Not long ago I happened across an article that declared the blog is dead. The fad has passed. No one blogs anymore. Facebook has carried the day, and we should delete our blogger accounts and move on.
Undeniably, there is some evidence for this conclusion. Few of my friends still blog. Even this blog has been sitting pretty idle lately. Reading this headline, then, made me experience a strange moment of discomfort. It was akin to that day in the 90's when I realized no one else was wearing Guess jeans but I still loved mine.
I have no less than five blogs. This one, a business blog, a blog devoted entirely to my horse, a blog written in the voice of a fictional gerbil, and a blog about my as-yet-non-existent career as an author. Obviously I haven't gotten the "blogging is dead" memo.
But when I started thinking about it a bit more I realized that while the day of co-eds sitting at computers late at night pouring their hearts into their xanga accounts has indeed passed (a status update or a tweet is a far more effective way to express angst to a huge slew of possibly sympathetic listeners) this very fact has actually allowed the blog to prosper. Blogs have reverted to the domain of people who actually want to write, usually about a particular subject, with some degree of expertise.
Of my five blogs, the one that gets by far the most attention is my horse blog. This came as a surprise for me, because I really started it for personal reasons. I wanted to keep track of what happened with my horses and I wanted a couple key people who are interested to be able to follow my progress as well. Since starting it, however, I've realized there is a massive internet community of horse-owners who are doing the same thing. Reading horse-blogs has become one of my favorite ways to procrastinate. But I'll be the first to admit that even my own horse blog is massively boring to anyone who's not totally into horses.
Other areas where the blogosphere is booming are equally specialized. Foodie blogs, fitness blogs, and overall health/mental wellness blogs are hugely popular, some of these generating and maintaining massive readerships. There is also still ample demand for blogs attached to businesses. People love an inside look into the secret lives of professionals.
So if all this is true, how can we support the thesis that the blog is dead? I say we can't. It's an untenable argument, and I, for one, am glad of it. I must admit to personally despising Facebook. I only maintain a presence there because I feel obliged to do so. My blogs, however, are labors of love. The longer I keep posting, the more interesting it is to look back and see my own evolution as a professional, an equestrian, a writer, a gerbil, and a person.
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2 comments:
I hear lots of statements about "X being dead" (PC gaming, desktop computers, radio, television, etc), and they're almost never accurate. Mostly what happens is that the primary way we use something changes. Blogs may contain less angst these days, but they're still useful as a way of sharing thoughts and ideas.
For me, I think of my blogs as a way of sharing and recording ideas. My ideas. It took me a long time (and not a small amount of frustration) to come to that, but that's what works best for me. And I don't particularly lament the lack of angst in blogs these days either.
I have blogged every day since January 1st, 2008 - and sporadically for a few months before that. And I ain't dead.
That said, I have seen a lot of people burn out - and the number of commentors seems to have decreased (It certainly isn't ME and my writing that has driven them away. I hope.)
But blogs aren't dead. Matured? Possibly. But not dead.
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