Blogging A Dead Horse? A cyber-phobics delve into the world of social media

I love definitions. So in my attempt to unravel this new communication beast “The Blog”, I tried looking it up in my trusty, but inappropriately named – The New Collins Concise English Dictionary.  Published in 1987 the aforementioned tome unsurprisingly did not contain a reference to Blogging! A case in point. I guess I need to get on-board. I turn to the free on line dictionary, Oxford Dictionaries. It said;

noun -  a personal website or web page on which an individual records opinions, links to other sites, etc. on a regular basis.

verb -  (blogs, blogging, blogged) - add new material to or regularly update a blog: it's about a week since I last blogged.

So it appears that it is a regular record of your thoughts, opinions and experiences that you put on the Internet for other people to read. Is this just an internet version of vanity publishing? I am not at all sure I do enough interesting stuff? That it might all appear rather facile at best.

It appears that the Urban Dictionary, www.urbandictionary.com/ - “A veritable cornucopia of streetwise lingo, posted and defined by its reader”, agrees:

January 11, 2005 Urban Word of the Day

n.Short for weblog.

A meandering, blatantly uninteresting online diary that gives the author the illusion that people are interested in their stupid, pathetic life. Consists of such riveting entries as "homework sucks" and "I slept until noon today."

And…

1. blogging

Term used to describe anyone with enough time or narcissism to document every tedious bit of minutia filling their uneventful lives. Possibly the most annoying thing about bloggers is the sense of self-importance they get after even the most modest of publicity. Sometimes it takes as little as a referral on a more popular blogger's website to set the lesser blogger's ego into orbit.

Usually occurs after a person purchases or attains access to a computer but before they learn anything about writing.

Conversely what if I happen to have had extraordinary mind-blowing experiences or happened to have a sudden amazing insight, would this not appear boastful, vain or insensitive. I discover this would be a Blogbrag. 

There are the inherent dangers of becoming a:

1. Blogganaut

Some one who is not only a blogger and blog reader, but also is always trying to get a new idea for their blog.

The Blogganaut desires to explore the farthest reaches of the Blogosphere to discover a new idea or concept which is in the bloggervese. (Blog Universe)

Or a

1. bloggerella

An infamous online stalker that stays online 23.5 hours of the day. Someone who specializes in creating internet drama and telling lies. Someone who neglects their children and home because they are too busy online. Someone who does not have a real life outside of the internet.

That girl, Saha, is always online starting trouble. She's a true bloggerella.

Or getting

1. blogger's butt, blogblock or suffering blogblivion. There are inherent dangers of writing blog slobber, blog-arrhea

Or becoming a Blog Monkey, a Blog Diva, Bloggeteer, or Bloggerssistic.

Finally the most hideous of web crimes must be to write Blogocks.

1. blogocks

Web Log Bollocks. Writings in a 'blog' which are painfully earnest and naive, self-involved and self-important or are of a pretentious and pseudo-intellectual bent. Blogocks is bad writing that would not be available to the public if ‘blogs’ and is a style of writing that is particularly self-important and pompous.

I feel I have warned myself against pomposity, dullness and bloggers bum etc - unless you think different? I welcome your comments and the opportunity to follow your blogs.