After reading my recent columns on Weblogs and Podcasting, a friend sent me this quote from Dave Winer, developer of the RSS format used for content distribution:
“John Lennon said the Beatles were more popular than Jesus. No argument, it was true, they were. Well, even though the vast majority of people have never heard of Steve [Gillmor] or myself, were more influential than John Lennon or Bob Dylan ever were. Were media hackers.”
The version of the quote that I received was from a San Jose Mercury News newsletter and appended the attribution, “Scripting News proprietor Dave Winers last words before his ego exploded.”
Well, hot news for Dave: Lennon and Dylan have influenced my life in ways blogs and Podcasts never will. But, you are right about one thing: The vast majority of people not only have never heard of you, they never will.
Dave Winer personifies the idea that blogging and Podcasting is about people with big egos looking for outlets. Nothing wrong with that, and sometimes its interesting and entertaining, but it can also be self-indulgent to the extreme. (As opposed to these columns, which, I suppose, represent only self-indulgence in moderation.)