Why Does the World Need Another Blog?

Well, it doesn't. But of late, I have had a couple interesting conversations that have made me rethink things.

Some background: For years, I have successfully avoided being pulled into the universe of social networking sites, but I found that I was helpless to resist Facebook.com. Not sure what confluence of factors attributed to its stickiness for me. I tell myself that it's because many of my friends living in other countries are on there, and I rather enjoy reading that AW in Hong Kong is coveting a new set of patio furniture, or that FC in Beijing is memorizing the streets of Rome, or that EH in Beijing is cooking a turkey, or that SB in Sweden is learning Korean. I have also told myself that in my new incarnation as an internet entrepreneur, I really should do something on the internet other than googling absolutely everything. But the reality is, I just plain like it - even the utterly uninteresting updates such as "JR is at work." Status updates on Facebook suddenly seem deeply and importantly fascinating to me: "Wow, at work, really?!?" And I have started to contribute to this highly minimal "dialogue" with "my friends" - "CK is surprised to see she that somehow threw a sheep at herself." (I was confused by that dratted SuperPoke application).

So it started one morning as I sat down at my computer, saw that I had a friend request, and dutifully signed on to facebook.com to accept. I was humming a song. And to my surprise, facebook informed me that VH was singing the exact same song. The coincidence was too great, and, as it turned out, not a coincidence at all. I had shared the fact that "It's Cold Out There" had been running incessantly through my mind with SK who was then immediately similarly affected, and noted her state of mind in her blog. Which VH read. This elicited a feeling of exposure that was both disturbing and oddly comforting.

Well, after I complimented VH on her blog (which is one of only two I read), she asked why I don't have one of my own. I answered quite flippantly (but also a bit truthfully) that facebook status updates were more than sufficient for my self-expression needs. But the idea sort of tooled around in the recesses of my brain.

This morning, during my daily, inappropriately early, morning calls to SK, I asked her "Should I restart my blog?" (I had maintained one briefly when I first moved to Beijing). She promptly replied that she always assumed I had one and was always a bit pissed off that I hadn't shared it with her. Which I found interesting since nary a thought goes through my head that I don't share immediately with SK, WC, KK, and IC.

So why does the world need another blog? So SK doesn't think I'm holding out.