Categories: Articles

Blogs Are Dying – Maybe It's Not Just The Conversation Part

Last week I got all hot and bothered by the fact that Trackbacks were almost gone, and commenting seemed to be taking a downturn now that everyone has their own Blog. The name of that posting was, Blogs As Conversations Are Dying – Trackbacks Just Might Be Your Only Saving Grace.
There were some comments. I know people did trackback to it (although this Blog does not have trackbacks enabled because of the spam madness). It sparked more internal dialogue for me and made me realize that maybe I was just looking at the symptom and not the real problem. Maybe the real truth is that Blogs are dying.
Let’s face it, most people are not writers. Most people prefer to snap a picture, film a video or even record some audio instead of the dubious task of actually writing. Maybe that’s why platforms like SMS, Twitter, Jaiku, Pownce and other more “short bursts of text” environments are thriving? I mean, honestly, out of the seventy-million-plus Blogs that Technorati tracks, how many of those Bloggers would actually admit that they love to write?
Maybe we were Blogging for the past little while because that’s all the technology really allowed? As the tubes (of the Internet_ remember, the Internet is a series of tubes) open up and our ability to receive high resolution images, audio and video files gets easier and easier, maybe we’ll toss the typewriter for the television (it’s not like THAT did not happen before).
I’m certainly not down on Blogging. My background was in Journalism. I love to write. I also know that I would probably be terrible at doing a video and I have a hard enough time taking out the M-Audio MicroTrack to record audio for Six Pixels Of Separation – The Twist Image Podcast, let alone a camera. I’ve actually gone on vacation and forgotten my camera at home.
I love the written word. I hope Blogs don’t die. The great ones have great writers (err_ Bloggers), but I do think that as the communication channels open up, more and more people who keep Blogs will let them lapse for newer channels or ones that offer more celebrity. I also think that we’re right at the beginning of this wave right now, because there will always be more money in video than there is in words.
So yes, Blogs are dying (for some people). For others (like me), I think this is just beginning. We’re going to start seeing a higher level of quality come to Blogs as we stop poaching Google News for content because we feel pressure to continually produce fresh content. The fact is, Blogs can be repetitive with similar content (different perspectives) and while there’s nothing wrong with that, my guess is there will be Blog Fatigue and consumers will move to other channels like audio and video Podcasts.
(hat tip to Michael Seaton from Scotiabank and The Client Side Blog for his post: On News and New Thoughts For Blogging – it was part of the inspiration for this Blog posting).

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.