Back when I first joined Six Apart, the main thing that made me really believe in what we did was that I saw that blogs could change people's lives for the better, and that Ben and Mena measured success by how many new people they were able to help start blogging. That's still true today, and that's why I still get excited -- more people are communicating in more ways, and blogs are helping.
So, when we were just getting off the ground, I set some mental goals, thinking about which blogs I'd want to see started, based on who would have the most impact and which voices most needed to be heard. (And to be clear, that's a judgement based not on the content, but on where blogs add useful context.) So the list ranged from Fortune 500 companies (we've got three of the top five!) that needed human voices, to people who are underrepresented in the media or popular culture today, to some that were just personal desires based on appreciating the things a person had to say.
All of that is just a long-winded way of saying that I just discovered that one of the blogs I'd been most hoping for over the past few years has just launched. I'd just checked in on this author's site last week, hoping a blog had popped up, but no luck. And then, today, finally! Malcolm Gladwell's blog Yay!
Now, I'm not much of a fanboy. I don't think I finished Blink (wait, maybe that was the point...) and I read pretty quickly through The Tipping Point. But whenever I see Gladwell's writings in the New Yorker, or hear him speak, I think, "That guy really needs a blog."
And now he has one. That's so cool.
Thanks for the heads up on the Malcolm Gladwell blog. I read both of his books. I liked The Tipping Point better than Blink but they both were great books. I hope Malcolm can be as good of a blogger as he is a writer and journalist. He has an interesting perspective on things and hopefully it will shine through in his blog posts. I imagine it will.
Ironically, about three months ago, I looked everywhere for a blog authored by him thinking he would must have a blog and could not find one. Thanks for pointing it out now that he is blogging.
I'm just reading tipping Point, after my marketing prof did a hard sell on it. Yes, he definitely needs a blog. i felt that way about Guy Kawasaki as well, and yay, he has a blog too!
Another person who _really_ needs a weblog is Annie Proloux. Maybe 6A should call her up and outline the advantages of writing daily on the web. ;-)
do any of you assholes even know who squee is?