There is a debate raging in blogosphere -- is blogging dead?
Great timing -- just after we wrote a post suggesting that corporate recruiters start a blog to help with their recruiting needs.
The Economist article, Oh grow up, insinuates that now that blogging has entered the mainstream (it has?) it does not have the "edge" of the early adopters of 2004.
They have all flocked to microblogging sites, like Twitter.
It all stemmed from Jason Calacanis who recently announced his "retirement from blogging". Mr Calacanis founded Weblogs, Inc., a blog network that he sold to AOL.
“Blogging is simply too big, too impersonal, and lacks the intimacy that drew me to it.”
Yes, it may not be "cool" to have a blog these days, but it sure is great marketing and a cost-effective way to increase SEO.
What would Louise, Andy, Jon, Tim and Peter have to say about this?
-Susanna
Photo credit: Mike Licht
Hey Susanna.
I agree there's been quite a bit of this recently, for example also Steve Boyd's belief that conversation has moved from the blogs to the flow, again including things like Twitter.
I think it's very easy for people who have been blogging since 2001 / 2002 etc to be getting bored with it now, and seeing new opportunities emerging.
However, I think it's also important that they don't forget many people have never even visited a blog as yet.
So I think blogging's death has been predicted a little early - maybe by at least 5 to 10 years or so.
You can also see more comments here: http://strategic-hcm.blogspot.com/2008/10/has-blogging-had-its-day.html .
Posted by: Jon Ingham | November 19, 2008 at 11:50
Bloggers are, and have always been, essentially niche publishers. I don't think the format, or the platform, is going anywhere soon.
What is changing is the era of "everyone and their dog has a blog." The boring, the vacuous and the Google Adsense exploiters can all go away now. That will leave those of us with something to say with less competition and a bigger audience.
Posted by: Kate | November 19, 2008 at 13:05
Newspapers are dead as well! Usual hype from people who think they are leading the latest revolution(!) and just trying to justify their own self-importance.
Blogs are now part of the mainstream and will be around for a long time yet; as will press, job boards, recruitment agencies, bloggers, twitters etc etc.
Posted by: Peter Gold | November 20, 2008 at 22:27
I have to admit I have noticed a slow down in blogging activity.
However, I'm with Peter. It's not all over yet!
Posted by: Louise Triance | November 24, 2008 at 10:59
Maybe there is less blogging activity, because we are having less time to blog....there is a credit crunch after all!
But how can blogging be over? Maybe the youngsters have given up because Facebook is easier.
I have just set up a blog for a local business community, and they love it - even when many said a blog wouldn't be of interest!!
They are so flexible and content option rich, how can they disappear?
Posted by: Andy Headworth | November 25, 2008 at 17:52
The whole debate is silly. Blogging isn't dead. It will evolve (and we're just at the very early stages of it), but it's not dead.
What's dying away is superfluous blogging about what you ate for dinner or how you spent your long weekend - a lot of that has moved to Twitter and other social networks.
Blogging is still the most powerful and effective medium for broadcasting your message and engaging an audience. I expect it will remain so for quite some time.
Posted by: Ben Yoskovitz | November 26, 2008 at 03:49
If nothing else we can all read each others blogs!!
Posted by: Peter Gold | November 26, 2008 at 09:47