Blogging Is Not A Minority Sport
I take issue with a piece that Victor Keegan of the UK’s Guardian Unlimited wrote today, called To the average Joe, blogs aren’t cutting it.
Keegan’s argument boils down to a few main points. Let’s take a look at them:
* Blogging is “very much a minority sport” because, according to the recent State of Technorati report, the blogosphere has doubled in size, from 35 million blogs to 70 million, in the last 320 days.
Keegan argues that because English-language blogs now number in the 24 million range, that is a sign that the blogosphere is waning in influence as compared to the proliferation of video uploading/sharing and social networking.
I find this assertion to be incorrect in several ways. The fact that non-English language blogs now make up the majority of the blogosphere is astounding, and means that there’s a galaxy of conversations and developments going on that we in the West are largely unaware of. I would think that this part of the web will only continue to grow and develop.
Also, doubling in size to 70 million blogs in less than a year is an enormous increase, particularly when considering that writing a blog with any regularity is hard. Just as most people who start a novel never finish, most blogs are abandoned in less than a year, and many don’t make it past a few posts. I would think that now that blogs have been around for a decade, people consider this difficulty before taking the plunge. I’d love to see numbers on current activity of blogs founded within the last few years as compared to an earlier period.
* Despite success “in politics and the arts,” blogging hasn’t “taken off” in a way people thought it would.
I don’t understand the rationale behind this assertion. In size and in quality, the blogosphere is big and bad and thriving. Blogging and online media are fundamentally rocking traditional media to its very core. Online mainstream media publications are implementing blogs into their offerings, professional journalists and CEOs and well known public figures are blogging as never before, bringing the public closer to the action and inviting them to partake in the conversation.
“Blogging” is now mainstream, and the blogosphere is maturing. That maturity is reflected in both the sheer growth in the number of blogs as well as the innumerable ways that blogs are shaping the Internet… and even in the ways that it is shaping such things as social networking and other “web 2.0″ applications.
The “new black” in blogging, for instance, is “micro blogging,” proven out by Twitter, the latest craze, and other services like JaikuL and Tumblr.
People are finding ways to communicate and share information, and blogs are an essential component in that.
The Media Age rightly points out that blogging “is absolutely a losing business proposition” because of the time required to do it, and to do it right. I would argue though that most do it not for money but for the passion of sharing information and ideas and engaging readers in conversation. And in fact those with the most passion for this have the best shot at cranking out a winning business proposition.
* “… the act of blogging is turning out to be more of a spectator sport than we originally thought.”
Hilarizor! The argument used to be that no one read blogs because all blog readers were too busy writing and hawking their own blogs. A growing non-writing reader base for blogs – any blogger will tell you this – is a gorgeous, gorgeous thing.
The blogosphere is maturing and continuing to expand at a strong if not astronomical rate. More important than sheer numbers though is that blogs continue to have a profound influence on the online media world and among other innovations is increasingly becoming integrated with more traditional media offerings.
Far being a minority sport, the blogosphere is big time big leagues.
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April 12th, 2007 at 12:14 pm
Is he talking about numbers or influence? It seems like he’s trying to have it both ways. Sheer numbers are impressive, so now he’s trying to claim lack of influence.
Look, I’m skeptical about the value of twitter over the long-term, and I can certainly be skeptical about the economic value of blogging, but that’s not the primary focus of blogging for many (most) people. My wife updates her blog 3-4 times a week, has a dedicated audience, and makes not a penny. She’s been doing it for just over a year. She’s happy, but apparently below the radar for Keegan.
My daughters want a blog of their own, and they’re nine and seven! For now I said no, neither their mother nor I have time to help them.
Which makes me wonder — what’s the difference between a blog and a MySpace page? If we add the kajillions of myspace users to bloggers, does that help the overall numbers?
If he’s talking about the economics of blogging, then sure, it’s still small time — but heading upward. If he’s talking about the overall picture of blogging, it’s major league and still growing.
April 12th, 2007 at 2:08 pm
I agree: blogging is about as successful as could be reasonably imagined. It has become a household word, it has penetrated the mainstream media and the business world; and for a small minority at the top it makes reasonable money, and for a tiny minority it makes huge bucks. How many other grassroots movements have had this kind of result after 5+ years?
April 12th, 2007 at 10:00 pm
I think you know something has hit the mainstream when it’s not just being used by early adopters and nerds. Blogging is definitely moving to the middle of the road, when you have “soccer mom” bloggers, soldiers in Iraq, and teenagers all getting involved.
April 13th, 2007 at 12:37 am
Phillip — I think that your wife’s blog is the perfect example of how Keegan has it wrong! That’s the definition of “cutting it,” I’d say.
Keegan says that myspace profile blogs are “in theory” coutned toward the total figures, which basically means not a thing. There are plenty of “serious” bloggers on myspace (we can debate the quality, obviously) but in any event those are actual and real blogs used by real people, just in a somewhat different environment.
April 13th, 2007 at 12:38 am
EO, as always you’ve hit the nail on the head in a succinct and pithy and right on manner, well said!
April 13th, 2007 at 12:39 am
And exactly right Webomatica — blogging is maturing and diversifying and is “cutting it” in different ways for different people, writers and readers both. Minority sport indeed!
June 28th, 2007 at 9:08 pm
I came over via a link from The Pisstakers and I really have to say that you hit the nail directly on the head when you stated that “writing a blog with any regularity is hard.” My blog will be a year old on July 25th and it has been quite the job making sure I keep it updated and, what I hope, interesting. In that time I believe I have built up a good readership base and am just shy of 30,000 page views but I know that fresh content is one of the things that keeps people coming back everyday. There is a feeling to not disappoint people by not posting something new each day and that kind of pressure is something I had never thought of when I started this. Honestly, I think there should be a blogging Olympics at the rate things are going!
June 28th, 2007 at 9:10 pm
Thanks Linda, and congrats on your anniversary! One of the keys for me, I think — over 2.5 years of blogging in various forms — is to forgive myself and just keep plugging along, keep expectations reasonable, etc.
November 16th, 2007 at 12:15 am
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December 22nd, 2007 at 4:09 am
Nice resource, very interesting reading….
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