The web is an interesting environment to communicate in. The scope of a single web page's potential audience includes almost every person on the planet with internet access. People in other countries can read my local county newspaper on-line. But how many of them actually do? Unless a major story takes place here or someone has a specific interest in this geographic region, I assume the web site for the Forsyth County News is probably frequented almost exclusively by residents of the area.
Similarly, the possibility of the world reading my blog in no way implies any probability that my readership extends beyond friends and lost Google searchers. In fact, I am just one of a googol web pages swimming in the ocean of cyber space. It's as though I'm talking in a stadium that accommodates the world's population, but since everyone else is also talking—and most likely not listening to me—I can safely say almost anything. In order to feel uninhibited in my writing I have to imagine that I am indeed only writing for a handful of people I know. If I imagine the whole world paying attention I am rendered speechless.
I'm sure this has to do, at least in part, with my tendency to avoid criticism and my desire for approval. However, when talking to a trusted friend, the content and tone of your words are understandably different than when you are addressing a large crowd. I find it is no different for writing. Which is why I think the weblog is a curious and fascinating medium of communication. For many it is essentially an on-line journal. It seems to be a strange paradox for a journal (something typically thought of as private) to be potentially available for the world.
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