Today's post marks five years of blogging for me. 1,700 posts. 40,000 comments. One million visitors. When I first started blogging, Blog Explosion and Battle of the Blogs were two ways that people found out about new blogs to read. People rented out space on their sidebars for blogs to rent. You had to use Blogrolling to see which blogs were updated, or you could just click through to each blog in your blogroll each day to see if they wrote something new. Everybody still hated Dooce. And most of you weren't around. That first year was when I started reading some of you, although the exact dates are fuzzy.
I consider many people who I've only known online to be my friends. They've proven to be so by being there via email, phone, IM, or just through their comments, and the fact that I haven't met many of them in person in no way detracts from the quality of friend that they are. I've made many friends through my blog, and while not all of them have remained friends, I truly feel enriched through the sense of community that blogging creates, through the comments, the posts, and the feeling of belonging to a group. To something bigger.
Through TequilaCon, ConFab, the upcoming BlogHer, my Halloween parties (don't forget to sign up for the mailing list if you think you might want to come!), and random bloggers' visits to Orlando, I've had the chance to solidify the connections I've made online by seeing the three-dimensional person. The fully-fleshed personality behind the blogging voice. And I relish every opportunity to do so.
In the last six months, it seems like Twitter has been a crutch for lazy bloggers, which has led to less blogging and less commenting. It feels like it's led to shorter attention spans, post ideas boiled down to a tweet, and a transition from a small community to being lost in a huge crowded conversation. Yet, while I see the benefit of Twitter, blogging will always be what keeps me online.
Originally, I wanted to plan something huge for my fifth-year anniversary and have a week-long celebration, but I didn't have the time. So I have to compress all the awesomeness into one post. And what better way to do that than with a contest with an actual prize? This is to thank each and every one of you who took the time to comment, to email, to communicate with me in some way. For each of you who read the words that I write every day. For those of you who understand that this is just one aspect of my personality and of who I am. For anyone who has gotten to know me.
What's the prize?
What's the contest?
It's very simple. All you have to do is leave a comment and tell me one thing that you like about blogging. That's it. Oh, and wish me a happy anniversary of five years blogging!
The contest is open until Saturday, June 20th, at midnight EST. After that point, a random number will be drawn and the comment corresponding to that number will win the iPod Touch.
Good luck!
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