Nuffnang.blogspot.com

This blog has been primarily dedicated to my personal life, and it was started because I wanted to understand the phenomenon of blogging better. I was particularly interested in having 2 questions answered, they were

1) Why do people blog?
2) Why do people read blogs?

The answer to both these questions I feel, lie at the very core of our human nature. We have a strong need to communicate, to express what we are feeling, or what we have done.

It was the great philosopher Aristotle who proclaimed, "Man is by nature a political animal". He did not mean political as we define politics today. He meant that man is a social creature, one that cannot exist alone, or within his own thoughts.

Blogs present a unique and universal avenue from which to be political. To be social. Injecting a blog entry with your deepest thoughts and hopes is very much like stuffing a message into a bottle and setting it out to sea for some sailor or perhaps a child on the beach to read. Except that on the internet, it is more likely people are going to find your message.

Your message may read,

"I JUST WON A MILLION DOLLARS AND I WANTED TO SHARE MY JOY WITH YOU! YAHOOOOOOO"

or it may read,

"I just broke up with my girlfriend today, and I'm feeling soo sad"

Whatever the message, somebody else has just had a taste of (at least a little bit), of your feelings or your experience, through your blog.

Not everybody is going to agree with what you say, or how you have said it, and sometimes the blogger can struggle with that, but in most instances, you find solace with the ones who do empathise with you, the readers who jumped with joy when they read your message, or put a caring arm over your shoulders.

Why do people read blogs then? Whats in it for them? Well very simply, life would be boring if we lived it alone. A man could have all the toys in the world and not be satisfied if he has not found his life companion, or if he had no family or friends to share it with. In your life companion, family and friends you can live more than one life. You can experience their joys, frustrations, passions, by interacting with them on a regular basis.

With blogs and the internet, and in fact with every other form of media out there, this "living of multiple lives" is extended even further. The saying "Live life to the fullest" probably has the strongest connotation today then it ever has. A poor man who knows no luxuries in life and has never travelled out of his neighbourhood may experience an exotic far away country through another person's blog. And from that blog entry may spring an aspiration to experience that in full himself.

It happens everyday, maybe in not such dramatic terms, but how many times have you read a blog and said, wow! I want to have dinner at that same restaurant!

These are just some of my thoughts which have sprung from the writing of this blog.

The future of nuffnang.blogspot.com

Nuffnang.blogspot.com will continue to be my personal avenue of expression. I will continue to stuff my messages into the bottle and send it out.

However, as I enter a new phase in my life, embarking on a journey I must admit I have a little fear of, this blog also enters a new phase.

From now on, the blog entries will be mostly about my journey as an entrepeneur, and my bid to make Nuffnang.com a globally recognised community. Of course there will still be some personal entries.

My aim with nuffnang is primarily this; to bridge gaps between people. People all have needs and wants and if those needs are effectively satisfied by individuals/groups of people (companies) through the Nuffnang network, I will consider it a big big success. Technology will help ensure we match the needs of blog readers with the services and goods a firm will provide, and we will never stop innovating to ensure this goal is reached.

I walk into the unknown, but I am not alone. Thank you all for that. This blog entry and the launch of the website is dedicated to all the people who have helped me along throughout my life. The same people I am sure I will need to count on in the coming days, weeks, months and years.