18 years

My first blog went live in 2006. It wasn't technically my first blog – I had other content websites and publications before then – but it was the first one for me. Not a venture. Not a side hustle. A patch just for me to share my thinking on digital strategy, marketing, design, trends and whatever else was on my mind.

The web was a much smaller place then. It seemed like we all had a blog or an online home of some kind. The blogging community was friendly and the bonds were strong. People I met through my blog became friends and business partners. We still collaborate today.

It felt like we could do anything. The spirit of 90s web was still alive; open source with just the right amount of anarchy. It fostered experimentation and freedom of expression like nothing I'd ever experienced. It was wild.

Open source software was growing at speed. WordPress was a few years old and with it came a wonderful sense of collaboration and resourcefulness. The ease of publishing kicked everything up a gear; suddenly we all had a voice. Diverse perspectives could be shared across the globe, instantly. The playing field was level.

This was the era of Web 1.0. Social networks were new and most of the action was still outside walled gardens. We boosted each other with blogrolls and links. We were building the digital world in the open, from the ground up, together, for the good of all of us.

Between the digital artists, coders, writers, entrepreneurs, anarchists, hackers, musicians and the characters riding the next dot-com wave, it was a super creative space and opportunity was everywhere.

Will we ever experience anything like it again?

It's been over 18 years since day one and I think over ten years since my last post.

Damn it's good to be back.