Who is Blogging and Why? Is the Blogosphere in a Digestion Phase?
Last week Marshall and I attended the Blog World Expo conference.
The gathering, held in Las Vegas, drew over 1,500 bloggers from different parts of the country and overseas. The conference lasted just over a day and a
half and had sessions that focused on a wide range of topics interesting to bloggers - from tools to money making.
It was a good conference and we had several interesting conversations, but I walked away with a strange feeling. Somehow it seemed that blogging just isn't that hot anymore. The feeling has been exacerbated by the latest slow down in news. My feeds just do not update that often these days. Can it be that the digestion phase applies to blogs just as it applies to startups? In this post we'll investigate whether the blogosphere is going through a digestion phase.
Blogging Trends and Stats
Before looking at different use cases lets take a look at some trends and charts. According to Google Trends, blog as a trend has been slowing down, while blogging never really had much velocity.
On the other hand, if we compare blog to newspaper we clearly see that blog is on the rise and that newspaper is on the decline.
According to David Sifry's post in April of this year, the blogosphere is experiencing exponential growth. The chart below indicates that Technorati alone indexed almost 35 million blogs in just 3 years - really quite a mind boggling number. The blogosphere has been doubling in that time about every 6 months, which means that if the trend held, there should be over 70 million blogs now.
Such phenomenal growth is even more surprising because there are simply not that many people who blog professionally. Sure there is money to be made via advertisements, but the amount is directly correlated with traffic. And traffic is not evenly distributed, it's skewed toward a handful of popular blogs. What must account for the growth in Sifry's chart is the long tail. That is, people who are getting online to talk about their life, and connect with their family and friends and don't care if only a few people read their blogs.
Like everything else, blogging requires motivation. What is the driving force behind the blogosphere? Lets take a look at different blogging groups and understand why people invest time into blogging.
Professional Blogging
It would be interesting to know how many bloggers from the Technorati Top 100 list blog professionally. Likely not all of them. Beyond this list, we would probably see a sharp power law curve - making a living from a blog is difficult. In each vertical - gadgets, technology, politics, celebrity gossip - there are a few very successful blogs that get a large volume of traffic. In the long tail, and even in the middle tier, there is simply not enough traffic to run a blog as a sustainable business.
The separation can be seen in many ways - traffic charts, Feedburner subscribers, MyBlogLog community size, and average amount of comments per post. The advertising prices between top tier blogs and middle tier blogs differ by an order of magnitude - thousands of dollars per month for a 125x125 banner ad vs. at most, a few hundred for the same kind of advertising.
The image above is from geckoandfly.com.
Many aspire to make money by starting a blog on a niche topic, but very few succeed. Darren Rowse, over at ProBlogger has been running a fantastic blog on how to make money online, and in his latest poll Darren asked his readers how much money they made from blogging in October:
At best, 10% out of 1,300+ respondents made decent money. And likely most of the people who indicated they made over $15,000 are likely blogging in one of a handful of lucrative niches. A quarter of the voters made no money at all. Of those who attempted to make money, most did not make much. What is the story behind these bloggers? We look at them next.
Blogging for Business and Pleasure
Tyler Colman, has a PhD in Political Science and Economics and writes a popular wine blog called Dr. Vino. The blog has been honored with many awards and has a good number of loyal readers. Just by spending a few minutes on the blog you will know that this is a labor of love. Yet, there are ads. A couple of ads are for wineries and wine equipment, an ad for Wine Searchers, topped by an out-of-place ad to search Amazon. And of course a long strip of Google AdWords. It is not likely that Tyler makes $15,000+ a month from these ads. So why does he do it?
Like many people, Tyler does not like to leave the money on the table. Even if it is only $300 the money can be used to buy piano lessons for his kids or help fund an expensive hobby - like wine collecting. Mixing business and pleasure in blogs is common, particularly when blogging about a hobby. Since advertising is widely accepted on the web, blog readers readily accept it, and so bloggers have nothing to lose by adding them, even if it is obvious that the ads are not a huge money maker.
Blogging for a Cause
Money is the primary motivation for a lot of bloggers, but even more bloggers just don't care if their blog brings in any cash. They are blogging because they are passionate about a cause. We explored two big causes - religion and politics. We used Technorati buzz charts to compare Christianity with Islam and Democrats with Republicans.
