Blogging isn’t just for geeks – honest.

By January 30, 2005One Comment

I’ve been putting down stuff on wibbler.com for four years now. It’s a quirk that has its perks – through it I’ve met and helped politicians, become a consultant (albeit free, damnit) for other blog enthusiasts and turned into something of an unofficial mouthpiece for the software behind the site.
Of course, blogging is only just emerging as a New Thing – and with it comes the questions. Why do people blog? Isn’t it a bit… geeky? For me, it’s a chance to get all the great and not-so-great things recorded for posterity. But in the last few days I’ve come across two weblogs that really capture the reasons for doing it.
One is Ivan Noble’s Tumour Diary, hosted on the BBC News site. I’ve dipped in and out of his regular updates on life after developing cancer, charting the highs and lows that he goes through. And then, just the other day, he published this entry – telling the world that he is soon to die. Just like that. It really hits you when someone who’s typed those words and who has held your attention for so long is about to leave the mortal coil. The blog’s really worth a read.
The second blog, you’ll be pleased to know, is less morbid. It’s called karmagrrrl, and she’s an American documentary filmmaker. She started the blog as a way of keeping in touch with people she moved away from and her’s is actually a Video Blog – instead of words, she posts videos. And those videos are extremely good, giving a unique insight into her life and American life in general.
See? It’s not just for geeks, I promise.

One Comment

  • To an unofficial mouthpiece, you’re right blogs are not just for geeks. One statistic that is prevelant across the blogging world, from a blogging software perspective, are the number of password protected blogs. These are usually families or groups of friends just sharing their news and photos. Some experts believe that around 30 per cent of blogs are password protected. However this goes unnoticed because the only blogs that are talked about are media driven and/or controversial in their content.

    Not so Geeky after all.

    Alistair

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