Important or Self-centered?

"Self-obsession, politics of hate, and the same hunger for fame that has people lining up to trade punches on The Jerry Springer Show (Blogs Will Change Your Business)." How would you describe a blog? I know of many people who have blogs and that is fine. However, I find that blogs are just another way for people to blab on about themselves or just random, pointless thoughts for endless hours. I understand the interest and importance of blogs when people went abroad or just wanted to keep memories because it's a good way to remember your experiences, but other than that, I find them a waste of time. And as one of the articles pointed out, not many people even read blogs anymore; about only "27% of Internet users in America now bother to read them."

I never thought about using blogging to help a business, but when thinking about it, it makes perfect sense. Before, people were given some kind of form to fill out and send back to the company, often with an already stamped envelope. But when looking at that way of getting feedback, it is a huge inconvenience for many people. With the internet today and with many people being so chatty about the most random things, it is an extremely easy and quick way to put your thoughts out there about a product or service.

I still wonder, however, how many people will actually do this. Personally, I still don't have that much interest in blogging, other than perhaps writing down memories, but those would be for me and my friends and not out there for the public eye to read. However, I wonder if this will drag more people out to read blogs. I think that blogs will be good for businesses in getting more feedback on how they are doing and what customers think of them. I don't think it would make much of a difference, but then again, that could be due to the fact that I don't really like blogs. What are your thoughts?

Why use it if you don't like it?

Many of the articles talk about social capital and the value of social networking. The “Social graph-iti” article relates more to how programs, such as Facebook are social networks. One comment made in this article is that Facebook is going to be the next Google, but I find that untrue for a few reasons. I feel like Facebook is just like having a phone or AIM in a sense, because it is used worldwide and is just another way to communicate and share interests with others. I know it is meant in a way that it is going to be as big as Google, but since it seems to be only used for that one purpose, I don’t believe they are going to have the opportunity to become as successful. I also find it interesting that MySpace is used a lot more than Facebook. I know many people have MySpace pages, but I never hear of people using it. People are always talking about “facebook-ing” someone rather than messaging or finding someone on MySpace. At the same time, people talk about how annoying Facebook has become with the Mini Feed and the Applications, however they are being used more and more often. Why is this? Why does everyone talk about something they don’t enjoy, yet use it even more?

My First Blog Post

Hi. I am a student at American University using this blog for a business class.

“On my honor, all posts on this blog are my own.”