Do you remember Fred? Schephil? Ray William Johnson? Try this quick exercise: Close your eyes and try to name five YouTubers who had over a million subscribers in 2009. It’s the OGs who ruled the platform when Charlie Bit My…
Editor’s note (April 2026): This article is part of the Blog Herald’s editorial archives. Originally published in 2024, it has been revised and updated to ensure accuracy and relevance for today’s readers. Most bloggers who start a podcast treat it…
You know that sinking feeling when you realize you’re not quite yourself with someone? Are you portraying a character you don’t like? A three year relationship turned me into someone I barely recognized. It started thin. I would make sarcastic…
Remember that millennials are the oversharing generation? We’d pour our hearts out in long LiveJournal posts, make detailed Facebook statuses about our breakups, and write thousand-word blog posts analyzing every little life crisis. We would end things with “sorry about…
You know that feeling when you check your bank account and the number staring back at you is bigger than what your parents saw? A mixture of pride and panic sitting like a weight on your chest? I’ve been there.…
Editor’s note (April 2026): This article is part of the Blog Herald’s editorial archives. Originally published in March 2006, it has been revised and updated to ensure accuracy and relevance for today’s readers. In March 2006, Six Apart—then the dominant…
On this week’s episode of the Niche Pursuits podcast, Chris Panteli and I discuss earned links, high PR links, trust signals, visibility on LLMs, and what it takes to cite AI reviews in search today. This talk focused on a…
So, apparently, Gen Z discovered our old LiveJournal and Xanga posts from 2005, and they were totally confused. “Why did you write like that?” they ask, flipping through pages of excited poems about the oppressed who do not know our…
Editor’s note (April 2026): This article is part of the Blog Herald’s editorial archives. Originally published in 2010, it has been revised and updated to ensure accuracy and relevance for today’s readers. Most users never noticed when it happened, but…
If you were the kind of kid who always had a book in hand and lived more in fictional worlds than the playground, you probably heard them all growing up. “Go outside and play.” “You need to socialize more.” “Put…
