There has been a lot of discussion recently about the changing face of the blogging landscape. On one hand many bloggers have turned to the likes of FriendFeed and Twitter to express themselves, instead of their blogs. On the other hand we have a group of professional blogs that are becoming more and more like 'old media'. But interestingly, in both cases, there are complaints about how 'social media' is failing them.
Media in general has been undergoing a seachange ever since the Internet arrived on the scene in the 90's. But this year, 2008, that change has intensified. Everyone is racing to adopt and adapt to social media - the read/write web as some of us call it. But social media is not a panacea; in fact it produces just as many problems as solutions.
For a few years now 'big media' companies have been scrambling to adapt to the new Web-powered world of blogs, wikis and aggregators. This has led to a lot of jostling for position amongst both old and new media. This year we've begun to see old media acquisitions of new media - two recent examples are Ars Technica being acquired by Conde Naste and PaidContent acquired by The Guardian's owners. There's also been some talk of "roll-ups" among some of the leading blogs (personally I think this is highly unlikely, due to the the issues listed below for pro blogs).
Meanwhile, the art of personal blogging has experienced its own seachange. This year we've seen the emergence of even more personal forms of web publishing than blogs, specifically Twitter ("micro-blogging" that has taken the blogosphere by storm this year) and FriendFeed (a lifestreaming service that enables users to aggregate and comment on a wide variety of Web media). Many people have reduced their blogging or switched completely to FriendFeed and Twitter, along with the plethora of web publishing platforms where they can create content (social networks, content aggregators like Tumblr and Soup.io, family-friendly blog platforms like Vox, and so on).
The only trouble is, these new new media have most of the same problems of the old new media (blogs): A-List dominance, information overload, petty feuds, gaming, too much noise, scrambling for attention, overabundance of options (what should I 'like'? how many feeds can I cram into FriendFeed, etc).
Darren Rowse, who runs the impressive ProBlogger blog, wondered recently whether blogging has "lost its relational focus?" Darren started blogging 6 years ago (about the same time as me) and he says that back then "there was a real community spirit among bloggers". But he notes that "the blogosphere is a different place now in many ways." He points to the increasing competition among blogs and that some bloggers are "developing relationships more out of strategy rather than just because they want to connect."
I don't think there's reason for alarm though. The fact is, pro blogs are full fledged - albeit niche - media businesses and they need to be run as such. As Sarah Perez mentioned in her personal blog recently, that is damn hard work. If you're in the pro blog business, you have to care about page views, advertising, business development and strategy, and yes - the "competition". What it boils down to is that new media is becoming more like old media - e.g. pro blogs run adverts and pay their writers. At the same time of course, old media is implementing social software such as blogs, widgets and more.
A personal blog by comparison is a hobby and most of its value is in being part of a conversation. I know, because that's exactly how RWW started out 6-odd years ago! ;-) That's not to say that personal blogs don't produce professional content - because many of them do.
The world of professional blogging is a fast-moving, non-stop, social, competitive (sometimes even ruthless) world. Ultimately it produces a lot of value in the media world because of those things - analysis that comes from people who are passionate about and actually use the products they're writing about, fast-breaking news, thought-provoking discussions in the comments, and so on. Old Media wants a piece of all that action.
But there are disconnects between the new and old media worlds - and social media is the cause.
Professional blogs rely on social software for their success, and often a big part of the 'social' aspect is a blogger's opinions and how he/she voices them. Basically the more opinionated a blogger is, the more attention they get (good and bad). This is good for page views, good for business. However the flip side is that the blogger's personal brand can become more important than the blog's brand. It also causes friction in the blogging community, as people resort to provocative opinions and personal attacks to gain attention.
While ultimately professional blogging is reliant on social media, if it becomes too reliant on the 'social' part then it implodes. We've seen a lot of the symptoms over the past year: burnt out bloggers, 'bitchmemes' (when lots of bloggers complain loudly about something usually inconsequential), hints of corruption as bloggers write about things they've invested in or have an interest in, stirring up controversy as a business tactic. We've even seen a kind of mafia mentality emerge - vendettas, ring-kissing, sychophants surrounding power bloggers, etc.
Is social media causing more problems than it's worth? My answer is no. In professional blogs, the acquisitions of Ars Technica and PaidContent have shown what can happen when social media technologies are balanced with professional branding, community and business acumen. And there are plenty of independent professional blogs exhibiting the same characteristics (not that I'm claiming that for RWW, but obviously we strive for this).
