Another day, another dollar. Another year, another awards ceremony. Pedestrian’s teamed up with Intel to once again highlight the sublime talent of Australia’s blogosphere. The competition this year is on a whole new level – pitting the best-of-the best against each other. With the help of Intel, we’re curating content that’ll explore all things blogging. This will include things like tips on how to create your own platform, and how to deal with the h8rs. Get keen, y’all. It’s set to be, like, the best year yet (here’s hoping).
If there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s that the Internet is the best place in the world. It’s your main source of news, information, entertainment, and pretty much everything else. The information super highway is an endless stream of validation, in the form of Instagram likes, Twitter RTs, Tumblr reblogs, and Facebook shares. But it hasn’t always been like this. Even 5-10 years ago, the ~web~ was a very different place. Pedestrian is celebrating its 10th birthday this year, and our Blogster Awards, presented by Intel, are turning 5. To celebrate, let’s take a walk down memory lane.
~Only ’90s kids will remember~
Every day, you probably scroll through your Instagram feed, an endless stream of beautiful photos of all your friends’ lives and dinners. But remember when viewing an image on the go looked like this?
These days, showing the world an image is as easy as set dressing your cupcake, slapping a filter on it, and uploading it for the world to see, as the girls from The Katering Show pointed out in their Food Porn episode.
Wanted to upload a selfie? You better be ready to take 40 low-quality images on your phone – without a front camera. Tricky stuff.
(Other things that have changed since 2005 – Every single fashion choice happening in this iconic photo.)
These days, taking selfies can practically be a job in and of itself, and the quality of your selfies is constantly improving with every phone that goes on the market. Look at this selfie of fashion nominee Margaret Zhang.
A photo posted by Margaret Zhang ?? (@margaret__zhang) on
If you had a YouTube channel, chances are, it was filled with mad ~content~ like this, viewed only by your closest friends, and anyone you met on a message board about your favourite band.
…While today, being a YouTuber can be a full-time profession, and your work can be viewed by millions, like this SketchShe video that has been watched over 31 million times.
If you had a blog, it was probably a MySpace, and let’s be real, it probably looked something like this:
On your MySpace, this was the epitome of a good day:
Today, having a blog is just one element of huge production that is being a professional ~digital influencer~. Rather than just being on one platform, bloggers today are on top of it all: they’re on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, Instagram, Snapchatand more, making themselves and their content accessible to as many people as possible. Here’s a look at the front page of Amanda Shadford’s site Oracle Fox, linking to all her social platforms.
If you wanted to communicate with people quickly over the net, MSN Messenger was the only communication method worth your time, and your contact list probably looked like this:
But these days?
With Twitter, Facebook Messenger, Skype, Whatsapp, and countless other messaging apps, poor MSN lives only in our hearts, like Jack Dawson toRose</3
If you wanted to watch a video on YouTube back in the day, you had to do it at home, probably on a desktop that looked something like this:
Now, you can watch an endless stream of videos on your desk top, your laptop, your phone, or your tablet. Anywhere you are, you can stream pretty much whatever you want…
…Unless, of course, you’re trying to watch a video with a Taylor Swift song in the background, because it is a VERY OFFICIAL fact that those videos are removed within 3.2 seconds of hitting the internet, the uploaders being served with a lawsuit.
But we digress. The point is, a lot has changed in the last decade, but if there’s one thing we can all relate to, it’s this feeling:
