In case you’re wondering, this is going to be a Bad Thing, although most of you probably realize this. According to the Washington Post, “AOL Journals” is AOL’s answer to the weblog and will be available to users this summer. So be prepared for an onslaught of clueless newbies’ attempts at communicating through this medium, instantly destroying the credibility that this medium has slowly but inexorably attained.
Some may protest at this stereotypical characterization of AOL users, but here’s one point that I find telling: “AOL has dubbed its service ‘AOL Journals’ because its surveys showed that members found the word ‘blogs’ confusing, said Rick Robinson, AOL’s vice president for community products.” I think one of the first (satirical) comments in the Slashdot thread on this story is pretty damn funny, depicting the (well-deserved) reputation of most AOL users: “The average AOL user also found the words ‘unlimited,’ ‘free,’ and ‘useful’ to be confusing.” “Web” + “log” = “weblog.” This isn’t rocket science, people.
For those of you who didn’t get the Big Crunch reference, here’s a link. Hopefully things won’t be as bad as I’m predicting, but I don’t think I’m exaggerating too much here…