And for personal blogs, as always there is so much vitality and interesting content to be found in a blog that is run by a passionate individual who wants to connect with like-minded people. Whether you use blogging, FriendFeed, Twitter - or any combination of those and similar platforms - the blogosphere remains a great place to make friends and achieve your own personal and/or professional goals. If, that is, you can learn how to deal with information overload, too many choices, the A-List issue, etc etc!
Some of my own biases as a pro blogger have come out in this article, but at the end of the day I love blogging, I love that I can do it for a living, and I enjoy the hyper-competitive nature of this industry. So what are your thoughts on new and old media and how they're intermingling?
Image credit: Jayel Aheram
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Rich,
Brilliant piece.
I think a big part of the 'let down' feeling might have to do with a mistaken belief that blogging will have cured media from everything it's suffered for the past century and more. It's like alternative music or underground photography: everything can be commercialised and anything can be bought and spun.
There will be more wheat and chaff to come, and, eventually, the best content, the best writers, and the best-edited blogs will still have followers. But, as the public adopt blogs as a medium to content with the "mainstream", it'll take on more of the problems and features of the wider media.
Posted by: Zach Beauvais
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July 27, 2008 2:37 AM
Very interesting. Whether old or new, blogs should remain a place for making friends. We all love blogging!
Posted by: ITrush | July 27, 2008 2:40 AM
good post richard. very thoughtful. A question i get 10 times a day. Are bloggers journalists? i think the opposite question is relevant. this is one point i would have loved to see in your post
Posted by: ouriel
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July 27, 2008 2:45 AM
I agree with Zach (#1) on this where the best blogs, the professional ones typically, will have more of the readers and attention.
I also remember that sense of community when blogs were really starting to make waves. But more and more people wanted to be a part of that sense of community. Plus, when companies build blogging platforms and make it really easy for anyone to create and post to their own blogs (Blogger, WordPress, Moveable Type, etc) then you can't expect that sense of community to always be there. When you give people the power to do what they want to do, say what the want to say, and do it without having to think about research or worry about time, then you can't be surprised by how the blogosphere has changed. It happens with everything that becomes mainstream. Not everyone will want to fit into that "community" like we expect.
Again, it all comes back to the best blogs always having good content. Those will be the ones that lead the pack. Information overload isn't happening. What's happening is giving readers more choices and letting them sift out the cream of the crop from the cream of the crap.
Posted by: Govy | July 27, 2008 3:52 AM
Very good post!
I guess that a lot of the changes reside in the fact that blogging became, as you said, a business. While only good bloggers can create good content and have a proper business, for others it's just a commercial activity, they make reviews, inflammatory posts and just create content for advertising and to have more visitors.
Unfortunately it works, there s lot of people out there who praises content-less blogs like TechCrunch.. ultimately, I hope people will make the difference..
thanks for keeping up this excellent blog!
Posted by: Lorenzo | July 27, 2008 3:59 AM
A blog is just a platform and what one does with it is up to them. If somebody chooses to make it a hobby, great. If another chooses to make it a business, then great. I think any argument that says blogging has changed because people do it for business purposes is, well, empty.
Its almost like saying the best bloggers are the ones who don't care if anybody is reading what they say and do it all for charity. I wouldn't agree.
And I would hardly call Techcrunch content-less, Lorenzo.
Posted by: David Risley | July 27, 2008 4:54 AM
I write for bub.blicio.us, which gives me a tiny (and I mean tiny) taste of professional blogging. Now that I'm paying attention, I see the infighting and other things that go on in the "A List" blogsphere. But I think it's silly. Arrington and Scoble and everyone can complain about how blogging is changing, etc, but it's changing only at the top. What affects "the A List" doesn't necessarily affect the rest of the bloggers, and a lot of times those folks forget that. Their blogging is larger than life - the rest of us, well, not so much.
As for Twitter and FriendFeed, well, that's still early adopters. Mainstream folks are slowly trickling into Twitter, and haven't even thought about, or in a lot of cases, HEARD about FriendFeed.
I run a wine blog that I'm truly passionate about. I consider myself part of the wine blogging community, which is ever-growing but friendly and welcoming and a true community. We're having our first "conference" this fall. For me, wine blogging still provides easy outreach with my readers and other bloggers. It's still relational.
So while Technology blogging, from a professional viewpoint, may be experiencing some changes right now, the blogosphere as a whole, run by folks who aren't blogging professionally, still has a community perspective - at least from where I'm standing.
This is a great post Richard - thanks!
Posted by: Michelle | July 27, 2008 6:36 AM
Hi, Richard. Yes, I agree that Twitter (esp) is slowing down the frequency of blogging. I know it is for me, and I've written about that trend on both my blogs. But I wanted to comment on something else. I found your quote of Darren Rowse to be interesting, where he said some bloggers are "developing relationships more out of strategy rather than just because they want to connect."
