The past few months a viewer in Peru has been reading
this blog—apparently. I use the word apparently
because I am unsure, not about the viewing but about the reading. Wishful
thinking perhaps on my part for a reading as Blogger merely tallies viewings.
I like to think the viewer—the word sticks in my craw a
bit—is learning English or maybe teaching English. And younger, much, which
appeals to my better angel. Of course, could be a hacker or even a stalker, of
a sort. Okay, unlikely, the stalking. Could be a former student or colleague,
or a friend from long ago.
Often, I feel certain of the who [sic] behind the view. Former
students in Japan, in Germany, in Australia, in Ireland. And let’s mention Canada,
too, since that country is all the rage presently. Colleagues in Portugal,
friends in France. My social and professional networks over the years have been
cast far and wide from my home shore.
Quite the brave new world for someone raised on a
Smith-Corona portable typewriter and checking the mailbox—the one outside.
Facebook, founded in 2004, went public in 2012. In other
words, has existed for 14 years and been beholden to shareholders just 6. I
suspect—certainly do not know—that Mr. Zuckerberg and his cohorts are making it
up as they go along and really had no idea what they were unleashing. Both the
Kraken and Andromeda, methinks.
In 1455, the Gutenberg Bible was printed, a first run of
180 copies. Just 5 years earlier Gutenberg received financial backing for his
printing enterprise. The resulting explosion of a readers network is, as we
know, a matter of history.
Five and a half centuries later, an estimated 1,000,000
new book titles are released each year. Not much of a leap to guess Gutenberg
would be flabbergasted by the expansive reach of the book—in print or in e-form.
As for Zuckerberg, leading up to the company’s public
offering he often said reaching a billion users was attainable, and now the
count is reckoned at 2.1 billion. Far and wide, across all that divides.
Who knew? Zuckerberg didn’t. And social media 550 years
from now? Unfathomable. So much so that asking the question is absurd.
Recent blogging statistics suggest 18 million bloggers in
the world and Blogger, which anchors my posts, claims around 46 million unique viewers
a month.
To me, raised on snail mail pen pals, unfathomable. So to
one dear viewer, enjoy the read from Peru.
