a bit passe

History Meg Pickard was asked to give a conference talk about how businesses and companies can make the most of their time online and how not to be evil in the sphere of social network. But it's her comments on the experience of being on-line in the past decade which really gave me a lump in the throat:

"I talked to a few trusted friends, family members and colleagues about it, and they all looked at me weirdly and backed away. I learnt not to reveal my habit in public, because there was social stigma attached to it. I realised it wasn’t a productive or even necessarily healthy way to spend my time. I even used a fake name. But I kept doing it, all the same.

"Gradually, through the internet, I became aware that there was a small but dedicated community of like-minded addicts, just like me, distributed across the UK and across the world. We met up occasionally in pubs and felt reassured that we weren’t as weird as everyone else thought. In fact, we dared to think that what we were doing might actually be exciting."

It has been a busy decade. When I began writing this blog in 2001 for no apparent reason, I didn't really expect that I'd still be doing it now or that I'd be viewed as anything like an early pioneer (which has been said, I'm not making that one up). But it is strange when I mention this blog to someone and they know what I'm talking about, even stranger that it's so common place as to be a bit passe.