Congrats, 2.0

Time Person of the Year.  You.To everyone who has something to offer, no matter what, and who acts creatively, even if only to an audience of 100, even if only for your own self-advancement, even if only because you like to see your name in lights.

To everyone who has been given a chance to speak, to become an Important Person through an online forum, no longer content to sit on the sidelines and watch the supposed professionals hog the spotlight.

To everyone who spills his or her guts out online.

To everyone who has created a magazine-like space, a niche for lovers of an increasingly specific category for people to get together and converse across the boundaries of space and time.

To everyone who helped create a smaller world – one that is no longer separated by thousands of miles, but is now just seconds apart, ready to sit together in a virtual coffee shop and discuss ideas, theories, opinions, and humor.

To everyone who gave the finger to the mainstream media, who joined together as a collective and started talking about the things that mattered to them – regardless of whether or not the rest of the world was ready to talk about it.

To everyone who took back the power of publishing. And to everyone who fiddles around on the Internet, modestly occupying a space and slowly wondering if it will ever explode. Garner attention. Become worldwide.

Congratulations, bloggers. Web 2.0ers. YouTubers. Congratulations to everyone that has made consumer-generated-media a buzzword. Congratulations to You. Time’s Person of the Year.

You.

This was lovingly handwritten on December 18th, 2006