They were the original social web. The community was built by us. Our people were found by us. We wrote back. We write a lot. We linked to each other to make it easier for new entrants to find good and useful websites.
Personal weblogs were a part of the evolution of Web 2.0.
It was very easy back then. You could sign up for a free site on any of the free hosting sites that would allow you to set up your own website, get started with a WYSIWYG editor, and send your thoughts out into the world.
If you were a little more adventurous, you could purchase an actual domain name and pay for website hosting.
Whoever model a person chose, they typed their long and short-form thoughts into a screen and sent them out into the world to be consumed by the mass.
All of our pontificating on various topics took place on our personal weblogs, and the discussions took place in the comments section. There was a time when it was great.
People were much closer to each other.
People were much closer to each other. There wasn't much anonymity because anyone could look up your WHOIS information and see who you actually belonged to. The troll was banned from your comment section.
It was a platform where people would go to put out short, frequent missives as opposed to the long, personal pieces we put on our blogs. As these things have evolved, so too has it, and now it is the hellscape we hate but can't leave alone.
It has made me nostalgic for the days when I wrote my own posts on the internet. The erosion of legacy media has left me wondering if we need to bring back personalBlogging.
We should all be in control of our own platforms, that's the biggest reason for personal blogs to come back.
Our relationship with these social media platforms is tenuous at best if what is happening on TWITTER hasn't shown it. If we destroy the thing we are using to build our popularity, it will be gone from the internet tomorrow.
What happens to your work? Where will you keep the archive of your jokes and meme? Do you know what will happen to the selfies you took but didn't remove?
We don't know because we don't control any of the social networking sites. There wouldn't be anything we could do about it if one of these companies decided to permanently shut down their service.
It's important to own your content and control your platform, and having a personal blogs is a great way to do that.
We were given a glimpse into the life of someone we befriended on the internet. We came back for more day after day because of the good stories and lively discussion afterwards.
It doesn't do the trick, and neither will Elon's alleged plan for allowing 4,000-charactertweets.
When you think about it, personal stories on personal websites are historical documents. Do you want The New York Times to tell your story, or do you want the story to be told in your own words?
It was a good thing for people to build communities around their favorite websites. You could find your people, build your tribe, and talk about what your collective found important.
People come on the internet to be the worst versions of themselves, and it's an ugly sight. If you want to take the power back, you need to build a blogs and put moderation in place.
Most of social media is a place where troll's are allowed to run around freely. There are a lot of tools you can use to keep those people out of your comments and still allow those who appreciate your words, thoughts, and content to fellowship with each other.
It is possible to take the power back.
We need to get back to the original purpose of the social web.
We don't know what will happen with any of these platforms at the end of the day We don't know what Web 3.0 will bring to the internet, but we do know that we will all still be here.
The domain name is worth buying. You can carve your space on the internet. It doesn't have to be large. It doesn't need to be special. It doesn't need to duplicate any space that already exists on the internet This is what you've come up with. Your expression is it. It should make you feel better.
It's time to bring back personal writing. We will be better for it.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