A couple of conclusions follow from the charts above. First, there is a bit more chatter about Islam than about Christianity. Secondly, Democrats are out-blogging Republicans. And, finally, people appear to be more passionate about politics than about religion, at least when it comes to blogging. Politics and religion are just two issues that people blog passionately about, though. There are blogs about education, sports, non-profit work, the environment, etc.
Personal Blogs
Money making blogs and causes make up just a fraction of the blogosphere. The long tail is all about self-expression. Most people started blogging to stay in touch with their friends and family. As an example of this trend, the latest platform from Six Apart, Vox, is specifically designed around family and friends.
Vox is important because it recognizes the value of blogging around a community. The platform is a response to the fact that it is otherwise difficult to keep track of blogs by friends and family members. Because of this, most blogs in the long tail have not enjoyed a vibrant life. Because RSS readers are still not widely in use, the only way many people know to keep up-to-date with a blog is by bookmarking it and checking once it a while. Clearly this does not scale and that is why older platforms have not been able to really connect people.
Six Apart was not the only company to recognize the problem. In a way, generic social networks like MySpace and more recently Facebook have also exploited this flaw. Both have added some type of blogging to their social networking platforms and connected people with their friends by piping the updates into user profiles. This tight integration, along with the rapid rise of microblogging, is causing a bit of a shift, at least in the long tail. We will discuss the rising battle between traditional blogs, microblogging and social networks in a follow on post, but in the mean time, we turn to yet another kind of blog - spam blogs.
Spam Blogging
Most posts find their way through the blogosphere only to be republished on so called splogs (spam blogs).
These fake blogs work by scraping the content of legitimate blogs, republishing it, driving traffic via search engines and selling
ads. They are completely useless, but are clever pipes that just make money for the owner with little-to-no work. Very little can be done to stop
these blogs, since they've gotten great at remixing the content. They are so good sometimes that you do not realize
right away that you are reading a fake blog.
Over a year ago, Charles C. Mann wrote in Wired about the rise of spam blogs. Mann's article provides an indepth discussion on how and why these blogs are created. Another article, published in March 2006, cites a study that found that there are more than twice as many fake blogs as real ones. If that was the case a year and a half ago, today it is might possibly be 10:1. And since it is really easy to create a spam blog, the ratio is only likely to increase.
Conclusion
So what is going to happen to blogosphere? Can it sustain its current rate of growth? The growth of professional blogs might not be there, but likely, the blogosphere is going to continue to grow (if anything, because of an increasing amount of spam). But there is likely to be a correction. The long-tail of the blogosphere might be in danger. Spam is only a part of it, but competition from social networks and microblogging platforms is quite significant. Only time will tell how things play out.
Please tell us why you blog. Does making money on your blog matter to you? What do you see in the future for the blogosphere? Is the blogosphere going through a digestion phase?
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This is an absolutely stellar rundown Alex.
I think that the number of people who blog as a mixture of business and pleasure will continue to grow for a while now. Especially in tech sectors, blogging is just too big of an exposure tool for a lot of people to ignore. Even if they don't get a huge audience, they can still make a few extra contacts.
As more people who rely on networking over long distances are introduced to blogging, this number is likely to increase more. Just take a look at the trend towards Real Estate blogging.
Personal blogs and the Live Journals of the world might be trending downwards. You're right, it looks like social networks and things like Twitter might be more in line with what these people were looking for out of blogging.
As for professional blogs, I see them growing slowly and steadily as well. The only way for these chimera's to sustain themselves in the long run is to pick up other properties. More and more independent blogs are going to start being absorbed into these networks as these pseudo-media companies enter their growth phases.
Overall, you might be right. I think the face of blogging is going to be going through a major change soon. Exactly what that change will be, we'll have to wait and see.
Posted by: Steve Spalding | November 15, 2007 12:32 AM
I for one, blog only for my own pleasure. I do get a high when I get to know I have a few readers who uniformly follow my posts. But at the end of the day, as you mentioned, there are only a few handpicked bloggers who can make a 5 figure earning from their blogs. For the rest, we are happy seeing the readers list on our mybloglog widget and well, with the occasional adsense clicks,if any. Doesn't matter much. As long as I have my day job.LOL.
Cheers!
Sujoy
Posted by: Sujoy | November 15, 2007 2:42 AM
My blog is my learning-tool. I'm trying to understand as much as possible about my chosen industry, and blogging allows me to process the information I come across.
