The excellent Siberian Light blog quotes from Mosnews that blogging was described - if not actually invented - by the Russian Prince Vladimir Odoevsky in 1837 ! Odoevskiy was an intellectual and a science fiction writer who apparently wrote a book called "Year 4338"
According to Mosnews:
"Odoevsky suggested in future there would be a kind of connection between houses that would allow people to communicate quickly and easily, the way they do now via the Internet.
“Houses are connected by means of magnetic telegraphs that allow people who live far from each other to communicate,” Odoevsky wrote.
Even more interestingly, Odoevsky suggested every household would publish a kind of daily journal or newsletter and distribute it among selected acquaintances, a habit which Russian bloggers immediately recognized as blogging.
“We received a household journal from the local prime minister, which among other things invited us to his place for a reception,” one of Odoevsky’s characters tells a friend.
“The thing is that many households here publish such journals that replace common correspondence. Such journals usually provide information about the hosts’ good or bad health, family news, different thoughts and comments, small inventions, invitations to receptions.”
Mosnews got this story from a Russian Blogger Ivan Dezhurny, a Russian poet and singer.
Boring additional note:
I was rather suspicious of this story - could it be a Russian April Fool , perhaps? However it seems genuine. The Black Family's battered 1961 McGraw Hill Encyclopedia of Russia and the Soviet Union describes Vladimir Fyodorovich Odoyevskiy (1804-1869) as a writer and musical critic who wrote a collection of philosophical fantasies "Russian Nights" published in 1844.
However according to a web-page I found Odoyevskiy was still in the middle of writing "Year 4338" when he died. So I'm not sure how this matches up with 1837.
But it still looks he was the first fellow to think of blogging.
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