Om Malik, on blogging in the early days:

A long long long time ago when I started blogging, it was for two reasons: I wanted to share what I learned on a daily basis as a reporter — tiny bytes of intelligence — and at the same time, have a place to think out loud about everything from baseball to broadband. Never for a minute did I think my blog was a news publication.

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Today, we “think out loud” in too many places on the Internet and as a result are creating a diffused online presence. The more I try new services, the more I come to appreciate my Omstead, my thought place!

I remember those days well. I started out as a personal blogger, an introvert who found like-minded folks online. There was no theme or real direction to what I wrote. Whatever I found interesting, or was pondering, was open for writing about.

I remember watching the gradual shift to niche blogs, lifestyle blogs, and the growing swarm of social media. Many of us turned more to social networks for interaction, some became “social media experts” before that was even a thing. Over time, many of us stopped writing (including me) as graduate school and careers began to consume ever more time.

I forgot what it was like to write, to have a place that was mine. I went from having a blog and a Twitter account; to having a blog, a Twitter account, and a Tumblr account; to having a blog, a Twitter account, a Tumblr account, and an Instagram account. I don’t count facebook here, as I had that from its inception when I was in college, but in those days we used it mostly for simple events like our weekly glow-in-the-dark Ultimate Frisbee game.