Several of my friends and colleagues have repeatedly told me to get on the bus and start blogging. 

Now, if you take a look at a random blog it will generally fall into one of several categories -

  • young professional wanabees who boost their importance by rehashing news and developing their "personal brand"
  • cranks and misfits posting pictures of their tattoos and body piercings
  • right wing hooligans expousing hatred for some or other minority

However, despite this there are some gems. The blog has become a weapon used to snipe at authority and deliver info not available in the normal approved channels. Such seditious use of blogs appeals - evidence suggests that Iain Dales blog is effective in puncturing the buffoonery of UK politics. Robert Scoble bacame known as a source of unsanitized information from inside Microsoft.

With MYSPACE recently confirmed as the most popular website in the US blogging is clearly here to stay as a means to air and share their views. At least amongst pre-pubescent teenagers with dodgy tastes in music.

In any case, blogging's populist and insubordinate nature makes it ideal for commentary on the IT industry, which is by mutinous by nature.

Finally, any comment on blogging must pay tribute to the man who may not have invented the medium, but certainly gives it credibility as a channel for contrarian views. His blogging efforts started many years ago in 1999 before the Internet was invented - The Bristol Evening Post carried Hold the Front Page till he switched to blogger.com last year... Don't read Barry Beelzebub if you are easily offended.