To and About The Armenian Blogging Community in 2007

At the moment of my writing, there are, according to various estimates, more then 200 active Armenian blogs in various languages and on various platforms, with the actual number of registered Armenian blogs passing well over the 1000 mark. There are around 40 Armenian blogs who post on a daily bases, and the number of posts generated by the Armenian blogosphere as a whole is within the range of 80-90, with number tripling on days of significant events.
I have to admit, that of the average 80-90 blog posts flowing into my RSS reader, I read only 3-4 each day – by reading, I also understand reading the comments, and sometimes commenting. As to the rest, I just read the title, and knowing who the author is, I classify them according to one of my personal, very subjective sterotypes, and either discard it altogether, or label under one of the categories: political, economic, cultural, sports, etc and leave them in the archive of my RSS reader for future reference.
And I delete the rest of the blog posts… I delete around 70 posts each day. I delete 70 thoughts and feelings and attempts at self-expression every day… Sorry guys. Sorry, but I’m only human…
All in all, I can state, that we have a very active Armenian blogging community. It is highly diverse, very divided, polarized and ghettoized. There are sharp divisions between Russian/Armenian language blogs and the English language ones, there is a clear distinction between the LiveJournal blogging community and the rest of the bloggers based on alternative blogging platforms. There is a highly subjective and often offensive division between “Liberals” (“Leberasts” as they’re called at LiveJournal) and “Patriots” (“Pedriods” on LiveJournal). And while many people consider such division and distinction a negative development, I have to admit, I like it. It brings diversity and social, political stances to the blogosphere. It makes people break free of flatness, and either define themselves as belonging to one of the camps, or try to find a path of their own.
When thinking about what would be my last post for the year, I had many plans: making a Top Ten of my favorite blogs or posts, or summarizing all the important developments of 2007 and looking at their reflections in the blogosphere, establishing a blogging prize, etc, etc… call me lazy, but I don’t feel like doing any of those. Call me lazy – but I just want to tell you guys, bloggers and readers of this blog, that I wish you a Happy New Year. And its not JUST a wish. I really hope, that the New Year will be indeed a HAPPY one for each and every one of you. I hope, you will all maintain your interest in blogging next year, and I hope, that by blogging and reading bloggers, you’ll all find more of what you’re seeking: friends to share ideas with, interesting opponents to converse with, a way to self-expression or possibilities to establish yourselves as the “best”, the “most read” or the “most commented”. Why not? It’s all a very human community after all, and it is only natural, that some people will look for ways to establish themselves in the virtual world J
From my side, I want to promise you, that the 2008 year will be even more interesting for blogging about Armenia, and with presidential elections looming closer and internet becoming more accessable, I’m sure we will have more new bloggers, and more interesting posts from the old ones. Take these as the words of a most devoted reader of Armenian blogosphere, and a highly dedicated blogger too…
Yours truly,
Observer (c) Last post of 2007