In response to Tracey's question:
"Creativity is the currency of the future." - John Frohmeyer (Former Chair, National Endowment of the Arts)
I started this blog after reading blogs for some years before that - mainly watching friend Heather Hamilton (now Armstrong of Dooce) go public with the most intimate details of her life in 2001. The question of what is private and public was all I could think of. In the late 90’s I realized the potential of this new communication medium and was beside myself with excitement.
Around that time I read in Business 2.0 that “Creativity is the currency of the future.” What? Creativity is the currency of the future?? Really. What a concept. I was thrilled to no end and it was all I could think about for a few years. It is still a prominent thought.
It’s not tough to imagine what this quote really means now, but back then it was a totally new idea, and no one, at least on my horizon, was making money over the internet from pure creative content. If anything, early adopters were using websites to sell goods they were already selling in brick and mortar stores (ha, remember that phrase? how funny. Makes me realize how far we’ve come). And if any early adopters were making money from their content it was the most forward, creative thinkers, those who could envision the next big thing. (God, this is taking me back, I’m remembering how crazy excited I was about the internet and the possibilities). Anyway, Blogger realized all of this too and came up with a turnkey solution to get people online without a person needing to know any code. That’s when I started a blog.
But it’s traffic - eyeballs that go back to a page time and time again - that really interest me. Creativity in any form whether it’s writing, creative thinking, a product, or simply creative use of the medium, attracts traffic. Traffic is desired by advertisers. This means that advertisers must come to the individual for the eyeballs they generate – not a company but a creative individual. That's power. There's no reason for the individual to change content for the advertiser, the creative holds all the cards.
This is one of those magical times in history when creatives are in power without needing a middle person. THIS IS NOT A BAD THING. It is also inevitable. The internet is a living entity and is going to continue to become different things and if creative individuals like Tracey or Heather can make money because of this medium, then fantastic. When Dooce added ads to her site I couldn’t believe the complainers – they were out of line, out of touch, and frankly ridiculous. “It’s ugly. You’ve sold out. You’re not legit anymore,” stuff like that. To anyone talking like this I say, where’s your VISION people?!
Calling the beginning of blogging the Golden Age, which assumes anything afterwards is somewhat tarnished, is small-minded. It has really just begun.