I appreciate my readers (approx. 100 / day after 2 months), and their comments if they add information, but it is not the reason why I blog. I don't see blogging as a direct revenue-stream either. I have a vision of what I want to do, blogging helps me frame that vision, but the execution and monetisation happens in the real world. If I can help other people with the thought-process happening on my blog, then that also makes me happy, but it's not my raison d'etre.
Oh yeah, and I think stats on blogs are about as useful as stats on people who have numbered plates on their cars or their houses. Blogs are just a part of people's lives nowadays, but often just one component of many.
Posted by: Vincent van Wylick | November 15, 2007 3:20 AM
I blog for a few reasons, and fortunately none of them are for money!
I like to note my ideas, I hope people will be encouraged to interact, and it's a business card for anyone viewing the internet.
If I made money, tat would be great, but for me it's more about trying to connect with 15 or 20 people who are good to know for whatever reason...
Posted by: Badger Gravling | November 15, 2007 4:23 AM
Ah ~ I quit my job and focus blogging online. I've been making 2x of what I was earning previously and loving every moment of my blogging career :D
I do have several spam blogs, but I still keep updating it...
Posted by: Michael Woo | November 15, 2007 4:57 AM
What about promotional blogs? Many blog to raise their business profile, communicate with customers, get the message out about what they do. That’s got to grow.
Posted by: David Barnes | November 15, 2007 5:27 AM
I still blog, although I contemplated "retirement" earlier this year. I don't make any real money on my blog, but the thing I believed in when I started the blog well over a year ago, was that the money was online.
I was working a dead end day gig after being laid off from the IT industry as a consultant. So I stayed on it, blogged like I was top blogger and fortunately things took a turn for the better this year.
I no longer work a day job, and my blog/blogging basically leveraged me into a better position where I do work online. I currently work for two of the more highly cutting edge startups today - Lending Club (p2p lending that launched on Facebook back in May) - and - Lookery (started as just a normal ad network for fb apps back in July; now evolving into more of the demographic marketing services company people are coming to know).
So has blogging led me somewhere that I couldn't have gotten to on my own without blogging (oh and podcasting, as well as a few videos!)? Damn straight! Did I catch a few lucky breaks along the way? Hell yeah I did!
Blogging - If you are serious and you bust ass at it - whether you end up a "pro blogger" with money to pay the rent, or you end up working for a new exciting company - with money to pay the rent - I personally say - - Go for it! You won't know unless you give it a 150% effort.
Rex
Posted by: Rex Dixon | November 15, 2007 5:35 AM
Two things: as several others have pointed out, blogging will probably continue to grow, even if it morphs into part of social networking space rather than singular blogs. The reason is social habits. It will be part of the daily conversation we have, a way of interacting. And those blogs may well work better for marketers (advertising) than Facebook social ads, as they are slightly more creator controlled. And in digital geography, "slightly" can be a huge differentiator in inspiring usage/embrace. I feel more control over a designated blog space than free floating "social ads" with my endorsement going through an ethereal network. Argument is two fold: blogs as social discourse lead to more blogging, and marketers spend more money on even the longest tail because it's like sponsoring the local block party. Little investment but good brand reputation building.
Second: wish more blog analysts do what Gawker does in their metric focus. Namely, acknowledge (and track!) one of the most critical aspects of blogging. The comments. Comments speak of the life of a blog. Just look at the comment richness here. Read Writ Web is healthy and we know because it's drawing comments. I've had two podcasts/blogs. My economics meets culture focused blog, That's Capital (thatscapital.net) basically drew no comments. It was decent content but for whatever reason, people didn't respond. Stir the Pots, about chefs, kitchens, and food, is finally starting to draw user engagement. And as it does that we are noticing visitors starting to grow. Lessons learned or implications? First, advertisers should look as much at comment numbers as unique visitors. It speaks of visitor passion. Second, designers (social as well as technology) and analysts would be wise to be thinking about products or ways that bloggers can inspire more commenting. Again, it could be a design issue. We had fabulous guests on That's Capital. Even if someone wanted to criticize us for failing to make that fabulousness radiate (as in we were boring) it would have been good to hear. But we didn't. Was that a design issue? Maybe. Again, slight changes can reap huge windfalls in digital space. It may also be an idea-design problem, namely how we posed things in our posts and interviews. Regardless, helping bloggers gain traction with comment-participants would be a huge value.
