August 10, 2010
diary: every forty two seconds
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[Cartoon inspired by: “Take This Blog and Shove It!”]
Evidence of this ennui is everywhere. Amateur blogs, the original embodiment of Web democracy, are showing signs of decline. While professional bloggers are “a rising class,” according to Technorati, hobbyists are in retreat, and about 95 percent of blogs are launched and quickly abandoned. A recent Pew study found that blogging has withered as a pastime, with the number of 18– to 24-year-olds who identify themselves as bloggers declining by half between 2006 and 2009.
[Update] In the comments: “It’s not that blogging is the problem, it’s that people stop at blogging without doing the rest of the great work needed to make a living.”
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I love this one because it’s true. People are dropping like flies instead of learning how to get right.
It’s not that blogging is the problem, it’s that people stop at blogging without doing the rest of the great work needed to make a living.
Ha! Now that the kids are in retreat, the field’s wide open for the Great Aunts of the world!
Another ten years of this and I’ll be practically hip.…
Not everyone is meant for blogging. People give it a shot and realize it’s not for them.
And I think you meant “Jump the Ship” and not “Jump the Shark”..
cute anyway
No, he meant what he said:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumping_the_shark
I think it’s general internet fatigue. The reality of needing more time away from the screen is finally setting in, the illusion that we could possibly keep up with all our friends/relatives/colleagues’ online information streams is over.
Thank god.
So it only makes sense to keep blogging if you’re getting some kind of valuable result from it, have an actual purpose in your endeavor for which a blog is just one aspect, one tool.
Simple: Facebook is the new blogging.
For the self-focused socializing masses, yes. For people who know this is a great opportunity in history to become part of the emerging media landscape, no.
@ Brian, totally agree.…
I’ve toyed with the idea of starting a blog, but simply don’t choose to make the time. Call me interested in other things (true), total chickensh*t for not putting my ideas and experiences out there (partially true), or simply scared (not true).
If you’re a hobbyist, do you need to “get it right” and “make a living?” This is a highly personal question, but it’s worth asking since the topic is hobbyists.
I’ve followed MacLeod since his blog was an infrequent unadorned blog post of a scanned card. That was pre-bluemonster, pre-cubegrenade, pre-newsletter, pre-commissionedprint…and I like that stuff too. Because he never set out to do those things for themselves. But even a hobbyist has to eat…so he figured out ways to promote and sell the talent.
And that is seriously cool. I wish that success to every hobbyist. Yet way too many hobbyist blogs are filled with ads because the point was to make money, not to blog. And that is seriously sad.
Like most things, it turns out that it takes a whole lot of work to make a successful blog.
Totally agree with that.
All people are too busy to do blogging. Lately I lost interests in tweeter, because something we talk about looks like meaningless.
I never intended blogging to be an end in itself, certainly not a serious source of income. It does take on a life of its own sometimes, though.
Who ever said that everyone had to blog, or tweet, or contribute to Wikipedia etc?
I run 3 or 4 blogs at the moment because it’s something I enjoy, it rewards me with contacts and discussion, and it may bring in a little cash from time to time.
But I don’t necessarily think everyone should be blogging — the important thing is that the options were opened up to everyone, not that suddenly everyone had to do it…
What percentage of small business fail or have the owners give up in the first year? From memory it’s pretty high…
The competition grew and standards went up, so blogging is a lot more expensive now– not financially, but in terms of work, skill, research etc– expensive resources for most of us who have jobs & lives. Plus the ppl who would have read blogs a lot 5 yrs ago are doing other stuff online now– tweeting, facebook, iphone apps etc. And what’s the point of blogging if nobody reads you? Might as well have a drink with friends instead. So yeah, the rest of the world caught up & the craze is over
@Alice, I pretty much agree with that… Like writing books or making paintings, it’s not for everybody. Especially not for people who just expect “traffic” for its own sake.
Here’s some food for thought: perhaps a lot of early bloggers are now having children and have something they are much more passionate about to devote their precious little time to. Once those former busy bloggers develop a routine that includes potty training and their turn as soccer coach, they will return.… and with something more interesting to blog about.
Robin,
Babies and potty training. Yep, I’ve seen that happen.
Priorities change. Always have and will. Nothing wrong with that.
Hmmm.… from experience, I would call it a “shift” in priorities. Especially for work at home moms.
I believe, years ago, the idea of a blog brought with it visions of “fame” (small “f”). Now there is so much noise in social media (Facebook and Twitter have taken the “social” parts and over done them to the point of 140 character dribble). People are looking at blogging and realize it is no longer unique, and thus they fear their ideas being a tree falling in a forest.
Interestingly the people who are dedicated and consistent bloggers (regardless of if they make money or do it to pontificate ideas) are still going strong. Those who were just there to play have moved onto easier toys.
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