Uh…no…that's "Blogging".
Remember the character of Roseanne Rosanna Dana on Saturday Night Live? She'd do a commentary bit on the "news" and opine on some issue that upset her. She'd go on and on complaining only to find out she got the word wrong…making her whole diatrab meaningless...and then she'd say…. "Never mind".
That's how I felt when I realized I was wrong about "blogging" being the same as "bragging".
I first heard about Blogging on radio talk and TV news shows. I thought it was another fad that I'd hear about for awhile and then would pass...just another chance for a egocentric Bill O'Reily/Rush Limbaugh types to brag and pontificate further on whatever they usually bragged and pontificated about. I thought blogging was another word for bragging online. Sort of a narcissistic soapbox website where you can write what you think and what you feel and put it up for the whole world to see...and that there's a good chance no one cares about.
And, I guess…in a way…it is!
But then I started getting blog links from people I know. Like my niece, for example. And some of them were interesting and fun. Just like MySpace and Facebook started for young people to connect socially, blogs seemingly started out at the other end of the computer savvy demographic spectrum; going from older people to younger. My niece's blogs are analogous to the "Holiday Letters" some people send annually, in that they update everyone on what's going on. But because they can be accessed by her…and us anytime, she updates them often and Grandma and Grandpa and all of us out-of-towners can stay connected to her. My daughter is now living in San Francisco, and I can stay connected to her through Face book and MySpace. And now, she to me through my MySpace and my blogs. It's cool.
It's also cool that now if someone wants information on any subject from cooking, to dating to medical advice to pop culture...they can do a google search and at some point, one of the results will be a blog...and maybe a helpful one.
If you told me even a year ago I'd be doing this kind of writing online, I wouldn't have believed you. It seemed like some alien technology I couldn't grasp. Then my boss at the radio station told me that our online new site had many of the personalities blogging, and suggested I should too. I noticed many radio other station personalities had links to blogs on their sites as well. Our News Director here writes a political commentary blog. Our IT guy writes a tech blog, and another staffer writes on pop culture. My boss has a great one on wine. When I admitted that I had already started a personal blog with thoughts on love, life, career, relationships and family, it was suggested I post it.
I guess I'm hoping maybe someone will find something I write relatable, interesting, entertaining or at least thought-provoking. I'm thinking maybe some of my musings will strike a chord, make people feel better, or at least think. For someone who loves to write—and always dreamed of publishing a book...writing a blog may be as close as I ever get.
Narcissistic? Maybe. But that's what blogging is all about.
And for now, that's ok.
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