Welcome to my new blog. I realized recently - with my increasing activity on Facebook, Twitter, Google Buzz, Google Reader and Huffpost Social - that my lack of a personal blog would soon prove to be at least a missed opportunity, at most an embarrassing missing ingredient, in my collection of social media. But beyond appearances, I started this blog because I believe in blogs. I believe in the decentralization of news media and digital discourse. And while I don't wish to be a part of a relatively anonymous online populist uprising against more credentialed journalism, I believe anything that gets the average citizen more personally involved in global conversations is, in my opinion, a measurable social good. The most efficient and productive utility for sites like Facebook and Twitter are, in my opinion, the new forms of media dissemination and filtration that they offer. I get most of my news and opinion from blogs, both large and small. I like the convenience and expedience of not having to wait until Paul Krugman's weekly column for political and economic analysis - I can simply read his blog, which he usually updates two or three times daily. Even non-celebrity journalists have risen to huge importance in my life, with personal acquaintances and friends frequently providing me links to articles and posts that I would have missed otherwise, as well as stimulating discussion and analysis of their own. With the unimaginably vast ocean of information flowing across the web, blogs create a practical and directed net to catch the best selections.
So, whereas I had once seen personal blogs mostly as tools for self-promotion, I now see it as my democratic duty to take part. That, and a blog provides me a more appropriate venue with which to express my more long-winded opinions, which are currently limited to 140-characters or whatever Facebook's and Buzz's equivalents are.
I don't yet know who will read this blog on a regular basis, or at all, but I look forward to the adventure. Enjoy!
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