Posted by: Jonathan Field | November 15, 2007 6:10 AM
Nice article... the part about the spam blogs is true, but I think the growth of spam blogs far outweighs real content (as you said). So trying to find the good content through the weeds will be a challenge for all bloggers that won't go away any time soon. Scott
Posted by: chipseo | November 15, 2007 7:28 AM
Thanks for a great article. Blogging is an addictive passion for those that are involved in it. For me, what started as an interest in collecting free movie sites, turned into a popular blog, simply in sharing my interest in free movies with the internet as a whole. The income that the blog generates is miniscule in comparision to the enjoyment and clicks that are generated on a daily basis, and the free service it offers to its readers and new visitors.NSR http://nosubscriptionrequired.blogspot.com/
Posted by: Norman Roberts | November 15, 2007 7:34 AM
We use blogs to create a sphere around our company and its activities. Using many RSS feeds, my own blogs appear in a different look & feel on 10 blogs. My stakeholders ( employees, clients, people who feel bonded with us, do the same, thus creating a real blogosphere. We also blog on different national blogs (in Holland).
The topics of all content is really personal branding in combination with corporate storytelling.
Blogging in combination with private/niche social networks and other social media, makes our stakeholder communication extremly strong!
Next month we start with , using the blogging technology, a thing called "digital dialogue", where onle 2 people exchange personal stories about a topic, the audiance can only read and consume...we even think this may be called a form of art.
So, blogging will have its own place within the many possibilities of communicating...
Blogging technology will als be used in new appearances.
Posted by: ronald | November 15, 2007 7:55 AM
Look at how much you used Technorati in this post! Poor little Technorati, it gets no love, but here it is being useful again - even today!
Posted by: Marshall Kirkpatrick | November 15, 2007 8:00 AM
Excellent post!
The blogosphere is so vast and diverse that it's difficult to generalize about what "phase" it's in. The professional blogs might be reaching a saturation point; the personal blogs might continue to expand indefinitely as more people get online.
IMHO, the news and political blogs of the English-speaking world have already become atrophied. The "self-regulating communities" such as DailyKos pretty much ensure that differing opinions aren't easily heard, and they seem to swamped with representatives of various political campaigns and interest groups. They've become echo chambers for sock puppets.
It will be interesting to see how the blogosphere develops outside the English-speaking world. Apparently the Iranians are among the most active bloggers, and Persian (aka Farsi) is the fourth most popular language on the 'net. Personally, I regularly visit the blogs of several Iraqi citizens to get a perspective that I wouldn't be able to find anywhere else.
As for me, I see no reason to add another blog to the clutter that already exists! I'm a web developer with more than enough work to pay the bills, and if my clients want to know what I'm thinking (which they rarely do) they prefer to pick up the phone and call.
Posted by: Marcello | November 15, 2007 8:06 AM
I have two blogs right now, one doesn't have and will never have adverts. That exists solely for me to have an output for my writing.
The other is a niche blog that does have adverts; although, my expectation is not that I make any money, just that it might help me pay something towards the hosting costs.
Posted by: Andrew | November 15, 2007 8:33 AM
I use the blog to provide a little extra service to my customers. It takes a little time every day, even though I don't post every day, to maintain the thing, but it's becoming an integral part of my business structure. Though it's hard to judge what effect that has on my income, I feel it's a necessary part of doing this kind of business in this kind of world.
Another thing, I've found that I cannot judge the worth of my blog by the number of comments left. When I took the site down for an upgrade, my phone rang "off the hook" with questions about where it went. Seems my customers were reading it after all...
Posted by: Jon | November 15, 2007 8:46 AM
Great article. I'm reminded of the saying that was floating around a few months ago "Most blogs have 1 reader."
I'm in the category of people who are not blogging personally, AND not blogging to make money. I am blogging to promote my internet company.
Instead of turning any links or traffic I get into ways to make cash (most of which send traffic back out again) I am working to turn that attention back into the website my blog is hosted on. It's a good fit actually, because bloggers and blog readers are writers, and at the moment I'm running a writing contest.
Posted by: Alex Schoenfeldt | November 15, 2007 8:59 AM
Hi Alex -
I'm a former student of yours. Software Engineering was the best course I took in Courant. I'm glad to see you are still doing brilliant things.
Do you any statistics on how many blogs are still getting fresh posts after 6 months or after 1 year?
