Bruce Ableson

Bruce Ableson (born September 16, 1963 in New York) is an American computer programmer and website developer. He is best known as the inventor of Open Diary, the first online blogging community.^[1]

Bruce Ableson
Bruce Ableson
Born	(1963-09-16) September 16, 1963 (age 61) New York, United States
Occupation	Programmer

Ableson was raised in West Bloomfield Township, Michigan, and graduated from Birmingham Groves High School. During high school, he worked as editor of the Groves Scriptor, became an Eagle Scout,^[2] and appeared in several short Super 8 films produced by schoolmate Ted Raimi.

After graduating from Michigan State University with a degree in Telecommunications, Ableson worked for several years as a systems consultant and programmer. During this time, Ableson developed Open Diary,^[3] which launched on October 20, 1998.^[4][5] Ableson built the first system for blog comments,^[6][7][8] and innovated the use of friend's list privacy settings^[9] and activity feeds on the site.

These features have led some to credit Ableson's site and inventions to be the beginnings of social networks and social media.^[10][11][12]

References

1. Macnamara, Jim (2010). The 21st century media (r)evolution : emergent communication practices. New York: Peter Lang. p. 48. ISBN 978-1-4331-0936-2.
2. "BSA Troop 1022 Honor Roll". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2011-12-24.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
3. Loughnanne, E. (2005). Net Success Interviews. Lulu. ISBN 1-4116-2698-2. Archived from the original on 2012-01-25. Retrieved 2012-01-26.
4. Berman, A.S. (2000-09-07). "Open Diary lets people anonymously bare their souls". USA Today. Archived from the original on July 14, 2012. Retrieved 2012-01-26.
5. Seminerio, Maria. "The Open Diary Takes Off". ZDNet. Retrieved 2012-01-26.
6. Seminerio, Maria. "Birth of an Accidental Community". ZDNet. Retrieved 2012-01-26.
7. Richmond, Shane (2009-01-22). "What is a blog? How the technology shapes the medium". London Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2012-06-06. Retrieved 2012-01-26.
8. "The Rising Popularity of Blogs". Retrieved 2012-01-26.
9. Wikibooks:Web 2.0 and Emerging Learning Technologies/Open Diary
10. A. M. Kaplan; M. Haenlein (February 2010). "Users of the World Unite! The Challenges and Opportunities of Social Media" (PDF). Business Horizons. 53 (1): 59–68. doi:10.1016/j.bushor.2009.09.003. S2CID 16741539.
11. Fouts, Jeff. "Social Media and All Its Glory". Social Media Club. Archived from the original on 2013-05-18. Retrieved 2012-01-26.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
12. Day, Harvey (2019-03-20). "How the world responded to the Myspace data loss". BBC Three. Retrieved 2019-06-24.

External links

• Chicago Tribune: Journal Writers Go Public with Personal Experiences
• Los Angeles Times: Teens Go Online to Post Their Innermost Thoughts - Anonymously
• Washington Post: Teen Diaries, Online