None of us would be doing this Blog Challenge if it weren’t for Justin Hall, acknowledged as the pioneer who started the whole blogging phenom. I never thought about that!

His original, unofficial title is Internet Based Diarist, according to Wikipdia. Justin invented this oversharing of information in 1994, when we barely even had the means to share, much less carpet the online world, with all our personal information. We didn’t even want to! Apparently all he wanted to do was document his life online.

Wow, how’d that work out? Well, by the end of 2011, there were more than 181 million blogs worldwide, up from 36 million in 2006.

More than 6.7 million people publish blogs on blogging websites and 12 million blog on their social networks. Bloggers know no age limits or territorial boundaries. Look at the group we’re blogging with now–we’re everywhere!

Did you know about Justin? I wonder if he’s in The Blog Challenge with us? Look at all the fun he started, however unwittingly! OK, some blogs aren’t fun, but in the 21st Century world, it’s how we share information, whether agreed upon or not.

Thanks, Justin Hall. If you’re out there, let us know how you are and what you think of the A to Z Blog Challenge.