ClustrMaps™ & NeoCounters…

No, this is no business company I might be trying to advertise. I would never be good at such a job… It's just a point of departure I've found for some reflections of a different kind on being a worldwide blogger.

It's quite a unique feeling knowing that you're connected to the whole world.
Honest it is. It may seem tacky to say it this way, and perhaps it is indeed, but as a common human being you only realise the true meaning of such an abstraction when you get evidence of the phenomenon. You don't believe it until you see it. As old as mankind…

So a map and a counter have been giving me enough to think about. Looking at the map I see dots almost everywhere. What can this possibly mean?
First of all, the connection is an obvious reality, regardless of any doubts I might still have. Millions cross the cyberspace at any hour, day or night, searching for each other, hoping perhaps to find a consoling word, an instant of amusement, a soul mate, or a reason of any kind to go on believing in themselves, in others, in life. (Often it's much less serious, I know…)

Taking a closer look I see dots where I never thought I would see any. Not for a reason in particular, no. I suddenly realise I'm still depending on last century's thinking categories, all of them relating to time and space. "If one doesn't travel so often or so easily to such remote places, how come they show up on the map?!" Quite silly, isn't it? Well, I'm not thinking exactly this way, but I guess I'm not that far from it either…

Asia and Oceania would still be a certain kind of mythical places – some Shangri-La or El Dorado: New Zealand, Australia, Japan, China, Taiwan, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand…

I can't help wondering what those visitors expect to find here, what they think about the blog, about me, what makes them come back and – last but not least – why they come and go so silently. Some are occasional visitors, definitely, people who come across the blog just to find out it's not their cup of tea at all. But I mean those who keep coming, over and over again. Always silently… Not a word…

Central and South America may be a slightly different case. People may just want to take a look out of pure curiosity, I'd say. Brazil is dotted all over, but my contacts are, as far as I know, in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. As to all others I haven't a single clue…

Africa is a whole mystery in a certain sense; in another, however, there's no mystery about it at all. A few countries apart, Africa has still a long way to run before taking its due place in the cyberspace. So much is still such top priority that just the thought of being connected to the rest of the world may seem a futile exercise… I wonder whether it truly is.

North America and Europe are the best saved for last. Here too, however, my reflections follow the same path as before: many of those dots are silent places, either in the USA, Canada or Europe. Flags have been being displayed day after day, but their true meaning in this context can only be one and one alone: people just come and go. Well, I guess that's exactly what mankind has always been about anyway, cyberspace or no cyberspace.

One last note: it's quite possible, or almost certain, that most people don't like what they see or read. That's okay with me as well. I've never claimed I was here to please both Greeks and Trojans, have I?