much of an impact on human culture. A tech revolution has ensued and the collective effect of the advance of technology and its meaning for the human race is staggering to try and comprehend.
Part of what has changed due to this massive cultural shift is our attitude towards time. How humans change is one of the most interesting topics to study, as it requires a tricky kind of self-reflective sensitivity. As we collectively work to understand how to use the new modes of communication to our advantage, old habits and desires wait to be fulfilled in new ways. Narcissus looking at an iPad.
The word Blog has never struck me as attractive in any way. All of the connotations it brings up for me are negative: a bog, a log, blah, swampy slimy nerd shit. I have never wanted to be a blogger. That always sounds like an insult. This is where technologists have failed miserably: in the poetry of tech. Web log becomes blog, a broadcast you can listen to on your iPod becomes a podcast. Do iPods even exist anymore? It doesn’t matter. Once a name has taken hold, it sticks.
Why are the most profoundly powerful aspects of this new technology so badly named? Walt Whitman self-published Leaves of Grass. The blogosphere should be a place where masterpieces of literature are being created experimentally. Instead, it comes across as lower level than a local editorial column.
I remember at one point jokingly naming my own blog a bjournal. My thinking was that if we had someone who cared more about words, then it would have been called a web journal or a bjournal. That never really caught on, partly because people don’t understand that blog is web log shortened, so when they see bjournal it doesn’t make sense to them. The inside joke is all there, but nobody catches on or cares.
This is because we are still getting used to the idea that the gatekeepers were wrong a lot of the time. We relied upon a system of cultural production that forced creators to work in a system that perverted their visions. Now that we have the ability for a creator to go directly to the public, we are seeing better and better results.
The people who saw the opportunities provided by the blog space took advantage and have created some amazing media conglomerates. The Huffington Post began as a blog. There was an era when blogs were able to turn into full-fledged media empires. Fifty Cent didn’t give two shits about the name blog, he turned his site into a hub of culture.
Joe Rogan started out on the Internet as a blogger. There is a natural progression from blogger to podcaster, but I think that they both are still incredibly important. Rogan is an advocate of writing, but he doesn’t publish his thoughts anymore. Still, that might be what he could bring back into rotation that would make his program even more compelling.
When it comes to creating content, there is no replacement for good writing. The writing is fundamental to the form, the content to the design. A blog is just a place to share writing. It is an idea generator, a conversation starter, and a repository of your thoughts and work.
Every brand, every content creator, every organization should be using a blog to publish their ideas. This helps to keep new ideas coming into circulation, and it keeps the public aware of the vitality and originality of the brand. Whether you love or hate the term blog, the function of publishing your ideas on a regular basis is a stimulant to growth and an invitation to positive networking. Not to mention the SEO.
More important than getting noticed, however, is the work it takes to improve and that can show more clearly than anywhere else in the archives of a blog. Leave your trail of breadcrumbs, create your own routes through this digital forest and inspire others to form their own sense of creative agency. It’s all about the blog, baby.