There has got to be some irony in having to post a defense against the meme that blogging is dying two days after posting that newspapers are not dying either, but alas such is the life of Web 2.0 pundit in a world where economics is taught on the back of a packet of cereal instead as a compulsory subject in schools and Universities.
Blogging is not dying, in the same way that newspapers are not.
We are seeing a market correction.
A market correction which I’d note is only being seen in Western/ English speaking markets, mature markets with near universal internet access.
Blogging growth in Asia, particularly China & India will continue to boom.
Blogging has peaked in the English speaking world. No doubt about it.
Some may remember the fruit fly/ population test from their school days, the one where the fruit flies explode with growth, only to hit a peak, then a large decline in numbers followed by a leveling out in population somewhere between the peak and trough, a level that is sustainable over the longer term.
Blogging is just like fruit flies :-)
What I find amazing about the current blogging is dying/ blogging is dead meme is that it’s coming from the mainstream media (examples: here, here and here). It’s nearly enough to want to make me take sides with the likes of Robert Scoble and support the whole concept that newspapers are dying out of spite, and yet my brains don’t seem to fit in the blender currently located 3 feet away from where I write this post on my laptop.
Take a look at the decline in the number of newspapers, looks terminal, doesn’t it?
But wait. Lets look at the growth in a sub-section of the newspaper market, morning papers and weekend editions:
Notice the difference? What if I told you newspaper readership is increasing worldwide? Read this.
Same goes for blogs. We are seeing a decline in blogs, no doubt about it, but it’s no where near the end of blogging. The glory days of blog growth are over and after a possibly large decline (they’re talking 200 million abandoned blogs already), the new, leaner, meaner, and more efficient blogosphere will still be there to keep the MSM honest, and to create and break more unique and niche news and reviews, just the way we like it.
Charts made with Journalism.org’s excellent State of the Newsmedia Chart tool.
Originally posted on March 26, 2007 @ 11:41 pm
You don’t really need or want that lifestyle, it might hurt y’all slowly more…….Just tell him you
don’t wanna repeat something your not too proud of z7uas.