The first Weblog management tool, Frontier, debuted more than a decade ago, but most early bloggers still updated their sites by hand. Then, in August 1999, a startup called Pyra Labs introduced Blogger and created "push-button publishing for the people." Weblogging would never be the same again.
"Tools like Blogger and Pitas.com ushered in the new age of pamphleteering -- except now the printing press is a lot less expensive than it used to be," Blood says. "Thanks to the electronic revolution, people with no particular background and one piece of equipment can have a public voice. I think that's important."
As blogging became more accessible, it also became more nebulous. What was formerly an index of links, interspersed with some commentary and published in reverse chronological order, became something different to each new user. Bloggers were motivated not just by a need to share information but also by a desire to express themselves or to build a powerful reputation online. The form changed first.
"Early Webloggers were avid surfers," Blood says. "They would just get online and follow links because the Web was new and interconnected and so cool. Before, it was a novelty. Now it's a utility. Fewer people have the time or inclination just to follow weird links."
As a result, new bloggers began posting short-form diary entries sprinkled with a few links. Then the links grew fewer, and the personal content grew longer and more detailed. In 2000, blogs became online, reality-based soap operas. Then in 2001, the traditional media caught wind of Weblogs and transformed them into personal op-ed pages or minicolumns about popular culture, politics, and everything in between.
"It's an interesting wrinkle," Blood says. "People are extending the form, using the link as a springboard for their own thoughts on the war in Afghanistan or on a bill in front of Congress."
Also, the tone of Weblogs changed. Political discourse became less like discourse and more like shouting, Blood says. As new bloggers began taking communication tips from mainstream media, their blogs began offering less thought-provoking dialogue and more hit-you-over-the-head rhetoric.
"Bloggers have the opportunity to stop, reflect, and talk among themselves in a thoughtful way," she says. "I'd like to see Weblogs do more of that rather than imitate what the big boys are doing. Because a lot of what the big boys are doing is reprehensible."
According to Blood, today's definition of a Weblog invites broad translation: "a frequently updated Web site that is arranged in reverse chronological order." But as the medium continues to attract new people with different motives, a hazy definition is better, Blood says. It leaves room for more exploration and expansion.
Still, it seems unlikely that Weblogs will ever achieve mass commercialization. For one, online ads just don't work on blogs. People have tried -- and failed -- already. And what about corporate sponsorship of popular bloggers? Blood cringes at the thought.
"A Weblog is based entirely on trust," she says. "People come because they like to read what you write. If you suddenly began promoting Nokia cell phones on the side, news of it would come out quickly because this is a close-knit community. And that would be a tremendous breach of trust. It would be a scandal in the Weblog community because it goes against our entire ethic."
That ethic, she says, is all about fostering real connections based on trust, respect, and creativity. Bloggers don't need to write a novel -- or even a complete sentence -- to get their point across to a mass audience. In fact, many bloggers speak almost exclusively through the links they choose to feature, revealing corners of their personality with each piece of hypertext. In The Weblog Handbook, Blood writes, "Random observations, selected links, extended diatribes -- accumulated, these elements resolve into a mosaic revealing a personality, a self."
"Weblogs are bringing creative expression to everyday people," she says. "This is a realm of nonspecialists. You are not up against Steven Spielberg and Vanessa Redgrave. You are just up against a bunch of people like you. And everyone's already applauding."
Anni Layne Rodgers (arodgers@fastcompany.com) is the Fast Company senior Web editor. Contact Rebecca Blood (rebecca@rebeccablood.net) via email.
Email
Digg
StumbleUpon
Facebook
Buzz Up!
LinkedIn
