ABOUT BLOGGING
Blogs are a phenomenon. There are more than 50 million of them on the web, and about 70,000 more appearing every day – that’s one a second. Essentially, they’re regularly updated ‘online diaries’ – often no different to pen-and-paper journals, but written on the web for a world-wide audience. Their content is as varied as the people writing them: some are political; some are fanzines; some merely databases of doodles. But some are ‘PERSONAL BLOGS’ – the intimate details of people’s lives, as they unfold – and these are the writings that form the source material for BLOGGERS – REAL INTERNET DIARIES.
Perhaps the most famous UK-based personal blogger is the mysterious Belle de Jour. At the height of her success, 15,000 people a day logged on to get off on her sexual exploits. But it’s not just sexual voyeurism which keeps readers returning– thousands check in with blogger Zoe McCarthy on My Boyfriend is a Twat just to laugh at the latest from her unremarkable, though dysfunctional, family life. Belle De Jour has since been published as a book, and My Boyfriend is a Twat has won numerous awards – but personal bloggers don’t always hit the headlines because their writing is acclaimed...
Last year, Joe Gordon was dismissed from book chain Waterstone’s because he described his employers as ‘Bastardones’ and his manager as ‘Evil Boss’ in his personal blog. And in April this year, it emerged that Kevin Underwood – who stands accused of the murder and intended cannibalisation of 10 year-old Jamie Rose Bolin – kept a personal blog for several years. ‘Strange Things Are Afoot At The Circle K’ has since become a favourite of pop-psychologists and voyeurs alike…
Because most blogs are created using easy-to-use templates from sites like Blogger and Live Journal, just about anyone from 9 to 99 with an Internet connection can begin writing one. This variety is represented in BLOGGERS: REAL INTERNET DIARIES, a new, non-fiction play in which ten amusing, sad, sexed-up and revealing personal blogs come alive on stage.
It seems you never really know someone until you’ve seen their diary…
