I Want To Be A Clone

The internet provides widespread access to people and information like never before. Yet, ironically, one of the biggest uses of that access is to create some of the most homogeneous groups and associations possible. This is great for people who have felt very alone in their niches (I'm not the only one who feels like this, etc.). However, it's also led to some really distorted perceptions about the way things are in society at large. And, like other situations where people surround themselves with people who are virtual clones of themselves, it becomes easy to go from "why am I all alone" to "cool, other people like me" to "isn't it great that *everyone* is getting on board". All the while, the shift wasn't in the actual percentage of the population that was participating, but in the person's shifting social circle.

I think that much of the "blogosphere" is suffering from this right now. The audio from conferences on the topic and on podcasting from San Francisco seemed to just ooze this philosophy. That somehow "everyone" is getting into blogging and podcasting these days. The statistical reality, on the other hand, is that the people saying this have just started hanging out (online and elsewhere) with people who happen to have a blog. Of the people I know primarily offline, including database developers, web developers, etc. I only know of 2 people who have their own personal site. None that I've spoken with in the last 3 months have heard of podcasting.

This isn't to say that these things aren't growing at phenomenal rates. The stats back that up. But, when you consider either the 300 million people in the US or the 6+ billion on the planet, it's still just a drop in the bucket.