The First Blogs Were Online Diaries

I’ve always sought to understand big ideas by looking at their history. In December of 2006 when I started blogging, I would change my focus and theme a lot because I was always seeking to understand this concept. I think I am now content with damienriley.com as an “online diary” but I understand that perceptions of that term vary person to person.
The article linked here on Wikipedia describes “Online Diaries” quite well and fascinatingly so I might add:
Online diary – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Here is the intro to the article. I recommend it to anyone who has wondered exactly what a “personal blog” is or what they might want theirs to be. Though I have shared some harsh words of opinion in the past, I think the only important thing is that you understand it is not a journal because others read it and that you should consider your audience much more so than a paper journal type you’d keep under your bed:
Online diaries began in 1994. As a community formed, these publications came to be almost exclusively known as online journals. Today they are almost exclusively called blogs, though some differentiate by calling them personal blogs. The running updates of online diarists combined with links inspired the term ‘web log’ which was eventually contracted to form the word blog.In online diaries, people write their day-to-day experiences, social commentary, complaints, poems, prose, illicit thoughts and any content that might be found in a traditional paper diary or journal. They often allow readers to contribute through comments or community posting.”