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January 30, 2007 Leave a Comment

55 Million Messages in Bottles (formerly "Message in a Bottle")

bdaystingFor reasons I don’t comprehend, a post at my old Blogger blog entitled “Message in a Bottle” has gotten a lot of hits. Lots of Police fans out there, perhaps…or maybe Sting cruises the ‘Net now-and-then searching for references to old song titles. Wow. Gives me goose bumps just imagining him landing on my blog. (Dreamy sigh.)

Sorry. Where was I?

Oh, yes, regarding that post. Well, I thought I’d stick it here on my WordPress blog and get some input. I updated the number of blogs that I referenced; otherwise, this is exactly what I wrote. Perhaps you can tell me why it would be getting so much traffic, and feel free to address the question I posed at the end:

People want to be heard. Lots of people–55 million bloggers are being tracked by Technorati alone–all blogging their hearts out!

At one point during this surfing, I was struck by the sheer numbers of blogs and suddenly pictured them stuffed inside bottles, corked and floating in a virtual sea. Just like the song by the Police, “Message in a Bottle,” where Sting hopes that someone gets his message in a bottle, then walks out one morning and can’t believe what he sees–a hundred billion bottles washed up on the shore.

Maybe we’re all just castaways, tossing out our ideas and thoughts in hopes that someone will get our message. Maybe everyone is scribbling, cramming, corking their messages and tossing them into the worldwide web…and no one is reading them.

Or maybe people are reading them…maybe there are twice as many readers as bloggers, and they really are making an impact. If so, it’s a fascinating phenomenon. It’s surely changing us in significant ways: language and vocabulary, the concept of publishing and readership, communication, transfer and cross-fertilization of ideas. All of that is evolving into something new. Highly intelligent people who have never published a book or magazine article are sharing their insights. Average Joes and Josephines with profound life stories can encourage the world.

Whether or not people are reading blogs, they do represent a new freedom of speech being exercised. How can we make the most of it–as readers and writers?

Filed Under: blog, Blogger, blogging, reading, writers, writing

Comments

  1. Natalie says

    January 30, 2007 at 4:01 pm

    How can we make the most of it? That is a loaded question of which I don’t have an answer today.

    I just stopped by to say, “hey.” I wasn’t sure if you remembered your fellow hoosier blogger. I thought of you as I ate at a Panera today and I’ve thought of you often as I’ve lost touch with you.

    So, “hey.” What’s new with you?

    TTFN,

    Nattie

    Reply
  2. annkroeker says

    January 31, 2007 at 8:25 am

    Natalie: Well, hello! Of course I remember you, fellow Hoosier (Go Colts!)! I don’t eat at that Panera very often, strangely, even though it’s a short bike ride’s distance from my house. So the few times that I do, I think of our visits. I’ll frop by your blog to catch up, as much as a blog allows that. Thanks for visiting (feel free to e-mail)!

    Reply
  3. annkroeker says

    January 31, 2007 at 8:25 am

    Actually, I’ll *drop* by.

    Reply
  4. swamp says

    July 31, 2008 at 3:15 am

    I’ve heard the John Mayer version of this song, and I don’t even know Sting was the one who write it(or just sing?)

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. That Just Stings « Ann Kroeker says:
    September 4, 2007 at 9:47 pm

    […] you may recall that I’m rather a fan of Sting. He’s come up a few times in my blog, here, and here, I referenced him here, and of course […]

    Reply
  2. Blogging Metaphor « Ann Kroeker says:
    March 27, 2008 at 6:48 pm

    […] in January 2007, I wrote a post wondering if blogging was something like sticking messages in bottles and tossing them out to […]

    Reply

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