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I was listening to a great conversation between Mitch Joel and Joseph Jaffe on blogging and they talk about how blogging is still relevant and I certainly think it still is.
If you’ve been active online for awhile, why not start a blog now? It’s not too late. I think of local examples like omgzam who are “new” to the blogging scene but have integrated fairly quickly, or even international examples like Amber Naslund, who I referenced myself in an earlier post, “Twitter Numbers and Why You’re Being Fooled“.
When I came up with the 20 digital and social media bloggers to follow in Singapore, I originally wanted to hit 52, one for each week. Unfortunately there just was a lack of people who were committed to producing quality, long-form content. However if I had to make a list of Tweeters, there would be no shortage at all.
I think the biggest “sin” is to start blogging when you need to. When is that? When you’re looking for a job. I know of a personal example who didn’t have a blog while he was still employed, but after he left, wow, suddenly he was all into blogging so he could show prospective employers “hey look I’m active! I’m a thought leader!” Needless to say, once he landed the second job, the blog died.
This just isn’t how it works. We educate and encourage organisations to be present and create quality content, but for us, we’re allowed to blog when we need to just before a conference to look “current” or when we’re job-hunting, but fall off the bandwagon otherwise. I think that’s terribly hypocritical and smacks of double standards.
So do you think blogs have gone the way of the dinosaur in favour of more “social” channels like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter? I would love to hear your opinions on this, whether you’re a regular blogger or one who has fallen off the bandwagon or someone who just leverages other social media channels aside from blogging.
[image credits: Gaping Void]
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Comments
08.24.10
Blogging is definitely still relevant particularly for more diverse blog sites like tumblr. Due to its layout of viewing followers in the dashboard and actions like reblog it can be used as a blitter or a twog. Getting follows and feeling like an contributing member of the web is really important to a blogger. This integration of twitter and blogs is a great way to keep the attraction of blogging.
08.24.10
I can't help but feel this "urgency" around online is very self-serving - trumpeted by those who have something to gain and marketing prowess. There isn't a monolithic anything out there that we all have to be in accord with. People are different; companies are different, and things continue to change into something different. If the premise of accelerated change is part of the spine of this argument, then equally is the argument that it will continue to change and leave all this deliberation moot. How often have futurists described an internet where people no longer "surf" and technologies such as voice command and “live” software agents/intermediaries interface with the internet for us to deliver to us what we want? This online “necessity” isn’t possibly going to have a long enough life to become an actual structuring force.
08.24.10
How can one even ask if blogging is still relevant? Of course it is. Blogging is a source of education, especially if you are in the tech industry. And might I add it's the only source of free/current education. Granted it isn't free to the person who is writing it, but the benefits they have to reap for their reputation outweigh that. Also it helps the community at large when they blog. 140 characters just isn't enough to get the point across on many subjects, but it can work as a great teaser to get people to visit a post.
08.24.10
@Siobhan: I like the idea of a blitter/twog. However, I do wonder the true value in just re-blogging and re-tweeting aggregated content instead of content creation? Or perhaps there is equally some value in content curation? Interesting thought.
@Mark Porter: I don't necessarily disagree with you, but I do think there is a wider view than just something to gain or marketing prowess. There are plenty of niche, non-marketing, non-profit blogs out there that serve their target audiences well enough, and have been for years. That is a rather long enough life, wouldn't you say?
@Andrew Leer: I agree with your point of view. However as Siobhan has said, there can be value for content curation and aggregation in addition to (but not instead of) blogging. There's another comment that says individuals may be an online connector or forum host that contribute equally to the online ecosystem, just not in the form of blogging.
Thank you all for contributing your thoughts and taking this discussion further.
08.24.10
I think blogs are still going to be relevant because Facebook and Twitter have limits on how much information you can broadcast. FB and Twitter are going are the tools to network and promote your blog.
08.26.10
@Daryl Tay: Sure, I don't know anymore what's coming than anyone else, but even the social media crowd is disussing this often, so I'd say you have touched on a growing concern. Thus the quote on blogging: "never have so many people had so little to say to so few people." And maybe justified these days for those considering if what they're being sold about being online is legitimate, if the effort of content and enlarging the online presence will ever have a legitimate pay-off, will there be less audience as internet usage becomes further app-oriented, is it too little too late, or really whether they are likely to ever see a measurable value. What happens when everyone is online? All your competitors, when the other hundred job applicants in the lobby have blogs and online presences to point to? When does interest wane, or has it already started, was it just a novelty? But it may not even take that long, given the shockinly fast changes in the online world. Lots of models hung on for a few years in the face of becoming irrelevant - look at what internet changes did to banking, investment, travel, real estate, music, blockbuster video, IT professionals versus cloud computing, etc., maybe it's just how old you are that determines for you how many years constitutes a structuring force or a blip.
08.27.10
Define "relevant".
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