Monday, May 30, 2005

How postsecret is no longer a secret

IT'S funny how big blogs have come, just think how many thousands/millions there are, or will be soon. In the last number of weeks alone, I have read loads of different articles about how blogs are a threat to journalism, how they are the new way to campaign, etc, etc. Through my own scrolling, I have encountered political diaries, art for sale, diaries of break-ups, proud mums, crazy lunatics, celebrity blogs and much, much more.

One of the Sunday newspapers here in Ireland, the Sunday Tribune, even scrolls through Irish political/ish blogs in a regular article discussing their content. But can you imagine my surprise when I opened up the Evening Herald on the way home from work this evening to see a site I put a link to on my site featured in a full-page article – postsecret.

The article, see below, spoke of a secret shared being a secret doubled and well reading the article it appears the reporter doesn’t really get the site. In fact I think she just missed the point really but sure all publicity is good publicity – there’s bound of be loads of hits now from the article alone and if you have seen the site you’ll know that’s a good thing.

EH



I love checking out this site, I love seeing how creative people are with their secrets, whether amusing or heartbreaking. I regularly laugh heartily at what people say, such as the person whose secret involves going to great lengths to poo in solitude – know that feeling! To the people who have held on for years to dark absorbing secrets and maybe the first time they have told anyone is through an often beautiful handcrafted delicate piece of art.

Looking through all the different people’s secrets, you can’t help but admire the creativity in them, from the not-so-perfect ones to the extraordinarily beautiful ones to the messy and to the simple ones.

babar


one of the lighter secrets on postsecret

For whatever reason there are terrible hard and black secrets that some people have entrusted to the site. There are countless numbers of other people who have been unable to deal with this issues in their own lives and that’s a hard thing. Maybe there is a kind of catharsis in this, in the anonymity of the site and in finally releasing the burden of whatever has dragged the person down, except for the person who like to poo in peace, they just have to go at home, sorry about that.

So now before I sign off, I am going to have a glass of wine to toast postsecret for being what it is, for me for drawing the attention of the Evening Herald to the site – ok ok it had nothing to do with me!!! (damn). But a glass of wine is still in order. Have a good evening and check out postsecret before it becomes one of the worst-kept secrets on the net, and wouldn’t that be a good thing too.

1 comment:

Colin Dardis said...

I found Postsecret from your link. I have to say, I love it! I've just spent the last half hour reading through all the postcards on this site. Some made me laugh and smile, but others made me feel a little sad that all these people hold such important issues and problems, and they feel only capable of revealing them anonymously on some stranger's website.