Seriously now... blogs are little more than personal home pages with built-in text editors.

People put up web pages for a number of reasons, but it's really all about a real or perceived notion that what they have to say is interesting to other people.  Blogs are all the rage now because they've cut through the painful overhead of setting up and maintaining a web page.  Here's what I say, they're nothing new, just a better implementation.

Bill Gates is now going to get a blog.  Doesn't he already have one right here?  Sure... it doesn't look like a blog, but it serves the same function.  So, if Bill Gates already has a web page that provides a forum for his views and news what is he really getting?

Perhaps it's not that simple.  Our society is continuing to evolve from a formal to informal society.  We don't wear ties to work anymore.  We don't like our neighbor's kids to call us “Mr. This” or “Mrs. That”.  We prefer instant messaging over e-mail.  Are blogs just an extension of that formal to casual transition our culture is making?

A formal home page is cold and corporate.  It has pretty graphics and structured layout.  A blog tends to have fewer static pictures and the content, while structured, tends to be shorter and come in fits and bursts (My posts range from a couple lines to long boring rants no one reads... are you still here?).

So what do you think?  Are blogs really something new?