When you think of blogs, you probably imagine personal journals, niche reviews, or viral news sites. But the very first blog? It’s older than most people realize-and it’s still online today. The longest running blog isn’t some corporate site or algorithm-driven content farm. It’s a raw, personal archive that started in 1994, long before smartphones, social media, or even Google existed. This is the story of the first blog, how it survived, and why it still matters.
The First Blog: Justin Hall’s Links
The longest running blog in history is called Links, created by Justin Hall in January 1994. That’s right-1994. At the time, the internet was mostly text-based. Most people used email, Usenet, or early web browsers like Mosaic. Hall, a student at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, started posting personal updates, links to interesting sites, and reflections on his life. He didn’t call it a blog. Nobody did. The word "blog" didn’t even exist yet. He called it "Links," because it was just a list of links with commentary.
His first post was simple: a link to a page about the 1994 World Cup, with a note about how he was watching it with friends. Over time, he wrote about his relationships, his struggles with identity, his travels, and his thoughts on technology. He didn’t post every day. Sometimes he went weeks without updating. But he never stopped.
By 2026, Links has been online for over 32 years. That’s longer than most websites last. Most blogs die within a year. Most companies shut down in under a decade. But Hall’s site? It’s still there, hosted on the same server at Swarthmore, unchanged in structure, still accessible at links.net.
Why It Survived When Everything Else Died
Why hasn’t this blog vanished like so many others? Three reasons: authenticity, consistency, and lack of pressure.
First, Hall never tried to monetize it. No ads. No affiliate links. No sponsored posts. He didn’t chase traffic. He didn’t optimize for SEO. He wrote because he needed to. That raw honesty kept people coming back. Readers didn’t visit for entertainment-they visited because they felt like they were reading a real person’s life.
Second, he never abandoned it. Even during his time as a journalist in Asia, or while working in tech startups, he kept updating. He didn’t need a content calendar. He didn’t need to post "every Tuesday." He posted when he had something to say. That made it feel human, not robotic.
Third, the site never changed. It still looks like it did in 1998. No responsive design. No analytics dashboards. No comment sections. Just plain HTML, black text on white, with a few blue links. It’s a time capsule. You don’t visit it to be impressed-you visit it to remember what the internet used to be: personal, slow, and deeply human.
What Makes a Blog "Running"?
Not every long-lasting site counts as a blog. Some sites have been around for decades but aren’t blogs. For example, Slashdot (1997) is a news aggregator. Wikipedia (2001) is a collaborative encyclopedia. Boing Boing (1998) is a curated tech blog, but it’s run by a team and has evolved into a media brand.
What makes Links unique is that it’s a single person’s continuous, unedited, personal record. No editors. No ghostwriters. No AI. Just Justin Hall, writing to himself, and accidentally creating history.
There are other old blogs-like Instapundit (1998) or Weblogs, Inc. (1999)-but none have lasted as long without interruption or transformation. Hall’s blog is the only one that’s remained exactly what it started as: a personal log.
The Legacy of the First Blog
Today, blogs are often seen as outdated. TikTok and YouTube dominate attention. AI-generated content floods search engines. But Links proves something simple: people still care about real stories, told slowly, without filters.
Justin Hall’s blog influenced early web culture. It inspired the first generation of bloggers who went on to create platforms like Blogger (1999) and WordPress (2003). Tech pioneers like Dave Winer and Ethan Zuckerman have cited Hall as a key influence. Even today, academics study his blog as a primary source of early internet behavior.
It’s also a quiet rebellion against today’s performance culture. You don’t need 10,000 followers. You don’t need to post daily. You don’t need to be "on brand." You just need to show up, once in a while, and say what you mean.
How to Start a Blog That Lasts
If you want to build something that lasts-not just a blog that gets 100 views today but something that still exists in 2040-here’s what you can learn from Links:
- Start small. You don’t need fancy tools. HTML and a free hosting service are enough.
- Write for yourself first. If you’re writing to impress others, you’ll burn out. Write because you need to say it.
- Don’t chase trends. Hall never wrote about "AI tools" or "viral content." He wrote about his life. That’s timeless.
- Let it age. Don’t redesign every year. Let your blog grow old with you. The cracks and quirks become part of its charm.
- Don’t monetize too soon. Ads and affiliate links change your voice. Wait until you’re sure you want to keep going-even if no one’s reading.
The longest running blog isn’t famous. It doesn’t have a newsletter. It doesn’t have a Patreon. It doesn’t even have comments. But it’s still here. And that’s the point.
Why This Matters Today
In a world of fleeting attention, Links is a reminder that the internet doesn’t have to be loud to matter. You don’t need to go viral. You don’t need to be perfect. You just need to be real.
Justin Hall’s blog is proof that the most powerful content isn’t the most shared. It’s the most honest. And sometimes, the most honest thing you can do is simply keep writing, even when no one else is listening.
Is Justin Hall’s blog still active in 2026?
Yes, Justin Hall’s blog, Links, is still active as of 2026. He hasn’t posted frequently in recent years, but the site remains online at links.net with its original 1990s design. The last updates were made in 2024, and the site continues to be accessible to visitors. Hall has said he plans to keep it running as long as the server at Swarthmore College stays up.
What was the first blog platform?
The first blog platform was not a formal service-it was just HTML. Justin Hall manually coded his blog using basic HTML files uploaded to a university server. The first dedicated blogging platform was Open Diary, launched in 1998. Shortly after, Blogger (1999) and LiveJournal (1999) made it easy for non-coders to start blogs. Before these, blogs were just personal websites with dated entries.
Are there any other blogs older than 20 years?
Yes, several blogs launched in the late 1990s are still online, like Instapundit (1998) and Weblogs, Inc. (1999). But none match the continuous, unbroken personal record of Justin Hall’s Links. Others have changed ownership, redesigned, or shifted focus. Links has stayed the same person, same style, same URL for over 30 years.
Can I visit the longest running blog today?
Yes, you can visit Justin Hall’s blog at links.net. The site is still hosted by Swarthmore College and hasn’t been redesigned since the early 2000s. It loads slowly, has no images, and doesn’t have a search bar-but that’s part of its charm. It’s a living archive of the early web.
Why didn’t Justin Hall monetize his blog?
Justin Hall has said he never wanted to turn his blog into a business. He saw it as a personal journal, not a brand. He turned down advertising offers, sponsorships, and even book deals early on. He feared that commercializing it would change the tone, the honesty, and the freedom he had in writing. Keeping it free from money helped it stay real.
