The History of Blogging

ContentThe days of locked diaries and bound journals tucked under mattresses have given way to Internet blogging. Unlike the journals and diaries of years past, blogging opens up people’s lives to anyone else who is interested in them. While it may seem that everyone has a blog nowadays, blogging hasn’t always been the sensation it is now.

The earliest forms of blogging were just plain old personal websites. Anyone could rent some space on Geocities, Yahoo, or Fortune City and put up a site all about their own thoughts and feelings. Characterized by MIDI music, blinking graphics, and busy backgrounds, these websites rarely had any visitors outside their creators. However, these paved the way for blogs as they are today.

Journaling sites became popular after free personal sites became sparse. Sites like LiveJournal made it easy for anyone to sign up and start recording their daily activities and thoughts. These weren’t quite like blogs are now; they were somewhere between a private journal and a public blog. Most people only shared their posts with friends and family. These sites are still popular today for those who don’t want to maintain a completely public blog.

Finally, blogs took the Internet by storm. Websites like Blogger and WordPress became popular by giving anyone their own corner of the web. Blogging communities began growing, grouped by common themes and interests. Now, you can find scrapbooking blog communities, parenting blog communities, and occupational blog communities. Well-written blogs develop huge followings. Bloggers can even use their blogs to make money by selling ad space or becoming affiliates. Typically, the most popular blogs have some sort of central theme.

Since the Internet has grown so much faster than any other technology, blogs have developed in a very short amount of time. Who knows how they’ll evolve next?

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Adding Your Voice to the Internet

Men had a slightly larger presence on the Inte...
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There are a lot of people out there on the Internet, and they all seem to have something to say. There are large organizations and media outlets, but there are also the small-time bloggers who want to get their voices heard. Sometimes they become quite popular, and other times they don’t think anyone reads what they have to say at all. No matter who you are or what you have to say, you have the right and the opportunity to say it on the Internet. You can get a blog for free, so you won’t have to worry about hosting or anything like that. There’s no financial commitment, and you can say what you want when you want.

It’s a great way to get your voice heard. To a certain extent you have to watch what you say, because you don’t want to provide information that’s not appropriate. You also don’t want to say too much about yourself, because it’s possible that people who read it will find out more about you than you like. Stalkers have caused problems for people on the Internet that way, and people have gotten fired from their jobs for the kinds of things that they’ve said on their blogs or through social media.

You can have your voice heard and not have those kinds of problems if you’re attentive to what you’re blogging or writing about. If you’re not careful, you could end up with serious online issues – and you have the possibility of upsetting a lot of people, too. While you might not care about that, others could. Libel is a real issue, and if you say untrue things about someone in print – even online – you could end up being sued. Add your voice to the Internet, just temper it with respect for the law and the feelings of others.

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