Are Blogs Dead?

Published May 2010

Are blogs dead? Or are they very much alive? These are questions that I was giving some serious thought to lately. I had a 6 year old personal blog that I put to bed sometime last year. I was disillusioned with the blogging community – save the exception of few stellar examples that I still read regularly and support as often as I can – but nothing new was happening and everything seemed regurgitated and stale.

Also, I noted with dismay as to the flippant attitude of some bloggers who had taken that whole “It’s my blog I can say what I want” stance to ridiculous extremes. I learned early on that this was not the case. If you have a beef with someone, you can talk about it but there are always lines which should be respected. Again, in the dark old days I had taken this point for granted, but I learned from it. It appeared as though the blindingly obvious rule that any writer worth their weight in salt would be aware of, that of getting one’s facts straight, had disappeared into an abyss of self-glorification – or the reference to one’s self as a ‘local celebrity blogger’. Even just typing that made me wince a little.

I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again. If you’ve got something interesting to write about, I’ll read it. I’m no authority on anything to be honest, but the one thing that gets my goat is glory-hounding and compliment-fishing when the content of a particular blog is, in my personal opinion, not up to scratch. However, I always appreciate creativity and a good sense of humour. And I’ve followed my favourite blogs pretty much since day one when the country’s blogosphere was young. I still have fond memories of explaining what a blog was to confused friends, at least twice a day back then.

I’ve seen great blogs wind down because the writers themselves felt they had nothing further to say, or were changing their views and therefore looked to other ways to get their points across. Some of them also just decided to give the whole thing up – not because of a lack of support or readership, but because they got bored. In saying that, I’ve also watched with a small sense of pride as humble blogs grew to become seriously well respected representatives of their particular field of interest.

And what spurred my tiny tirade today? Well I came across an article about two months ago that touched on blog trends. Demographics suggested that newer bloggers tend to be from a slightly older age group these days. Teenagers and those in their 20s happily veered towards other global online networking sites such as Facebook, with its fairly open access to the entire contents of one’s life (should the account owner wish it so) or Twitter – its core strength being updates in real time. This evolution is something I have been paying attention to from the sidelines and it does make perfect sense. While blogs give us the power to put our words, thoughts and text out there for the world to see, Facebook and Twitter also come with their own set of advantages.

I’ve also noticed that the ‘personal’ blog has slowed down in terms of popularity. Readers like myself now actively seek out blogs that specialize, for lack of a better word. I get my fix of recipes and restaurant reviews from a handful of great food bloggers who also take the art of food photography to new heights. If I want a balanced view on local politics, I know where to turn to. Should I need to find out more about breaking news updates I can get accurate information from a number of formidable sites. But I don’t seem to have the energy or inclination to read about someone whining incessantly about a broken nail or spilt milk. At the risk of contradicting myself, I am still very much a regular online reader. I’ve simply made a conscious decision to fine-tune what I read.

In a very roundabout way I suppose what I’m trying to say is that in spite of my disappointment with bloggers who I am extremely reluctant to call my peers, I have once again decided to dive back into the blogosphere. Yes I have a brand new blog which is only a few weeks old. But I have decided to be highly specific with my direction and content. Fingers crossed it will appeal to like-minded individuals. And if my visitor statistics are anything to go by, I might be on my way to getting the formula right.

So are blogs dead after all? I’d say no. Those with quality content seem to be very much alive and thriving well. But be prepared for a better grade of reader these days. Readers who expect a certain quality of writing and who aren’t prepared to indulge blog owners without good reason anymore. It would be simplistic and too generalized for me to state that savvy readers are on the rise, but that is probably the best way I can put it for now. And those of us who write had better sit up and take note.