April 19, 2012

Ch-ch-changes!



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I came across this blog hop while I was, well, blog hopping and liked the idea so I think I'm going to try joining in for a while and see how it goes.  It was started by Brenda Youngerman with the hope of inspiring some creativity for herself and other bloggers.  Each week she gives a prompt, participants write about it, or post a picture about it, or write a poem, or whatever means they choose to express themselves.  Then everyone links up back on Brenda's blog.  It's that easy.  If you want to give it a whirl or check out the other participants just click on the links to see Brenda's full post.

This Week's Prompt: The Blogging World

Ch-ch-changes!

Oh, how the blogging world has changed since I created my first blog back in 2001.  Back in those prehistoric days we painted our blogs on the cave walls with ash.  Okay, not really, but it was terribly primitive by comparison.  Blogs were one page, of a very basic design, and there were no helpful widgets to talk about.  Community didn't exist as we know it today, either.  Finding other blogs to read and building up a circle of friends took some effort.

If anyone had told me back then how huge blogging would become, I wouldn't have believed them.  It was a fun little hobby, but it really didn't seem to be much more than online journaling.  And the idea that people could actually make money at it?  Pfffft!  It's a good thing there are people out there with more vision and computer knowledge than me.

The communities I've created and the friends I've made through my many blog incarnations would have amazed me back in those days, too.  Each blog has had it's own feel and community, though, some friends have carried over.  I count some of my blog friends among my best friends...something people who don't blog don't understand.  I have friends from all over the United States and some other parts of the world.  I've gained a few good friends over the years by being introduced via a mutual blog friend (friends, I might add, that are still friends even though the original friend is no longer part of the circle).  I've met a few blog friends in person and these days the community we create isn't locked to the pages of the blog.  We connect on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, and all the rest of the social networks.

Is it better than it was?  Yes!!  Everything about blogging is easier and more user friendly than it was.  However, all the "simplification" that's made it so easy to do amazing things has also opened up a legal can of worms that we now have to have at least a basic understanding of.  It's still worth the effort, if you ask me.

The only thing that hasn't changed in the last 11 years?  People who don't blog STILL don't get it.  They probably never will...or they'd already be doing it.

8 comments:

Debby@Just Breathe said...

I agree totally that people who don't blog just don't get it. I try to talk friends into blogging, especially those with little children. I would have loved this when my children were young, what a great day by day baby book!

enthusiastically, dawn said...

I will have to check this out soon! Glad that we met in this wonderful place called the Blogosphere, Stacy!

Unknown said...

I LOVE your post and you so hit on a subject of friends from friends... I can't even begin to count the number of people I NO longer visit that introduced me to some of my best online friends....


Here's to new friendships!
And Thanks for Pondering with me!

Wendy S. said...

While all the social media methods are a great way to connect, I feel blogging brings more intimacy and authenticity into the net and in "real time." My blog is still just a toddler and you were one my first lasting blogging buddies :) Thank you Stacy for being a pioneer in blogging while you were still beating a drum and painting ash on your face ;)

Stacy said...

Debby...My kids were in middle school and high school when I discovered blogging. It would have been amazing to have had access to this world when they were little and I often felt isolated.

Dawn...I'm glad we met too. It's nice having someone out there whose mind works in the same mysterious ways as mine. LOL ;)

Brenda...It is amazing how friendships unflold in the Blogosphere...and thank you for the blog hop. I think it will be fun.

Wendy...You are selling yourself short. Your beautiful blog gets way more hits than mine. You have found your niche. I'm still looking. Pioneer? Hmmm...I really never thought about it, but I guess I kind of was without even knowing it. When I went to that blogging convention back in October of last year the person closest to me in blogging age had started in 2004.

Unknown said...

It took me a moment to find my blogging voice. It felt strange to think that someone would want to read what I wrote. Then, I found friendships and adventures to blog about and it was like I was meant to blog! I'm so glad you are blogger too, my friend!

LA Botchar said...

love the last line....if they got it, they would do it. so true.

I am one of those who has viewed blogging often as a life line because I have 3 young children, and as a stay at home mom...it can be very isolating.
but not here... there's always a good friend here.

Stacy said...

Simone...I actually had an easier time "finding my voice" when I first started out. Back then I more or less wrote about being a youth leader and connected with other youth leaders. Now I'm kind of floundering around...I really don't want a bus drivers blog. :P I started following you a blog or two ago and have always loved your take on things, though I am glad to see you so happy these days.

RoryBore...Amen to the isolation of being a young mother. It would have been wonderful to have had blogging to fall back on when my kids were little. I can remember so many days of just wanting to talk and play with some grownups.

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