Blah Blah Blog

How did it happen?

One day there were online journals like Xanga and LiveJournal that publicized a lot of teenagers private thoughts. Today CEO's and journalists are using blogs to communicate with a nearly unlimited audience.

Instead of an online diary, the most popular blogs are sources of information about trends and developments in specific industries. Physical proximity does not limit the conversation. Anyone can contribute to the message and ideas can be bounced from sea to shining sea.

But I can hear my mother, "don't put your personal information out there!" Her fear of sharing too much information is what motivates corporations to hire staff to promote their products and services.

By sharing publicly there is a much wider range of potential input, exponentially greater possibility for feedback, and a blog can be shared instantaneously through Twitter, Facebook, Digg and multitudes of other sources.

Unfortunately, yes there are drawbacks, dear mother. Anything can be posted. Accurate, inaccurate. Confidential. Strategic. Sacred. There's little regulation and generally no filters. It's freedom of speech! With this first amendment right there is a choice: participate or observe. Blogs allow for silent participation and vocal involvement. So if something is blah blah boring, maybe someone should say something about it!

Obviously, I think blogs are great! Ideas and dreams can be shared, deleted, and edited. Nothing is constant and there is a plethora of input. Maybe you feel differently? Are blogs just blah blah blah thoughts or do they actually aid in meaningful conversations? What do you think?

Update: Even the Pope thinks blogging is a good idea... http://mashable.com/2010/01/24/pope-priests-blog/