Saturday, September 20, 2008

The Beguiling World of Blogs

For a medium that I didn't know existed a year ago, the blog seems to be occupying a lot of my attention lately. Not my own, as you'll notice from the weeks between my posts.

Everyone these days seems to have something to say in a blog. If I read all the ones I'm asked to, I'd never get anything done. Many of my colleagues in Boulder Media Women regularly post very interesting insights and information on blogs but I'm a bit afraid. How much more can my brain hold? How will dinner get made?

But I really should not expect anyone to read my blog if I don't read theirs, right? So I occasionally dip my toe into the blogosphere to see what others have to say. The latest was by no means a colleague, though, and I'd be floored if she ever read my blog, but I admire this writer and I was curious about the topic, so Anne Lamott's latest post on Salon.com drrew me in. And my worst fears were realized.

First of all, I could very easily spend 18 hours a day reading the musings of such talented and insightful women. My kids would go hungry (once the Tostitos ran out) and the laundry would pile to the ceiling (in the unlikely event they remembered to change clothes).

Secondly, I want to write like this woman, so I really should read everything she writes.

The third, and most profound, finding was that the blogosphere has truly made some strange bedfellows. At some place on most web pages are ads that attempt to tie in with the topic of the page. At the bottom of Anne Lamott's Salon.com post on the Republican vice-presidential candidate were links to electric candles, a psychotherpist in Fort Collins and a system "guaranteed to improve my income."

As Dr. Phil likes to say, "What were they thinking?!"

Now, to some extent, I can control what appears on my page with the tags I give my post, so in addition to the real topic of this post, I'm going to do a test and see what shows up if I put something totally outrageous. So make sure you look at the bottom of the page for the Google ads. This should be fun!

1 comment:

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