Am I the only one who things the blogosphere numbers are inflated with dead weight?
Posted by: Kristjan | November 15, 2007 9:01 AM
I blog to showcase my writing skills for anyone who might like to hire me.
Posted by: Michael Rittenhouse | November 15, 2007 9:10 AM
Alex,
Again, a great post. But I think you might have just missed another important category of blogging---blog to get attention.
As several of these comments have mentioned, many people blog because they want to introduce themselves to the world. This is an important motivation of blogging. They do not directly blog for money (at least not for a short-term goal such as getting money from ads); and they do not blog for a particular cause or business. By contrast, they blog to get attentions. Especially they want to have a public and free place to show their talent so that somebody may recognize them. It does not matter how many readers who have read their blogs. It only matters whether the people they want to be introduced have visited their sites. In other words, this thought is a typical Web 2.0 strategy---blogging to construct a small community that engages the people they want to invite. This could be either an intentional goal or subconscious purpose. But it is one of the main reasons of blogging.
On the other hand, however, we may admit that blog is the best resume if someone wants to advertise himself to the world. With consistent blog posts, we can be sure who this person is and how much qualification he might be. It is much better than several pages of working experiences.
-- Yihong
Posted by: Yihong Ding | November 15, 2007 9:40 AM
Personally, I'm blogging to capture my random thoughts on the things that interest me as an individual (tech, sports, music, etc.); to keep in touch with my friends and family; and as sort of online business card.
I also especially enjoy using my blog as "online homebase" - the one url I can tell people to go to find the pics that I've stuck on flickr, my twitter stream, tumblelog, etc.,etc. Blogs have become great integrators for all the stuff we're sticking online in all these different places. And yes, Facebook attempts to solve that as well, but there's that whole walled garden thing I hate having in the way.
Blogging for direct dollars may have reached its peak, but as far as overall blogging trends go, growth will continue to move steadily up and to the right...though perhaps not with the same rate as we have seen in the past. One still untouched area, in my opinion, is enterprise blogging to facilitate agile communications both down-and-in within the entity as well up-and-out connections with customer/user bases. Enterprise blogging is still something that is in its infancy.
Posted by: J.J. Toothman | November 15, 2007 9:50 AM
I blog for the benefit of our users - what does this mean? It means that IT sphere started developing in these years very rapidly in our country and more people getting their chances to take part in this process and they need many resources in native language, but we lack of such resources, that's why I'm trying to bring interesting and essential events and different important informations from different foreign resources in our native language. In this way, IT newbies that don't understand foreign languages will have even a little but necessary information about the ongoing events and etc. I hope this will be helpful to many users. This is the aim of my blogging. I really don't have any other reasons - I just want to share what I learn on the web with my fellow citizens, that's it.
Posted by: Max | November 15, 2007 10:26 AM
What we're seeing is the industry of blogging start to mature. I have no doubt there will be a slow down in amateur blogs as more people move over to lower effort, more network centric platforms like Twitter and Facebook.
People are also starting to realize that blogging isn't particularly lucrative to the amateur. As the space gets more crowded, you need to be more professional to gain readership.
For the top tier of professional blogs, things will only get better as print media continues to decline and more ad dollars come online.
Posted by: John Wesley | November 15, 2007 12:38 PM
I gave a little talk on this subject a few days ago http://geoffjones.com/2007/11/14/embedding-innovations../
The astonishing fact to me is that Facebook has 53 million active users, Compared to bloggers betwixt 35m and 70m according to Technorati and that Facebook claim 60,000 million page views a month with over 1 billion photos on their site.
I'm sure this explains the slow down in growth of personal blogging. In fact ask the vast majority in the UK about Facebook and they will know about it (12% of the UK population have accounts) Whereas you are still met with blank stares if you mention blogging!
Posted by: Geoff | November 15, 2007 2:48 PM
We started our blog (broadstuff) as a way to market ourselves, as a digital media consultancy (Broadsight) we realised it was an efficient abpproach - and besides, you have to drink your own kool-aid, right.
Since then we've found 3 things:
(i) It has grown to c 200,000 pageviews a month. Its stunning that so many people bother to read us (so thanks everyone), and it givs you a sort of confidence that at least you're making some sense.
(ii) We are starting to be seen as a media business as well - it creates an interesting shift in how we are received.
(iii) Its been a way to meet and talk to some interesting people all across the world - and some of them have even offered us work!.
