Opinion: noun. A view or judgment formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge.

What place does opinion have in our society?

As a perspective writer and, generally, a very opinionated person, I ponder this question regularly. Is it my place to provide opinion on certain issues? Should I be a trusted source, and whose opinion should be trusted?

Expression of opinion is everywhere.

On Sept. 14, Facebook reached 1 billion users. Astounding, considering that is about one-seventh of the world’s population.

The No.1-followed person on Twitter, Lady Gaga, has more than 30 million followers. Her opinion is obviously taken seriously.

Opinion blogs have wiggled their way into the lives of everyday Americans (hello, Huffington Post?) and have websites like Blogspot and Blogger, creating your own blog is easy and often free.

And I don’t know if you noticed the influx of daytime talk shows, but the amount of regularly-scheduled opinion media is overwhelming.

I am a firm believer and supporter of the First Amendment, which means I think people should be allowed to say what they wish, minus the whole shout-fire-in-a-movie-theater form of expression.

Living in a country as free as America allows us these rights without threat of persecution (although we have seen a few professional careers ruined). My plan is to take full advantage of this freedom and provide my opinion when I consider it helpful.

But at what point should we censor ourselves from providing opinion?

I don’t think that we should censor the opinion itself, but should we control the amount?

Let’s face it, so many times we skip over the facts and jump straight to the commentary. We form opinions based on what others think, and not what we think.

That’s a recipe for bad opinion-making.

Try to take a step back from all of the opinion cluttering the media. Let’s keep opinion the Perspective page, and the news on the front.

I don’t think everyone wants to know what I think about every little event, so I like that I write only once or twice a week. I’m only polluting the media with my opinion a little, right?

Come to think about it, maybe I should start a blog…