WriteHere came about because I was frustrated that there was no place to express myself, to share written opinions and ideas, that would actually be read by more than a handful of people.

Sure, there are plenty of places to express yourself on the web. Having a blog is great, but only a small percentage of them are read by more than family and friends. The blogs that have a genuine, large readership are usually professional rather than recreational - online 'magazine-style' publishers or individuals working full-time at writing and sourcing content. Both types are money-making exercises, with ads and/or sponsored posts sustaining them. But what if writing is not your full-time job?

YouTube opened a whole new world of possibilities for self expression, and a truly captivating way to be entertained and informed. However, I'm a writer, not a budding cinematographer.

Facebook is amazing, in pretty much every way, but it's not a place to post lengthy opinions and discuss issues in depth.

Lately, a few more options have come online. You can put your experience and expertise to use by answering questions on Quora or Stack Exchange. That's really interesting and helpful. But your expression is (well, should be) limited to the questions being asked.

If you're in the right crowd, The Huffington Post might give you a semi-regular spot on their roster, or you could be asked to contribute a thought piece on Medium. Great opportunities, if they knock.

Aspiring authors have Wattpad - a platform to develop stories and reach readers. It's great, and it's even helped some people get published.

And, of course, there's Twitter. I love Twitter. I love how it works, and what it enables. It's given a voice to hundreds of millions of people and facilitated the spread a lot of useful information and good ideas. Although Twitter falls short in one important aspect - it's not long enough.

If you're genuinely interested in a topic, to the extent where you have something to share with the world (by that I mean your own thoughts, not just a link to someone else's), I bet you have far more than 280 characters to say about it. And you're probably looking to spread your thoughts and insights way beyond your immediate circle of family, friends and followers.

That's where a community blogging platform like WriteHere comes in. It's designed to be a virtual Speakers' Corner for the Internet; a soapbox on which passionate people can stand and address a global audience. (I humbly acknowledge the optimism of that statement - our community is very small by Facebook and Twitter standards, but we're growing steadily, from all corners of the globe.)

It's also a forum where the comments and contributions of other writers create an exchange of ideas and ideals. Because of this interaction, the opinions you express, the experiences and info you share, are not here just to be broadcast and read, they are here to evolve and grow.

I pursued development of WriteHere through various trials, setbacks and crises of confidence, driven by a humble aim: to change the way the world shares opinions and original writing.

It's my hope that if we can collect our thoughts, gather the spectrum of ideas and inspirations, and bring people together, we might even make a few other changes along the way.

If you're reading this, then you're probably the kind of person who will read some of the writing on the site. I certainly hope so.

If you're the kind of person who likes to share your own observations and insights, or you have original writing to share, I hope you'll also contribute a post, or two.

Thanks for visiting,

-Cameron