My Head

It's getting more and more widespread. Everyone from your secondary school student to your bank clerk seems to be doing it. Some people start early in the morning, others do it from their smart phones (though heavens knows how on those tiny screens and deceptive touchpads) and I normally do it last thing at night.

I'm talking about blogging. It's a phenomenon. Whether people are putting words, pictures or videos out there, they're all taking the time to sit down and share something about themselves, their lives or their opinions with the world. And why? Is it further proof of what BBC in-house Documentary maker Adam Curtis has termed the 'Century of the Self'- an era in which we all consider ourselves, our lives and our personal thoughts important to the world as a whole? A time in which we encourage personal development over utilitarian movements? Is it mere vanity? Perhaps a shout for attention? Maybe an alternative to a world in which people actually communicated their hopes and fears to those close to them on a face to face basis?

Whatever the reasons, there's now a lot of rubbish out there. I know because I've looked. One of my major qualms with the internet has always been it's lack of censorship- a point I'm certain Ryan Giggs will now happily concede to me. What I mean though is that anything can be put out there. It doesn't need to be confirmed, considered publishable...basically it doesn't need to be true. And often it isn't. There are ways to help make sure you're likely to be accessing information with real evidence to back it up: Using academic websites or those affiliated with major newspapers and companies, and avoiding Wikepedia or unofficial websites. But once you veer away from scholarly material and start testing the waters in the world of blogs you'll be rewarded with opinions aplenty but -unless people enjoy using references- very little idea of how much is true. Perhaps this isn't important. Maybe that's not why people write and/or read blogs. We have specific sites to go to for facts and, if anyone's blog does become widely read, the writer is far more likely to keep a tight rein on their sources of information.

So here's another big question: How does your blog become widely read? We keep hearing about the modern freelance writer whose blog becomes so popular that they make much of their living selling advertising or getting commissioned work off the back of their online wordage. What do these bloggers have in common? At first look not much. According to The Guardian's article 'The World's 50 most powerful blogs' back in September 2008, they are a mix of personal writings from people famous and previously unknown, and blogs created by groups or companies to spread a particular message or idea. The general similarity that ties the majority of these blogs together is the concept of a theme.

For example: 'Chez Pim' writes about food, 'Girl with a One Track Mind' writes about...sex, 'Michelle Malkin's' theme is -and I quote- 'how liberals betray America by being soft on terrorism, peddling lies about global warming and generally lacking patriotism and moral fibre' (http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/mar/09/blogs). When famous people write, the main theme is obviously them. Of course they might write some interesting stuff but the main reason people will have begun reading their opinions over someone else's is, basically, because they are who they are.

But I don't have a theme. Look- we can grasp at straws here and say that my over-arching theme is my persona...who I am...a 24 year old girl living in London, trying to make a living in the creative industry and writing about her experiences. But that's not really a theme...it's certainly not a solid stance or consistent opinion. Sure, give me a theme and I'll wax lyrical about it. Believe me, after 7 years at a highly academic girls' school, doing A Levels in English Literature and Modern History, I can turn out column after column, blog after blog on the same subject with new information, research and opinions in each one. But without that structure imposed out me I jump around too much, I change my mind, I get distracted by new people and experiences. So will I interest anyone? Is there anything in what I write that would arrest someone's attention, make them say 'I want to read this'.

If not, I'm not going to stop writing. Just after JD Salinger's death I heard Erica Wagner talking about him on Radio 4. In reference to unpublished works by the writer, she commented that 'in this time of celebrity people forget that people used to write because they had to write'. This hit me hard. I realised that in this world where events, emotions and possibilities are immediately broadcast to our friends and -further afar-, and where money and image are holding more and more importance, the concept of sitting down and slowly creating work for the work's sake is becoming near to obselete. So I'll write regardless. It calms me down, it forces me to stop, think and reflect. I think it might even be leading me to finding out who I am...what I want to do with my life...but let's not get carried away.

Wait! What's this? There might be a loophole in my favour here. It turns out that there are a small number of bloggers who just write about...whatever, who manage to entice people who aren't just their friends (presumably because of sparkling wit and impressive verbosity) to read their blogs on a regular basis. A perfect example of this is 'Dooce' (www.dooce.com- I notice all successful blogs have purchased their own URL address aswell. Is this therefore indicative of success being achieved or the reason why it has already been reached? Egg or Chicken?), a woman named Heather Armstrong whose blog shot to fame -or infamy- after the dotcom company she worked for fired her when she criticised them in her blog! As a result she garnered a huge amount of public interest, and now has a huge following reading her every blog- be it about her cats, her mental health or her career. I wonder if it's just the sensationalisation of it or whether it was just the nudge people needed to start reading an interesting, well-written opinionated blog.

This said, my research has turned up the result I was most expecting. The general public for the most part are not interested in reading other people's diaries. Most of us do, it seems, have a limit to our nosiness and need to spy on other people's lives. But much like the way that newspaper columnists have always garnered a following, sometimes for their subject matter and sometimes for their writing style, bloggers are just the new generation of this. They tend to get the material out faster, there is a briefer pause for editing and publishing, and it gets directly to their readers.

So I've thought about it. I've mulled and mulled and then...written this article. And now I've decided.

I

think

I'm

overthinking

this.

Yup...I've come to the conclusion that I should just shut up and write - excuse the paradox - and keep my fingers crossed that I'm writing for someone other than myself. Good day.