1999

Like many people my age, I had my moment in the dot-com sun, as did Adam. Unlike many of our friends, we did not make millions. Like, at all.

I spent almost 10 years working in PR and marketing for technology companies based in Boston and San Francisco, which includes about a bajillion dot-coms, some of which burned through $100 million in less than two years and promptly died, and some that are actually quite well known, and still successful. But, I have nothing to show for it, unlike our millionaire friends from college who got in at the ground level at companies like this and this, and started ventures like this, and hilarious side projects like this. All I have to show for my years of free bagels is a fat ass, a slew of options and shares in defunct companies, and an enviable collection of dot-com schwag, such as T-shirts, mugs and water bottles. We even scored some fancy water glasses from our favorite dot-com, Kozmo.com. Did you know they would deliver anything – ANYTHING, including digital cameras, movies and toothpaste, within an hour? TO YOUR DOOR? I miss them.

But, while we are not millionaires, we remain Technology People, in that any new thing that comes on the market, we research and ponder, if not buy, and anything happening with the Internet, we follow. I am a giant Internet Geek, and although I spent my years in PR dreaming of the day I could get out, I still follow technology companies, and I’m still fascinated at the impact the Internet has our daily lives. And let’s remember that after the dot-com bust, I stayed in technology for five more years, and went on to pitch companies in hot areas such as packet switching, fiber-to-the-desktop media converters and speech recognition software. Fucking riveting. So although some of my worst memories in PR are surrounding sending a truckload of angry contest winners to Aruba for a random, stupid contest for this company (They WON A TRIP TO ARUBA. And still, they complained. And screamed. And cried. AND WENT TO ARUBA, FOR FREE. AND SCREAMED AT ME ANYWAY), I remain attached to the Internet and all its workings. Because it’s pretty fucking cool. And also, weird.

I remember the days so vividly, when there was so much VC money floating we thought we’d explode from the fat, and I don’t think I could have gotten fired even if I came into work, took my pants off and farted on a lit match, because THEY NEEDED ME THAT MUCH. And also, that kind of behavior was usually covered by our too-young-to-be-believed CEOs of our dot-com clients. One actually came in wearing jeans that showed his asscrack, and, because he was paying us $100,000 every month for lame PR services, we had to sit there and smile while his asscrack smiled back.

Anyway, those days were heady. And it’s kind of feeling that way again in the blogging world. I promise, I’m not going to blog about blogging – not my blogging, anyway, or why I do it or any of that shit, because who cares? And also, you already know. But the thing is, I’ve noticed that every single news site has started “blogs” and new companies are hiring well-known bloggers to help them build community*. There are entire agencies devoted to finding bloggers to offer them book deals. And citizen journalism is everywhere, and viewed as the new frontier in news today. Christ, the BBfuckingC announced a broad, sweeping citizen journalism initiative that was no doubt influenced by the blogging generation. A friend of mine, a well-known columnist at a major metro daily, told me she believes she will be obsolete by the end of the year, booted by bloggers who compete with her for free. Blogs are the new dot-coms. “Our audience is becoming tired. Let’s start a blog!” It reminds me of all those brick-and-mortar stores that added an ‘i’ or a ‘.com’ to their name to stay relevant. iParty, anyone? FortheLoveofGolfDOTCOM?

I don’t believe it’s sustainable. I just don’t. I believe that blogging will stick around, but I don’t believe it can maintain its momentum, or its notoriety, and I think the quota for professional bloggers is just about up. And while I don’t think the crash will hit nearly as hard as that infamous bubble burst did, for blogging doesn’t cost a thing, thank God, save for hosting costs, I think it’s inevitable that we’ll feel it. Certainly not in the reduction of blogs, but in the opportunities that bloggers can expect to be afforded, just because they’re bloggers.

There are so many great writers out there. So, so many. It’s been a pleasure to see how beautifully this brings them all out. Eventually, though, because everyone reads the same 15 famous bloggers, everyone starts to sound the same – one collective voice per genre, emulating what’s worked in other areas and trying to recreate it. When all is said and done, I think the best will stick around, but I think so many people will inevitably dry up and walk away, abandoning their attempts at becoming writers because it didn’t come easy, which is so sad. But the reality is, it’s not that easy, and I don’t think it should be. Am I that big of a hardass? Because I think I want more than this., and I think a lot of bloggers are good enough to deserve more than this.

I’m taking two more fiction classes this summer – one online, and one in real life. Because talking about yourself gets old, and as much as it’s good for getting through life, and figuring things out, and connecting with people, I’m not sure this is really helping me become a better writer. In fact, in some ways I think it’s making me a worse one. I won’t give it up, but I no longer see it for what I first thought it was. I’m not writing, I’m getting free therapy, for chrissake. And no way should I expect anything for that except what I’m already getting.

*I like these women. And I’m happy for them, so please don’t misunderstand this as a statement that they are undeserving, or the opportunities they are afforded are somehow invalid. That’s not what I’m saying.

12 comments April 25th, 2006