I have noticed a big rise in spamblogging in the last 3 months or so, and people are even filling in or captchas to try and spam us. Go figure.
Posted by: alanp | November 15, 2007 3:37 PM
I have 2 personal blogs. I do one for the sheer fun (a food blog) and the other one in part for fun and in part for personal / professional branding. Leaving aside the value of my time, running those blogs costs me less than $100 a year, so whether or not I ever make any money off them is moot. There's other ways of deriving value from blogging.
Posted by: Rachel Luxemburg | November 15, 2007 3:49 PM
It's a great summary of blogosphere trends.I agree there would be some consolidation in time to come, however that in fact is a good news for pro bloggers or anyone who takes it seriously. The longer term story remains positive given northward trend of online advertising dollars and southward trend of print media.
Posted by: liveweb | November 15, 2007 5:08 PM
You guys were at the show and I missed you? I thought you weren't going. bah! Oh well, next time.
As far as your article goes... I'm not sure, have to think about it.
Posted by: Jim Kukral | November 15, 2007 6:23 PM
I blog, therefore I am. :-)
Posted by: Jeremy Zawodny | November 15, 2007 10:26 PM
I started blogging for my UK based online travel business in October 2006 after receiving an email from a student doing research for a dissertation about business blogs. Prior to that I thought blogs were only the online diaries of teenage geeks. I read up on business blogging and it was all so positive about blogging being an excellent low cost way to market your business.
The blog has been a fantastic way to help more than double the number of visitors and income (from affiliate links and advertising) made from the business. My blog hovers around the top 100,000 in Technorati rankings and my blog has a Google Pageramk of 5, while the main site is a 4.
I started another blog about blogging for business:
http://www.businessblogboost.com/. I wanted to pass on advice and tips gained through my experience to other businesses.
I always have to bear in the mind that I am blogging to boost my business exposure and income. It is a balancing act writing posts that are informative, useful, interesting and entertaining for reader yet still encourage click throughs and purchases.
I've started to make a bit of cash, on average $30 for writing sponsored posts. It's great to make money for writing 200 word posts. I do try to keep to the topic of travel in Europe. If I can get the blog pagerank up to 6, it'll be a couple of hundred dollars per post. I hadn't considered that as a possible source of income when I started
I must stress although it's low cost, it takes a lot of time and effort to maintain the blog. I still think that business blogging hasn't really taken off in the UK, many business don't consider blogging or too easily dismiss it.
I believe that there is a future for business blogs that have good content on a niche topic. They are an important constituent of the marketing mix. I agree that not many people can make an adeqaute income from blogging alone but combining a hobby with some additional income is like having an enjoyable part time job, so I see peronal interest blogs (even without income) continuing to grow.
Posted by: Karen Bryan | November 16, 2007 1:00 AM
Blogging is a professional tool. I don't need soft or hard datas to show my boss if I'm a good employee. The blog is part of my overall PR strategy, and its only purpose is to build relationships with the people I am interested in working with.
It's on the same level as a cell phone to me.
Posted by: Late in discussions | November 16, 2007 1:20 AM
Great article.
I blog as a way to motivate myself to do the other things I'm doing online, which are income generating. At some point I expect the blog itself to make money but for now that not its purpose.
I have blogged for money in the past with a reasonable degree of success, the trick is to keep at it and gradually build a readership, once you reach 100's or 1000's of readers and you are in the right niche then its actually quite easy to make money.
Posted by: Seanchk | November 16, 2007 1:31 AM
I have two blogs for the two main services (and sites) of my company, internet marketing and web hosting. It's definitely good for seo and can bring additional traffic and exposure to the websites and the company itself. It has never been for money, no adsense on these blogs. I have never been into personal blogging though...
Pat
Shanghai
Posted by: SEO in China | November 16, 2007 3:23 AM
Very informative post, with the data to back it up. I personally use my blog for income. I am just now getting into the 4 figure mark for my blog after 5 months, and can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
But it took a few years of failed blogs to realize the issues. Get a targeted audience and write good titles and targeted phrases. This will keep them coming back for more. My blogging is now an addiction. If I do not blog, I know I am losing money.
