vanity publishing for geeks

Blogging, according to a few of my colleauges, is a form of vanity publishing for geeks. Geeks log on, write a bunch of drivel, and maybe a few people will eventually read it. One of my co-workers even claimed that he "didn't see it taking off anytime soon."

That's what people said about web pages back in 1995! I started making web pages in 1995, and people thought I was a big dork. (I'm still a big dork now, but that's a whole other matter). Boy, have things changed. Maybe it was geeky back in 1995, but if you (or your business, or your dog, or whatever) don't have a web page now, you're either a hermit, or you're living back in the stone age.

The same goes for IRC. It was the instant messaging of the early 1990s. Only geeks would log on, but they would chat about everything--from where to find porn to who would be the #1 pick in the NFL draft that year. And it's caught on...so much that there have been over half a BILLION downloads of instant messaging clients like AOL Instant Messenger and ICQ. Microsoft and Apple now ship IM clients with their operating systems now...you can't find a computer these days without an annoying window asking if you want to sign on or sign up for an IM account.

So to those who believe blogging is a joke, or just a dorky hobby, I say think again. Past history says otherwise. It's part of our nature to want to share our thoughts with the world, and blogging--which lets you publish to the world at the push of a button--makes doing so an order of magnitude easier.

The future is with me (and it will be with you too if you go to Blogger.com and set up your own weblog).