Is the internet public or private?

The internet is an increasingly important communications tool. I stumbled across a story on TechCrunch suggesting that our lives are by default public in the new age of the internet.

The story really got me thinking. In the past three or four years, social media has grown; and not just a little bit, but rather a lot. According to Mashable, Twitter grew 1,928 percent from June ’08 to June ’09. In the not so distant past, the internet was a one-way communication tool, for people geeky enough to buy a modem and install the appropriate drivers to read static information. In the course of my short life, the internet has morphed become a whole new medium, one which even Alaskan tent-dwellers can’t live without.

People are sharing more of their lives on the internet than ever before. Why would people want to share their lives on the internet? It is an interesting question. Here are some ideas I came up with:

• New way to share your life: You have seen people bring photo albums to show their friends, right?  Flickr is just like a giant photo album, the only difference being its location.
• Self-centeredness: People want others to know what they have been up to.  The internet gives everyone a place to market themselves.
• Popularity: Who doesn’t like having more friends, even if they are only virtual?

There are so many kitty blogs out there.  Is there value in this kind of content?  I guess that is up to the person writing the content.  If you are going to spend time writing or posting photos, I think it is important to do so in a thoughtful, non-selfcentered way (if that is a word), so as to have the content be of use and interest to others.  If no one is going to read what you write, why write it?  On the other hand, maybe blogs are the new diary – a home for

Let me know if you have any other ideas as to why people may be more willing to share their lives in great detail, where they may not have been willing to do so in the past.