In my earliest days as a Blogger — which happened more than 20 years ago — the whole idea of social blogging was essentially about people sharing the ongoing events and stories of their lives.


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## *The Origins of Blogs...*

The term *"Blog"* — a contraction of *"web log"* — *literally* was about logging your daily activities and thoughts in a sort of *"journal format."*

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Sure, some people had certain topics they focused on more than others but the vast majority of blogs I remember — as well as their creators with whom I became friends — we're pretty much a catch-all journal of what was going on in people's lives.

It wasn't actually until social venues like MySpace and Facebook were introduced that the whole idea of blogs having to be *”about a specific topic”* and bloggers being *”specialists”* became common. At the same time, the *"personal"* flavor gave way to a more formal *"newspaper article"* style... at least if you were hoping to be *"taken seriously."*

To me, it felt like a *loss...*


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## *The Internet of PEOPLE!*

Although I kept niche blogs for many years it was never really my *”natural placement”* as a content creator. That is to say, whereas I was perfectly *capable* of writing on a specific topic, it quickly enough got boring because I felt like I was being fenced in. What became *more* of an issue for me was this sense of feeling boxed in by having to provide *information* rather than personal stories.

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I guess this is all a fairly long winded way of saying that I'm more oriented towards *”the Internet of People”* than *”the Internet of Things.”*

When I think about it, I always come back to the same place: what is it that keeps us interested and entertained? Ultimately, it's personal stories. Even when we're talking about something that is clearly *”information”* — it might be something like a recipe, or even how to assemble a piece of furniture — I always feel more compelled to read those *”versions”* in which the personal experience of the person behind the words clearly shines through, as opposed to just a dry piece of prose that says *”connect A to B.”*

For example, if I were to choose between one post entitled *”Why smartphones are useful”* and another entitled *”How I get the most from my smartphone,”* I would almost without fail choose the 2nd post every time.

When you look at it from that perspective, *most* people do approach “*information”* from that perspective because somehow a personal recommendation feels more trustworthy than just generic information that couple have been transcribed from an owner's manual.


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## *A GLOBAL Community!*

What sets this community apart is the truly *international global nature* of its users. Sure, Facebook has users all over the world, but the problem with that is that these people from all over the world seldom *interact* on Facebook. On Steemit, on the other hand, people tell their stories and you have folks from Venezuela reading about people doing barbecue in South Africa; people from the United States reading about camping in Australia.

When it comes to *community building,* that is one of the greatest *strengths* of this platform!

And, to get back to the title of this post, what is makes it doubly so is the tendency of our users to create content that is about their daily lives. Certainly, we have occasional contests and challenges and such that focus on a specific thing but we nearly always get to read about life through the eyes of the individual content creator in their particular corner of the world.


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I say that of course, because that's how *I* use this venue! But it also seems to be the way a lot of the people I follow and have become friends with over the past five years using this platform.

So when we go out and talk to others and recommend that they join us perhaps it behooves us to make this particular aspect part of our *”sales pitch!”* I don't know if the **#promosteem** folks have a set format for how they like to present Steemit, but I hope the personal angle as part of their approach.

Thanks for reading and have a great week!

***How about YOU? Do you like to read personal stories from people around the world? Or do you like "strictly information" better? ASIDE from rewards, what is the greatest strength of Steemit? Leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!***

***(All text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is ORIGINAL CONTENT, created expressly for this platform — NOT A CROSSPOST!!!)
Created at 20210524 21:30 PDT
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