blogs

was listening to radio 5 this morning. they were talking about how the world was changing because of blogs. someone mentioned how you wouldn't employ a plumber until after you had read their blog... personally if they have enough time to write a blog then they probably haven't got enough work to keep them busy so they probably aren’t that good.

there was mention of the fact that there are three reasons to blog.
1] being a whistleblower.
2] wanting to be a journalist. (not that you want to work for the sun, just that you want to put your spin on the world's events - so in fact not really a journo but an opinion writer or columnist (and given some that i read in the paper i could do a better job and that is not saying much!)
3] form of therapy.

they of course missed off the most important (and the category i probably fall into) an egocentric belief that people might just be interested in what you have to say.

i enjoy blogging, i realise that of the potential audience out there who could read it there are probably about 5 people who do (you know who you are and a big hearty pat thanks goes out to you). i also realise that i am not as witty as i think i am, i am not as smart as i think i am and my writing style is not as good as i think it is, none of this stops me – i enjoy the blogging process.

i doubt many people have their lives changed by blogs, i doubt much in the way of unearthed truths ever reveal themselves on blogs (well i am assuming that david icke doesn't write a regular one), i doubt that blogs have the sway over the popular consciousness that is sometimes attributed to them and i suspect most blogs are like this one read by friends and no one else.

it came as no shock to discover that there are 50 million blogs out there. it proves that we all have something to say, that we all want our 15 minutes of fame.
what did come as a shock was that there are blog consultants. what i thought, why i thought, do they get paid? who would pay them? but there was a consultant who talked a radio journalist through setting up a blog (it wasn't thrilling radio i can tell you....) and it mainly seemed to consist of "go to here, type in your name, press return" there you go blog set up.
the journalist was a bit worried that her fellow bloggers might be geeks, so she got her street cred in by saying she was a keen snowboarder...
in all it was a puff piece for the radio, and not a particularly good one at that.