Of Blogging

Around the world, every day, millions of people blog. Blog on numerous subjects. Most of these blogs are rarely read or visited; but, people still blog. Most bloggers write about themselves or what they do or are doing. Very few blogs are interesting or objective.  Many blog to release their inner feelings or frustrations. With many Middle East countries now witnessing incredible transformations, many use blogging to do just that: release those inner feelings and frustrations; and that, at times, can be risky and dangerous. Most people blog just for fun. Blogging is a form of communication. How one communicates in his/her blog would determine who visits the blog and how many do so. There are several blogging platforms; most of which are hard to use or unreliable or are complicated.

I first began blogging in 2004, but after a few weeks gave up. I gave up because the platform I was using: Xanga, was rather boring and not easy to use. Then, in 2005, I tried the even harder and more impractical to use Yahoo 360° and immediately gave up. I became very frustrated; I wanted to write. The urge was there. At the beginning, I didn't know what I would most write about. In 2005, I joined the social networking site Care2, and through it discovered: Google's blogging platform: Blogger. And in September of that year, I began blogging on two of my most passionate interests: wildlife and Africa.

Then in 2005 while I was doing a Web search for 'Hadhramout' and 'Hadhramaut' and 'Hadhrmawt', I knew then that I had to start another blog. My search, in English, for 'Hadhramout' had very few results; most of which were worthless. All, did not give enough information on Hadhramaut: its people, its geography, its society and its culture. And so this blog was born. Apart from Hadhramout, this site is very much about Islam too; Islam which is the main driving force and what life most revolves around in Hadhramaut and the region around.

Apart from being encouraged by the many who visit this site, Google's blogging platform: Blogger, has been most encouraging and helpful. It is the easiest, most user friendly, most practical and most reliable blogging platform I know of. And, incredibly: it is for free. Since I began blogging, I have tested several major platforms, including: Wordpress, TypePad and Tumblr: overall, they all are no match to Blogger. It is no surprise that Blogger, now, is the sixth largest website in the world.