Chekhov's Mistress
Blogs Are Dead, Time to Start Blogging (and stop writing about blogging)
The accepted wisdom of Wall Street analysts is to fade the press: by the time the press gets hold of a story it’s past its value and the only smart thing to do is to head in the opposite direction…
Strike that. Reverse it.
Slate already took this line of thought while speculating that blogs were over as a business. Indications? The New York Magazine cover story on blogs (that I mentioned last week) and Time’s Google cover.
Then there was Trevor Butterworth’s article in the Financial Times (“Time for the Last Post,” Feb. 17). His piece was better than most, even as focused as it was, typically, on the high traffic gossip blogs, but after reading it and the 80-odd comments on the FT’s blog set up just for the article, I realized that I have nothing to say about this topic.
This makes me not want to talk about blogging any more. I’m tired of it. I’m tired of this sort of thing being repeated over and over and over:
“As I type this sentence, there are, according to technorati.com, 27.2 million blogs. By the time you read this sentence, there surely will be many more.”
It’s meaningless. It’s a number. In some ways it’s a small number in others it’s large, but it has nothing to do with the “blogoshpere” or new media or old media. I bet it’s nothing compared to the number of email addresses in existence. If you agree that many blogs are little more than a different kind of email, perhaps a broadcast email of sorts, then the number seems small and will continue to grow as everyone realizes their utility.
So I think I’m going to take Mr. Butterworth’s advice and make my last post. Well, at least in my “litbloggers and blog-floggers” category. I’ll let others hash it out because as important as I think blogging is and can be, getting flabbergasted every time I read another article about it has gotten old.
If a few people make a lot of money with blogs, that’s fine, but it has little bearing on the overall world of the blog. If people want to speculate that “old media” will be slain and left to rot by blogs, then let them believe so; it ain’t going to happen. But if you want to be excited about this self-selecting outlet for creative energy and opportunity to fill the void of niche interests left by the economics of traditional newspapers and magazines, then I want to talk about that. But more importantly, I want to be a part of it.
comments
Your last two sentences are the most important of all.
– susan (02/23 at 09:53 AM)
I never understood why people make such a big deal about blogs. It’s just a way of making interactive web pages. The sooner the novelty wears off the better.
– Donavan (02/24 at 07:37 PM)
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About this Post
- Posted by: Bud Parr
- Date: February 22, 2006
- Filed Under:
Litbloggers & Blog Floggers
- Comments:2
- Links to this Post: Technorati
