Apparently blogs are dying.
Sad really. I was enjoying mine.
Paul Colgan from News.com.au has written an interesting piece titled Why are blogs dying?, telling us that blogs are on their way out. Proof of this is that Lindsey Lohan hasn’t added a post to her blog since October 2003.
Paul has drawn the information for his opinion piece from this news story.
He makes some very valid points about the millions of blogs that have been created but now lay lifeless in cyberspace. Paul says, “People won’t read blogs just because they’re blogs, as if the sheer existence of the thing means people will want to read it. People will only read good blogs.” He’s absolutely right. I think a lot of people have expected hundreds or thousands of readers only to be disappointed that it’s only them and the neighbour’s dog that check in regularly. When the readers don’t turn up and the comments section stays empty, a lot of people just stop bothering.
I think there’s also the fact that a lot of people are just not good writers. The idea of having your own spot online is very appealing to a lot of people but for some, coming to the realisation that they really don’t have a lot to say and that they find it difficult to put what they do have to say into words makes blogging all too hard.
Of course that won’t stop those who want to continue having a go. I know that I’m not the world’s greatest writer or blogger but I do enjoy communicating with a small group of discerning readers. (Yes, that’s you.)
Maybe blogging has already peaked but I’m not sure it’s going away anytime soon.
What do you think? Are in it for the long term? If you keep a blog, how long have you been writing and publishing your thoughts online?
Posted by Rodney Olsen
Technorati Tags: Blogging – Blogs – Writing
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Hey Rodney, I have been blogging for about 18 months now. I have also had a standard html website for 8 years.
I don’t think blogs will die. Even though they may have peaked, I still think there is a place for them. Personally, I see my blog as an extension of my main website. My main site gets about 20,000 people per month and the blog about 1000 people.
I like the blog format as you can get your quick thoughts down and send them out into cyberspace. If I have something a bit more indepth I put it on my main site. They both work hand in hand.
God Bless,
Dave
PS. Yes I am one of your discerning readers!
Been blogging for about a year and a half and don’t have any plans to stop.
I have been blogging about a year and half, and plan to keep going. I am sure blogging will evolve into some other form eventualy, and I suppose I will just evolve with it.
I suppose i’ve been blogging on and off for 3 years now, lately more off than on. It’s not that i’ve run out of things to say, but rather the time to sit down and put my thoughts to ‘paper’. I finally have the capacity to upload both my thoughts and the photos that accompany them (all via my mobile), so stay tuned!
P.
Hi Rodney, I’ve been blogging since 2004. I started writing in Dutch, but it’s so much nicer to attract international readers and receive comments from all over the world. Yes, you do need writing skills and if you don’t have any interesting views or ideas to share, people will not come back to visit your blog. Blog visitors come and go, but I like the ones that stick around and make an effort to get to know you better.
Fot me blogging is also a bit like journaling. I need to express myself and if somebody takes the time to read my posts, that’s even more rewarding.
Anyway, you are doing a great job here!
Been blogging since 05 – it’s my way to express myself. and yeah it’s a bit dissapointing when i don’t hear responses to my thoughts and feelings.
writings always been my way of getting stuff out. if i had my time again i probably would go for a journalism course.
i’m getting more and more hits on my blog (from all over the world, especially Canada) but I hardly get any comments or feedback. i wonder if that’s worse… you know people are reading, just not what they think……
I’ve been blogging since June 2006 and I don’t have any plans to stop soon. Sure it’s frustrating sometimes when no-one seems to read my blog or comment but I still have plenty of ideas of what to blog about next. Even if no-one comments much, it’s still great to look back on my own journey and how God has been working in me and has been so faithful through it.
I don’t think blogs are going to die at all – quite the opposite in fact. What we have seen over perhaps the last two years is a typical fashionable fad.
The people that have started and not kept up blogs are the same people that have fitness equipment they don’t use.
Those who do write blogs seem to either do it for themselves, or through a selfless desire to share their world. Some write blogs for far-flung family, some for self interest (“look at me! look at me!”)
I’m not sure why I write mine any more, but it’s there, so there it is 🙂
I hope they don’t die out, it’s fun.
Since I’m writing in my second language I think my writing is not that great, but I try. Therefore I try to let my pictures brighten my posts up a bit too and I like to put on what I have heard or found somewhere that’s of interest for me – like the typewriter post, and have written 280 posts by now!
I love the interaction and sometimes comments from others make me realise things like I’m right or wrong, I judged to quick or criticised to quick etc etc.
I think a blog will be governed by the the second law of thermodynamics unless the blogger has a clear purpose in mind and an enduring desire to write. Otherwise, entropy sets in.
I’ve been blogging for almost three years now. When I started, I counted my monthly comments on one hand. Now readers chime in more frequently. The constant has been the creative outlet that blogging provides. As Flannery O’Connor said, “I don’t know what I’m thinking until I write it down.” (my paraphrase 🙂