Everybody has a strategy, everybody has a bias. Wanting "to connect" is a strategy -- and that can be a personal one or a business one. So what? If the implication that having a strategy is somehow a bad, evil thing because it's related to business, or to making a living, that's poppycock!
Bloggers have to make a living, meaning the non-professional ones. They have to be earning money from something, enabling them to spend some level of time blogging -- but they do not make much of anything at all from blogging. Nor do most care. I've found the majority of experienced bloggers, at least those in tech, are independent consultants of some kind (as I have been for most of my career). And blogging helps many, many of these people in their personal businesses, or they wouldn't be doing it -- I guarantee you!
I maintain that "strategy" is the only thing keeping a huge number of sideline bloggers going -- certainly the self-employed ones (or those with traditional jobs who like moonlighting gigs). If it ceases being helpful to them in spreading their influence and advancing their personal brand (meaning with potential future clients and people who will refer business to them), they'll stop doing it. And I also maintain, tying back to my first comment, that many are finding Twitter helps them do the same thing with much less of a time commitment. Again, strategy. Social media strategy. It's everywhere.
best regards,
Graeme
www.Tech-Surf-Blog.com
www.NewMediaWise.com
vp marketing: www.doapps.com
Posted by: GraemeThickins
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July 27, 2008 6:41 AM
Very interesting ! thank you....
Posted by: sergey | July 27, 2008 7:27 AM
Good article, Richard.
I think the problems of the "new new media" that you point out, "A-List dominance, information overload, petty feuds, gaming, too much noise, scrambling for attention, overabundance of options", are certainly real problems. But they aren't *media* problems. They're *social* problems. Get more than a handful of people together for more than a few days and that's what happens, regardless of the medium.
Posted by: John Hathaway | July 27, 2008 7:44 AM
I'm currently on both sides of this coin.
By day, I'm the web operations manager for an old-school, B2B publishing company. By evening, and sometimes during lunch, I'm the owner/developer/blog writer for Addoursearch.com.
When it comes to social media and old school media, the Business Leaders and Marketing Teams want engage our readers on a more personal level. Naturally, the first thing that comes to mind is a blog.
One of the largest issue's we've had with Blogging is getting the publishers and EIC's to let go. To allow the writers to interact with the users without that level of control they're used to. They're so used to TELLING the industry what to think instead of discussing it with them. A common phrase we hear from them are "Our magazine is the bible of the industry".
Now, some are better than others, but in large it's a common issue. It even went so far that we had an editor requesting members of my team to edit a USER contributed comment because it had spelling errors.
A lot of this will change as some of the younger/more tech savvy generations find their way into publishing. But, it's not making my job any easier at the current time.
Posted by: Troy Peterson | July 27, 2008 8:36 AM
You mention branding as a virtue for professional blogs ... you might want to listen to your own advice. The RWW logo is horrible. The first letter of each word in black? Your brand needs an upgrade...
Posted by: lloyd | July 27, 2008 9:31 AM
Great post, I'm a relative newbie to the blogging world, just over a year in. And I have found it challenging to mix personal and business comments in the same blog. While tediious, I actually write several for business ( those have been the easiest, since the content is driven by industry) and one for personal, which I still struggle with.
Finding your voice can be intimidating for a beginner, so I enjoy reading posts by those who have.
Posted by: Lorraine Ball
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July 27, 2008 10:31 AM
Reading your post, Richard, I found myself asking the question if the time has come to create a professional association that sets downs and evolves guidelines for ethical and professional blogging practice. (Perhaps there already is one, but if so, I'm not aware of it.) I realize this may seem counter to the spirit of blogging, which is grounded in the values of individualism, freedom of expression, and the subjective perspective. And there would be a host of questions to answer. How would the community go about organizing such an association? Would it be possible to get such a diverse community to agree to set of guidelines and standards? How would the organization effectively exercise influence and regulate? Would "regulation" even be something the community would accept? But as blogging evolves and changes, gains more influence, and has a greater obligation to ethical and social responsibility, I think the community will also need to apply a more rigorous set of standards regarding such aspects as commercialization, transparency,behavior and editorial accuracy. None of us wants to take away the edge, the passion, the spontaneity and the individual freedom that makes blogging so great. But without giving up those values, there should still be a way to establish a common set of ethical and commercial standards on which all bloggers can agree. That can only good for the integrity of the practice and its value for the online community.
Posted by: Stephen Rothman | July 27, 2008 12:01 PM
Michelle said: "So while Technology blogging, from a professional viewpoint, may be experiencing some changes right now, the blogosphere as a whole, run by folks who aren't blogging professionally, still has a community perspective - at least from where I'm standing."
