YOU ALREADY KNOW MORE THAN YOU THINK
BLOG THIS, BLOG THAT & BLOG THE OTHER....
This "BLOG" thing is everywhere, even if you don't know it, but what's is all about?
Well at 60 I had no idea beyond what I decided I thought I knew; so I did some research and this is my simple version of this seemingly voodoo world that may help...or not as the case may be.
SO TO START, WHY THE WORD BLOG? - I was willing it to be really clever and inspirational when actually its just a combined version of "web" and "log" making "blog"...Yep a disappointingly dull start I thought and no doubt conjured up by someone who takes the vowels out of their name to make them special - Still with over 600 million blogs out there it seems to be doing ok for itself.
WHEN DID THIS ALL NEW PHENOMENON START & WHAT DID IT DO? - Well it turns out about 1994, so 30 years making it not that new, just new to me. That said it appears back then it was a simple online diary with ordinary people keeping and sharing a log about their daily lives, you know the ones; "Just put pepper on my eggs, mind blown"
WHATS IT ALL ABOUT NOW? - Well pretty much everything is the simple answer. They offer insights, opinions, reviews, knowledge and advise to feed our unquenchable appetite in this digital content world. They are used by both individuals and businesses to share information and updates to us all.
WHAT DID I GET FROM IT? - Reconfirmation that life is subjective, these BLOGS are everywhere, even when you dont realise what they are, and it is up to each of us to apply our own filter on what we trust and take from them.
SUMMARY TWIST - I do have a short story from a random conversation with a food critic, ironically at a barbecue, that may illustrate it best.
Picture this; A house barbecue with more guests than seats and I`m stood there with one finger in the neck of a bottle while balancing my food on a napkin because the paper plates have run out and the sauce from the ribs is soaking through it onto my hand.
I look around and a chap I was introduced to earlier, whose name, as usual escapes me, is in the same predicament and says "alright there?", with my obvious reply "not bad fella, you?"
Now it turns out he makes a living as a food critic, knows loads about blogs and the like and offers One pearl of wisdom, which is...
Lots and lots of people review everything from holidays, food, clothes, long hauls and just about everything else. The trick is to work out the ones who have actually been to that place, ate at that restaurant, visited that shop etc etc. they are offering us an opinion on.
For him, it absolutely isn't about saying what the forks are made out of, its about the overall experience it gave him, what the food did to his senses and the value he took from it...he also advised its far better to write a blog by choice, "meaning what?", Well it turns out that lots of people are invited to and given special access and treatment in the critic game, "ask yourself is that a true reflection of that experience?"
NOW IF YOUR A BIKING BLOGGER GIVE US A SHOUT IF YOU THINK YOU CAN HELP GUIDE US
