Happy National Bloggers Day

On this day four years ago, the then Communications and Information Minister Muhammad Nuh opened the first Pesta Blogger at Blitz Megaplex and declared the day National Bloggers Day.

Much has happened since then. The online community grew and grew, Facebook and Twitter made their entry and replaced much of the energy people put into blogging, several of the past Pesta Blogger chairmen went on to become well-known personalities in their own right.

At that event we also struck up a relationship with the US Embassy in Jakarta and this relationship turned into an annual partnership to organize Blogshops – workshops on blogging – in 10 cities each year as a run up to the main Pesta Blogger event, that lasts till this day.

Pesta Blogger also gave rise to a host of other social media events, much like a successful bakso shop will soon find itself surrounded by other bakso shops, and today we see a very vibrant online community. Where will all this lead to? Time will tell, even as we gear up for the 5th Pesta Blogger, which has been retooled as ON|OFF to change with the times, on December 3.

Here’s a blast from the past posting from Unspun on Pesta Blogger 2007 for those who were there and might ant to take a nostalgic trip back in time: