Summary

Duncan's blogs shows how much blogs have become such a normal part of life that we have these amazing records from deviants and psychopaths. Blogging has now become a part of current events instead of just reacting to them.

The discovery of blogs used for such dark purposes makes us realize that blogging has developed and matured into a mass communication device that we will soon take for granted. It wasn't always this casual. Blogger Duncan Riley wrote an essay on the Blog Herald site, acknowledging the demise of the influence of geek bloggers on the blogosphere. Their enthusiasm for technology no longer shapes the blogosphere agenda.

He says that the first generation of blogs, which sprang up between 1992 to 2002, were focused more on technical topics, maintained by people he calls "geeks". The subsequent generation of bloggers was moreexhibitionistic and turned blogs into vehicles for self-promotion and marketing. After 2002, the realm of blogger influence moved to the commercial side of things, dominated by a new breed of blog entrepreneur like Nick Denton, who established a network of sites that focus more on mainstream obsessions such as gadgets, travel, and Hollywood gossip. We are in the middle of the final evolution where the mainstream completely adopts blogging as a normal facet of life. Soon no one will consider having a blog as extraordinary, but rather a way of life, like having a telephone number or email address.

Current event blogs are so closely allied to political blogs that you should read this chapter and the next chapter on politics as complementary.