RM: That's an excellent point, and it reminds me of what tech blogging was like in the early days. It's a shame the community aspect changed in the tech blogosphere, but I see it as part of the evolution.
Posted by: Richard
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July 27, 2008 2:59 PM
Graemae said: "I've found the majority of experienced bloggers, at least those in tech, are independent consultants of some kind (as I have been for most of my career). And blogging helps many, many of these people in their personal businesses, or they wouldn't be doing it -- I guarantee you!"
RM: Again I totally identify with this. Before RWW went fully pro, I spent much of my time consulting, then it became half my time, then 1/4 and eventually RWW was 100% of my time (as of course it is today). But literally this blog got me all those consulting gigs and it certainly helped sustain it.
Posted by: Richard
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July 27, 2008 3:00 PM
lloyd, I never said we were perfect ;-) But I also like to think that beauty is more than skin deep :-)
Posted by: Richard
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July 27, 2008 3:02 PM
Lorraine, it does take a while to find your voice in blogging. I actually had struggled with how to blog for over a year before RWW started. My first attempt was basically a linkblog with some commentary by me (back in 2002). That didn't work for me, but I kept muddling around in blogging. Eventually things fell into place, and I remember that reading others, commenting on existing blogs, etc, also helped that process.
Posted by: Richard
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July 27, 2008 3:05 PM
Stephen, personally I don't think an association or regulation for blogging will work. It's been tried at least a couple of times before, and akaik failed both times. I think it gets back to Ouriel's point, that blogging and journalism overlap so much these days, it is all "media" when it comes down to it. Each blogger has their own standard of ethics, ranging from the Izea proponents to the journalistic ethics of most leading pro blogs.
Posted by: Richard
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July 27, 2008 3:08 PM
old media:
When writing news story, feature, investigation: you can not post ur opinion directly like saying " I Think."
u can integrate ur opinion within the story by choosing the quotes u add to the story, giving it indirectly, or hide some info which would change the opinion of the reader.
(old media should not be biased but objective and much as it can, compare -NPR, CNN, FOX, and Aljazeera.net - )
Blogs: you can post your opinion directly, like saying (I think), so blog is more like the opinion articles you find on newspapers, and in blogs you can use slang, in old media that is mostly not the case.
Another difference is that when writing a blog post you do not have to quote several people.
Take a look at any story in TechCrunch Mashable and RRW and look at CNN.com Aljazeera.net and NYtimes.
I do not read much magazines but I used to read the Economist which I feel it is like blogs bc it is heavily opinioned.
Blogs has zero entry cost, it can start with one man part time (like me) and then maybe grow to a company like TechCrunch and RRW. While old media requires a paid staff, and other production costs such printing, and distribution.
As for Corporate blogging it is relatively new and is better than press releases bc it gives more personal feel to the reader.
Posted by: Gaith | July 27, 2008 4:57 PM
Very topical and great food for thought! Being a relative newcomer to blogging, I can see how this is becoming an issue. I cannot see how micro blogging will ever replace bloging. Every second micro post I read on twitter is simply a link to a blog post somewhere else!
Posted by: Luke Harvey-Palmer
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July 28, 2008 3:16 AM
Timely and thoughtful piece.
You put it correctly when you mentioned that media has been undergoing a seachange since Internet was introduced. I guess the next 2 years will be a very intresting period on how the online world of blogs and social media and the traditional media will evolve. I suspect we have just seen the tip of the iceberg and it will be another 8-10 years before you see this transformation completed. It will be led by the new generation of people from aroound the world, who are growing up using cell phones, reading twitter, blogs etc...they look at content and consumption of content in a whole different way. Sometimes sitting in the US or Silicon Valley we don't get a sense for these transformations that are taking place daily in different parts of the world...
Just my 2 cents on this topic.
kamla
Posted by: kamla bhatt | July 28, 2008 1:11 PM
I have no words to say, it's rock indeed
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Posted by: Oigen | July 29, 2008 2:08 AM
Richard,
Thank you for a concise, thoughtful, and spot-on analysis of the challenges facing pro bloggers. I was the first business hire at GigaOM close to 2 years ago, and I've seen old media and the advertising market respond to us very differently over that time. Many folks forget that indeed the end goal is to build a business and not just controversy. The business teams often get overlooked for the more glamorous bloggers who are in the limelight, but if we weren't making the bucks, we wouldn't see such broad interest outside our little niche.
Joanne Wan
GigaOM Biz Dev Mgr
Posted by: Joanne Wan | July 29, 2008 3:41 AM