Are bloggers just e-wankers?

For many years, I had a negative attitude about blogs and bloggers. If bloggers have such great stories, ideas, or knowledge to share with the world: then why don't they write books, magazine articles, movies, plays, whatever? Anybody can post anything in a blog: it doesn't take any great talent or insight, so who are bloggers blogging for other than themselves? Blogging just seemed like a new form of wanking to me...

Last year I joined MySpace, and had an awakening about the possibilities of blogging. I stumbled across the MySpace page of an old friend who had died a couple of years prior. We had fallen out of touch for a variety of reasons, and she had died in her 30's after an unsuccessful battle with life. As I looked through her pictures and read the postings on her page, so many memories came floating back. The pictures of her young, now motherless son left me with bittersweet emotions. Thanks to biology, my friend lives on through her son. Thanks to technology, my friend also lives on in cyberspace...

This all gave me the idea that in addition to posting pictures, statuses, etc. on MySpace, I would also post some blogs and share my thoughts, ideas, and opinions with people who linked to my page. Maybe they'd learn something, maybe they'd have a laugh, maybe they'd think "what an asshole!" I also had the thought that the MySpace page would be a nice place for people to go once I "shuffled off this mortal coil," especially for my daughter...

I eventually became bored with MySpace once Facebook came along. I stopped blogging and started spending much of my online time connecting and re-connecting with people. There doesn't seem to be any good way to blog on Facebook, so here I am...

I'm probably not going to be famous for anything, and no one's going to be writing my biography anytime soon (including me!). I see blogging as a way to share myself with whoever links to my page: friends, family, acquaintances, strangers, whatever. Hopefully my blogs will provoke thoughts and ideas while entertaining someone other than me! That's my goal...