Who was the first “pro blogger”?

Who was the first person to make some sort of monetary income from their blog or online journal?

Before continuing let’s define “pro blogging” for the sake of this discussion to mean an individual deriving an income from their personal website, online journal, or blog.

My nomination for the title is Jennifer Ringley, and her now defunct website “JenniCam”.

Launched in 1996, before the word blog had even been coined, JenniCam was a cross between reality television and video blogging, as Jennifer placed webcams through out her house allowing viewers to literally see whatever she was doing. And for those wondering, yes, anything went at JenniCam.

And that just wasn’t sitting at her computer updating her online journal either as these images show. (warning: one or two images may offend, or could be deemed NSFW).

While anyone could view whatever Jennifer’s webcams were beaming out, for a premium, subscribers could see more frequently updated or refreshed images.

Controversial? Eye catching? Unique? Crowd pleasing? You bet!

It was estimated that up to four million people daily visited JenniCam during its heyday, and as a result Jennifer made a number of appearances on shows like the “Late Show with David Letterman” as well as featuring in numerous magazine and newspaper articles.

That’s the sort of profile and publicity pro bloggers today would give their right arm for!