Mike
Posted by: Internet Marketing Tips | November 16, 2007 4:34 AM
It is amazing that there are millions of blogs today. You actually get a lot of information from the blog. The bloggers are the journalists. They give you news from their land. You do not have to search. They are serving stories and news to you from their area to which they are eye witness. Bogs are great if updated regularly and sticks to a topic. It is history that the blogger blogs. We rely on manu scripts to know the past. But centuries from now we will have so much of data available about the whole world that we do not need to look for it. The authenticity of one blog can be matched with others to come to the correct conclusion. If one blog is in accessible then there is another that give you the same information. A blog is more of a personal diary. The blogger writes his moments into it.
Three Cheers to the Bloggers around the world. Keep the good work up. Let us have the history of earth available to our children and grand children easily.
Posted by: India News Headlines | November 16, 2007 5:07 AM
Technorati only charts the blogs that start, not the blogs that stop.
I've had an amazing adventure blogging, met many cool people, made some money and found there is power in Publishing.
Posted by: paul | November 16, 2007 6:58 AM
I blog entirely for fun and participate in a number of blog communities. That is the best part, interacting with others. I have no real agenda and find blogging to be a fun way to waste time.
Posted by: Colin Campbell | November 16, 2007 12:44 PM
I blog to create community around a topic I'm interested in, and to be known as an authority on the topic I'm blogging about. I think that I'm representative of a larger population than you might expect.
Posted by: David Cohen | November 17, 2007 10:07 AM
Excellent article!!
I blog for the pleasure of writing my ideas and sometime if I can make money with this I'll take it like an extra
Posted by: Ion | November 17, 2007 10:55 AM
I really enjoyed reading all the comments as it has crystallised my own thinking about blogging, i.e. I blog to improve my business prospects and my brand. I believe that the quality of my blog will indicate the level of excellence & professionalism at which I aspire to operate as a consultant, mentor & coach.
Leon Kaplan (www.goalsguy.co.za)
Posted by: Leon Kaplan | November 17, 2007 1:01 PM
Look around you in your real life.. here is web, things trend to fallow the real life line..
Posted by: Adi Moga | November 17, 2007 6:04 PM
I write a very purpose-driven blog to share educational resources. I have a small but global audience. It is that audience that motivates me to persevere.
I promote blogging in education because it is a fantastic tool for engaging learners and for giving students a meaningful context in which to develop writing skills.
Blogging, in my view, is also a good vehicle for creating and/or maintaining community. For example, the community of educators who promote the use of Web 2.0 tools in education at all levels.
Posted by: Paul Hamilton | November 18, 2007 7:17 AM
According to Gartner's 2007 pedictions, blogging will top off at mass of 100 million bloggers and continue to plateau from there. Some bloggers will drop out due to disillusionment or boredom with the medium, others will take it up. Whatever the case may be, it's here to stay in one form or another. It will be interesting to see what the next twenty years bring, as the Web's infancy is still upon us. We believed Seth Godin when he said that 99% of the web is still up for grabs.
That's why we decided to turn to cause blogging, to try and crack open the internet with love and create a legacy site. It's important to cement something in this present time, in order to be around and authoritative at a later date. Ultimately, years down the track, we expect our site to be having conversations with millions.
It's not a time to despair about the future of blogging, but a time to be awakened to the incredible possibilities on offer. If you have an online presence now, you are already way ahead of the crowd. Think Web 5.0. Go beyond the current trends, and realise that there are technologies here that haven't been imagined yet. It's exciting. It's got as much to do with the long haul as the long tail.
By the way, you're welcome to come along and join in our Blogging For Humanity event on World Aids Day. We'd love Read/Write web as Official Blog Ambassadors!
Posted by: Blogging For Humanity | November 18, 2007 5:11 PM
Because I was "invited" to participate (as a national representative) by Italian/international PR bigwig, Toni Muzi Falconi, in his experimental initiative: Global opinions on public relations and its impact on society, from local perspectives. A collaborative blog.
Getting to know co-blogging colleagues from around the world (whom I respect, professionally, and genuinely like, personally) has been a very happy offshoot to this not-overly onerous time commitment and genuinely exciting endeavour.
Posted by: Judy Gombita | November 20, 2007 9:41 AM
I have been online for nearly 7 years and so started a blog so I could impart the knowledge I have gained. For me, money is in the backseat and I dont even think about it because I have a great job. Yes, I definitely dont mind an extra $1k coming in but it aint my priority definitely.
Great post by the way. We need more of these.
Posted by: Althaf Ahmed | November 27, 2007 9:15 PM