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16,777,215 Ways to Be Original
Do you remember why you started blogging in the first place? Try to remember… Way back, before you found out all you do is recycle content from other websites, before you scrolled down and discovered your whole blog is embedded with stupid movies from YouTube, before the HitCounter rush, before the FeedBurner hysteria, before the Analytics reports, before the AdSense clicks… It was about making your unique mark, wasn't it? It was about saying something that hasn’t been said yet; it was about launching your jagged observations to the cyberspace and the hell with the consequences; it was about changing the world one bit at a time, remember? Why don’t you stop recycling and start creating some original content? After all, Web2.0 is all about user created content, right? Yes, it’s hard. Copy-and-paste two-minutes-per-post is a habit easy to acquire and it won’t go down without a fight. Why don’t you start with something simple, like choosing a new background color for your blog? Yes, I know white is the new trend, but don’t you think it’s time for you to replace that ultra-clean over-dignified hyper-boring white background with something a little more original? You’ve got 24 bits of RGB at your disposal, that’s 16,777,215 colors other than white for you to choose from. Come one, take a risk! Be bold! Make it shocking-pink! Make it slimy-green! Enough with all these pale web pages! Light up those pixels! First step - paint the web; next step – change the world!~~~
p.s. I predict one day Second Life’s avatars will sell their human owners on Second eBay!
18 comments:
actually, different people blog for different reasons. for me, it was a place to share interesting stuff that i'd seen on the net. i offer original writing very rarely. it's not my fault if it coincided with the publication of books by harris, dawkins, dennett, hitchens, druyan, etc., etc. or that people have become more outspoken against religious meddling in political and personal affairs.
it's an fascinating time and i want to keep track of it.
as for the color, i have LOTS of reasons why i use black, both because of work but also personal taste. my desktop and browsers are black too!
The post started strong and I already felt the shame crawling all over me but are you sure one can’t change the world with a white blog background?
Hi,
TooManyTribbles,
Regarding the content, I see a growing trend of simply copying and pasting posts from other blogs. When a new post is published on a popular site, the blogosphere is immediately swamped with copy-and-pastes. No addition of personal thoughts, no new ideas being presented, no simpler explanation to the common man, just copy and paste. If you have nothing to add, I think you should post a link to the original content and that’s it. Regarding all these white blogs, sure it’s a matter of taste, but personal blogs should reflect the blogger. I think it’s weird that in a medium that celebrates individual thinking, 99% of the people choose the same boring color.
Moti,
No it can't ;-)
"No addition of personal thoughts, no new ideas being presented, no simpler explanation to the common man, just copy and paste. If you have nothing to add, I think you should post a link to the original content and that’s it."
Better yet, just save it to Facebook or whatever you use to share it with 'friends'.
It's true that different people start blogging for different reasons, but I don't believe that a population bulge of bloggers who are just trying to make money, or even just pass the time, takes anything away from original voices. The last thing we need on the internet is the best and the brightest going behind walls to avoid the hoi polloi. One thing we do need is more connection and collaboration among them.
Vera
Hey Uri! I change my blog colors every few days-weeks! blogcatalog HAS the slimy green (i think it's a pale, soothing yellow right now).
;)
Pam Hoffman
http://seminarlist.blogspot.com
Isn't it often a case of "I'll just do this the lazy way while I find my feet/voice as a blogger" etc., without actually getting round to finding one's feet or voice because the blogging platform is not quite right for a person's particular needs etc. - time passes, and tomorrow's another day. Even then, there's 'nothing new under the sun', apparently. :-)
Vera,
I will address these issues in the next post about Web2.0 and user created content.
Pam,
More power 2 u! Light up those pixels!
Julie,
I prefer a quality blog that updates only when the author actually has something to say - even if it’s only once in every two weeks. Good things come to those who wait, right?
Uri - Thanks for visiting my blog, Image & Verse. I like the way you think... My blog is, and always will be, 100% original content -- mostly creative, with the occasional opinion. Most blogs I visit are sadly just trite, regurgitated drivel. What a shame that so many waste the opportunity to be real... to share their unique, authentic soul. Bravo to you for speaking out.
Thanks ;-)
What bothers me the most are blogs that seem to get all their content from digg.com. They only have one source for their posts! I also don't like people who blog about what their going to do with their blog. Yawn.
However, I'm a big fan of the white background... I like websites that focus on readability and useability rather decoration and style. Layout can be used to dress up a site instead of colour. But that's just my taste.
If you blog like a sheep you'll get as many readers as a sheep (unless that sheep is really articulate. You never know with sheep).
My theory is that, at some point, the spamosphere will collapse under its own weight like a Red Giant star. Then people who write (and think) for themselves can shine.
jq & legbamel,
I'm with you.
Haha, I like this post (nice layout btw). I like color as well, but am currently using a white-themed layout (there's diagonals in the background tho!). Once I finalize the possibility of moving over to wordpress, I'll definitely be playing around with colors...
Btw, how'd you come up with that number?
Thanks!
p.s. Regarding the number 16,777,215... 24 bits of RGB gives you 16,777,216 color possibilities (including white).
Hi,
Thanks for sharing this info. Also thanks for your understanding of me posting the space & time topic at my blog and a discussion thread at blogcatalog.
First Life designers are already selling Second Life clothes, which proves that Life is not very advanced intellectually. By the time Second Life is advanced enough for Third Life, the First Life will have gone broke (out of addiction to Second Life, which runs with First Life Money, and neglected job, which supports financially the First Life computer). Second Life will have to run on its own momentum, and will have more urgent needs than creating Third Life.
It could be, of course, that we are already running on our own momentum, because Zero Life went belly up, and nevertheless created Second Life... Which brings us back to your "simulated worlds" discussion. Cheers.
I am hooked.. Thanks man!
Don't use Magenta.
It seems it doesn't actually exist. Or at least it only exists in as far as your brain makes it up. Confused? So was I when I read about it. Especially as, being the curious type, I held a CD up against our kitchen light and saw Magenta. (I know it might be something to do with fluorescent light, but it is supposed to be white.)
7 colours of the rainbow, are there? Red, orange, yellow, green, magenta, cyan, blue, (indigo?), violet.
Any more for any more?
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