Blog in a Bottle

If you throw a rock out into an ocean or lake you will probably never see it again, but the ripples it makes are visible for a few moments. When I began blogging I thought that it would be like that, a momentary ripple and then the words would be swallowed up by the massive “waters” of the internet. Instead, I received a pretty broad reaction. Complete strangers read my blogs and shared kind thoughts and reactions, and much needed criticism. I started to wonder, was this how a writer felt? Was this a tiny taste of the pie I was working for?

Today, I have five “full” blogs, one each on MySpace, Facebook, and Xanga, this very one I am working on now, and another BlogSpot blog, Starshinethousand.blogspot.com. I also have three “Micro” blogs, a Twitter I update from my phone on day to day life and a library Twitter that I update for this blog, then my QuillPill that I started because of this blog. A long and somewhat ragged list, longer than I had earlier thought! Still, I keep most of them constantly updated, along with reading subscriptions from other people’s blogs.

I know many of my friends that also keep up this constantly reeling list of blogs, some with the added task of Photoblogging and Musicblogging.

Why do we feel the need to throw so many “rocks”? And to throw them into so many ponds at the same time, until the ponds are more like puddles? This has to do some with the themes I explored when researching Twitter, themes of voyeurism, fame and exposure. Writers have been publishing under pseudonyms for years. I am currently reading a book called Behind a Mask, the Unpublished Works of Louisa May Alcott. Before Louisa became famous for Little Women and Little Men she wrote scintillating mysteries for dime magazines, the literary equivalent of modern day tabloids. Because of her sex and status as a writer she published under various romantic pseudonyms such as A.M. Barnard.

The web-blogger can also easily hold this enviable status, and write freely on any subject, from steamy gossip to political barbs, to cozy collections of recipes and reminisces.

Scholastically, a blog is a wonderful tool for any student. As an English major I find it is a great vehicle for posting short stories, and inspirational snippets for my fellow writers. I also find myself doing an updated “chain letter” and doing periodical catch ups for my farther away friends. Artists and musicians can utilize it to spread their work, computer programmers and web designers can use it like a huge online business card, and communications majors can hone their job skills for potential job offers. A blog can be like a living resume, a place to learn and grow an art, or simply a place to shamelessly emote, regardless of who sees it.
This blog is a great example of this tool. I am not a web designer, I haven’t created some fabulous Web 2.0 social networking site, nor do I know all there is to know about the origins of these sites, but through research and hands on work I am slowly learning more and more about a new era that I am a part of, and that will be forever valuable to me someday as a teacher.

So, more than a rock thrown into the massive “waters” of the internet, a blog can be a message in a bottle. Sometimes it may return at your feet, full of responses and applause, and sometimes you may never see it again, but by simply putting it out there you have stirred up a few ripples.