by Rose Spotts

Created on: July 31, 2008

Blogging is the new black. Among other new Web 2.0 technologies and popularity booms, blogging has become one of the most popular. Websites have sprung up all over the internet containing blogs and bloggers. Most of the blogging sites allow users to blog free of charge. Companies use blogs on their websites and institutions encourage blogging among their employees. Schools even have blogs for their classes.

Why has blogging become so popular? Anyone can do it. With the onslaught of so many websites offering free blog space, anyone can open up an account and participate in their own self indulgent ramblings and provide their readers with the entertaining and not so entertaining information they crave. It used to be that we kept our thoughts to ourselves. In these internet times though, we want the world to know what we think because we can let the world know what we think. Obviously there is no guarantee that anyone is reading it, but there is always that chance and that adds to the thrill of putting it out there.

Granted, there are serious blogs from various institutions, organizations, etc which serve to inform us of that particular group's activities or current happenings. Librarians update library blogs to inform their patrons about happenings a the library as well as library news and events. Perhaps these blogs serve a purpose much higher than that of self indulgent individuals who just have too much to say about nothing.

Obviously not all individuals who blog have nothing to say, some even want to sell you something. Blogging has been a new way to earn some extra cash. Product review blogs, blogs selling you ideas and products and much more abound on the web. So really we can't say blogging isn't versatile. It can tell us something, tell us nothing and sell us something or sell us nothing. It can give us useful information about a person, place or product.

Maybe this is going too far to just assume blogging is completely overrated. Afterall, it has served a purpose here and there as previously mentioned. They do contain information and in this day and age we love information. But still, probably the biggest reason blogging is so overrated is that anyone can do it and the majority who do use it to ramble on about a whole lot of nothing in particular. If they were speaking, we'd just say they like to hear themselves speak. I guess they just like to see themselves type.

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