Tom is disappointed by the lack of debauchery at his office party, passionate about the creative potential of the web and sometimes strangers like his site enough to send him presents. To the uninitiated, bloggers can seem narcissistic and slightly geeky, but by putting their lives online they're probably closer to the DIY utopian dreams of the early internet pioneers than any dotcom 'cash cow' can ever be. Websites used to have to be slowly hand-coded, but Blogger makes it possible to set up a site in minutes, edit it in seconds, and work on it anywhere with internet access. The result is an international, inconnected community. Some cult sites get thousands of visitors every day, develop a devoted community of readers, and inspire soap opera-style discussion.
Bloggers frequently copy, parody and play with ideas from each other's sites.
Many bloggers work in internet-related jobs, and blogs are often the source of trends that are hyped across the web. Blogging can seem a strange world, but it's free, playful and constantly innovative.