3 comments | 02.06.11
Another post about the ‘death of the blog’ (but this one’s different, I promise!)
For the last three years, particularly around New Year’s, I see a whole load of posts about the ‘death of the blog’. There’s no doubt that Twitter has had a major impact on ‘the blog’, but overall I’m going to challenge that notion – with one (ok, two) caveats.
First though, we have to look at the types of blogs that were around 3+ years ago. In a major generalisation, I’ll broadly categorise them as 1) hobby/special interest 2) ‘It’s my job’ and 3) career expertise.
In specialist areas, the blog is still thriving. Food blogs, music, Cheezburger – the content is pretty much never ending. As long as the blogger continues to have ‘the passion’, there will always be content; always new restaurants and recipes; always new albums to review; and always funny pictures of cats.
Same goes for the ‘it’s my job’ crowd. As most people recognise that being a writer for Mashable is as much of a career as being a tech journalist for the Guardian, as long as people are reading and as long as the bloggers are paid, these sites are going nowhere.
But where there has been a decline (and yours truly is a perfect example), is the people who are blogging to essentially promote their clever expertise in whatever it is they do. Three to five years ago, we were staking our claim, trying to boost careers, win new business and create a reputation in the industry. Once reputations were ‘’established’ – coincidentally when Twitter really took off in the industry – apathy set in.
Suddenly Twitter followers became the standard by which clients judged influence. Plus, how much easier was it for us to update in 140 characters our expertise than long lengthy blog posts?
Sure there are a few exceptions, but for the most part all those PR superstars have gone quiet on the blogging front.
The blog won’t ‘die’ any time soon, but we must be prepared for its evolution.
Interesting post – evidently a New Year prediction never really comes to much in this area then.
One question – how do you explain the continued popularity and success of certain blogs where expertise is continually published – notably Seth Godin for marketing as a prime example?
I agree that influence on Twitter is important, but Twitter and blogs complement each other very well. I will be interested to see how they evolve together.
Definitely a good point, Ralph.
I think a lot of it – certainly in Seth Godin’s case – is about being first to market. Seth Godin is now a brand himself – blogging about his industry is what he does and how he makes his money – he couldn’t stop without cutting off his income.
I suppose my post was coming more from the perspective of people who work full-time in an office, and blog about their profession for fun. There’s always going to be crossover though!
I can certainly see that. Perhaps in that case, blogs that maintain a storyline rather than specific examples of expertise will be the direction that area develops towards.
It boils down to people reading blogs for information and entertainment. Certain writers will most likely have to conform to either discipline rather than trying to do both.