Have Blogs Peaked? Of Course Not!

According to Slate, it's the beginning of the end for blogs. Based the Sports Illustrated cover story theory – which implies that any person or team touted on the cover is doomed to fail – Slate's Daniel Gross concludes the fun and games are over within the blogosphere as established conglomerates claim a stake through acquisitions and/or investments while the rest of us scramble for B, C or Z-lister status. The impetus behind Gross' article is a recent cover story in New York magazine about the “haves and have-nots of the blogging boom”. Frankly, Gross and, for that matter, Nicholas Carr are missing a key point about the the blogosphere. Sure, there's some money to be made from banner ads and AdSense, and there's certainly no lack of new voices emerging (some of them interesting, some of them just noise), but the real power of the blogosphere is the impact it is having on established industries which have seen a new mainstream communications medium quickly emerge. This is why the blogosphere really matters – not as a business dominated by acquisitions, venture capital and advertising – but a medium that inspires and compels change. Perhaps I'm totally biased given I've got the blog tatoo and membership card but it's happening and the sooner people realize it, the sooner they can position themselves to take advantage of the blogosphere.
Update: I like Blackfriars take on the blogosphere:
“So is blogging topping out? I don't think so, but the blogging bubble
may be. But there are a billion Internet users out there looking for
content online. That makes the market for creative content bigger every
day. Any market with a billion customers is an interesting business,
whether Wall Street thinks it is or not”.
Tris Hussey pipes in that “Blogs are moving from the tech niche to the cocktail party set.” That's good 'cause now I can stop talking about Nortel.

Subscribe to "This Week in Canadian Startups"

A weekly newsletter featuring news about the Canadian startup scene, as well as great startup content. We'll also send you an e-book featuring more than 100 of the leading digital marketing services.

This entry was posted in Blogs, Main Page. Bookmark the permalink.

Anonymous

Mark, Are u there? Rick
Anonymous

Mark, What do you think of voice logging? Rick
Stuart MacDonald

Oh, please. Blogs are soooo not done. More accurately, the ability for Points of View and ideas to be distributed and shared easily among people who care about those topics is soooo not over. Will it look the same 18 months from now? It might well not. But the idea that Folks who have something to say can do so, easily, and possibly develop a following of others who are interested in that too (and isn't that what blogging is?) — well, that's barely started.
– Stuart
Anonymous

Two things will stay the same- a. there are millions of people looking for good content. b. There are a number of good people who want and can write original content and blog is currently their most efficient way to do it.
So the question is – what is the best way to bring the people who write good content in front of the people who look for the good content in a much more complex and large environment than today's.
The answer is consolidation. Good bloggers will realize they fight for readers and join under a common roof to bring synergy for the readers. And readers will flock to these collaborative blogs / Magazines because it solves their problem of finding what's interesting.
Linkadelic Magazine/
Tris Hussey

Thanks for the link Mark …
Maybe now you can talk about ATI or Telus …
Anonymous

I thought poker had peaked over a year ago, but boy, was I wrong. Blogging is no different.
I think the anti-blogger crowd is the same type to call the internet the CB radio of the 1990s.
I also think the “30 million blogs” statisitic is far overblown. I'd guess over 90 percent of them are defunct or idle. I know because 3 of that 30 million are mine. People create different blogs for different reasons and take them down as their lives change.
But I think of the use of blogs as a business tool is just starting to take off. After all, a “blog” is just a web site with entries in chronological order, at least at the base level. In essence, it's the same type of software on line newspapers hav been using for years.
Add comments and blogs act more like a Wiki, allowing reader to create content. Which is what Amazon has done with customer reviews for years. They post new products as they appear and wait for thier customers to create their content. New ways will be found to exploit (explore) that technology.
Plus ten other things we hadn't thought of.
Here's to the future.

inbox

Have Blogs Peaked? Of Course Not!