‘Blog’ No. 1 word of the year

“Merriam-Webster Inc. said on Tuesday that blog, defined as ‘a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments and often hyperlinks,’ was one of the most looked-up words on its Internet sites this year.”

A testament to the surging popularity of the blog format. My blog was started in May 2004, and now has grown to 10,000 unique visitors per month, certainly beyond my expectations. Physicians, nurses and support staff, as well as those outside of medicine have contributed to the many comments.

I’ve always felt that the medical world was like a “black box” to outsiders, and that a blog would offer a perfect opportunity to share insight “from the inside”. Much of the medical information that is presented to the public is offered by non-health professionals, whether it is DTC ads, or the daily newspaper and newscast. A blog offers opportunities for physicians and other health professionals to “set the record straight”.

This sentiment is echoed by the comments I receive:

“I think opening up worlds that were previously opaque to the rest of the world is exactly what the blog dreamers had in mind when they invented blogging.”

“Sometimes I feel like docs are in their own secret coded world, and now I have reference to one that speaks in plain English.”

I feel this is only the beginning, as evidenced by the new medical blogs sprouting on a daily basis, as well as the success of our weekly Grand Rounds. Much of my inspiration comes from the more established medical bloggers: medpundit, DB’s Medical Rants, and RangelMD. I invite you to visit the other excellent medical blogs on my Blogroll, as well as visiting Medlogs.com, where many a medical blog gets its start.