The Bloggers Blogs

Much to my surprise I have now totted up a total, of now 14 posts, for my blog… having originally not seen the point in it in the first place (sorry mike) I seem to have changed my perspective of what this is all about, proving mikes original point quite correct. I’m now rather fond of my blog and have liked my self serviced therapy and thought process achieved by writing down my ideas and thoughts mostly to do with IMS… (I didn’t want to get all emotional or bitchy as that could have been a long one) and thinking maybe some highly successful marketing manager is looking- erm maybe not!

Having recently listened to Paul Charles (Virgins Corporate Communications Director) talk about the future of communications mainly PR based functions, blogging is coming into its own, and more and more recognition of the function it bring seen in corporate and personal contexts. After talking to Paul later on he asked if I kept a blog, and said that he regularly reads ones concerning himself and the company, this got me thinking about the effect blogs could be having, for example I have been preparing for a assessment day for the Microsoft graduate scheme, and while gaining and incite into the business I have come across the personal blogs of certain staff and directors at the company- which have been really insightful.

While at my interview yesterday at the Microsoft campus they asked about which university courses I was most enjoying, and I had to say IMS- not just to try and pretend I knew things about technology (maybe a little bit?), it seems odd that this isn’t a core subject, however I have herd rumours it is soon going to be for the next years to come. It seems to be the most relevant and up-to-date examples of the world we are actually going into, blogging, consumer power, diffusion of innovations…. Etc
In all I can see myself continuing with the blog, when we think of doing work that isn’t for marking nor grade worthy I (like many others) can get quite put off, but I can see blogs working, they help to network promote and express ideas, and can be quite rewarding, when people start interacting with other blogs and your own.

Traffic

So I was looking at this site my housemate has been showing me, the alexa application to compare internet traffic, I found it interesting to see the post xmas dip in site hits for ebay and Amazon.
And success it would seem blogger is one of the most highly populated web traffic sites!? More than google and myspace!? Hummm

Nostalgia

The idea of nostalgia has been interesting me recently how we look back on the past which such happiness and try and recreate what always seems like a better time in our lives, even though we didn’t seem to realise it back then.

Although I’m talking from the perspective of a 1985 born 21 year old, I have still started to get feelings of nostalgia when discussing things like TV and video games with friends. I also feel overwhelmed with nostalgia spurred on by websites that help us to look back on the ways things were, and I mainly feel inspired by looking at you tube videos of music that reminds me of what my parents listened to when I was younger.
Never did I think the things I constantly complained about having to do, go to, or listen to when I was younger (younger been around 10 years ago) would now be something I constantly want to keep exploring now, when I’m at a time and opportunity to do what I want.

It’s hard to understand why we feel pleasure from looking at a time when we think we were happier, and even though I mentioned I’m a 21 year old, I think I can now relate to nostalgic feeling because that time always seems to stem from childhood: this is a time when we had no responsibilities and still innocently following the instructions of elders and people who we respect.
Interactive media and applications are a strange equilibrium, even though they are the very innovative technologies constantly evolving our lives and technology that is used today, they are the very applications bringing us that one step closer to looking into the past.

It seems like a very odd concept that I would feel less in contact with my nostalgic childhood without the help from yotube, ebay, itunes, wikipedia expedia etc, which all relaying stories showing me pictures and giving me more detail about places I’ve been to, things I’ve listened to and stuff that I have brought.
My Aunty recently emailed me to tell me about a strong family connection of my grandfather travling to england in the war, which is all detailed and descriptive with thanks to wikipedia…. !!