Has blogging peaked?
Posted on October 9, 2007 in Blogs, Blogging, & Bloggers, Media by DM
Earlier this year, there were rumblings that “blogging had peaked” as an activity because a blog-measuring service called Technorati had claimed that the number of daily posts to blogs worldwide seemed to be declining. I wrote at that time, and I still believe, that the number of posts per day has very little to do with the actual “health” of the blogosphere. I said:
What I’ve observed, since I began blogging in 2002, is that at first we really squandered the opportunity afforded by blogs. We posted crap - lots of it - multiple times a day. We thought - mistakenly - that others would be fascinated by the utter minutae of our lives. And the number of daily posts climbed and climbed until it peaked. And then even we didn’t care about our daily minutae anymore. And that’s when bloggers started to ask: what can we post that matters?
So while the sheer number of daily posts has perhaps peaked, the ‘wide and far’ plateau that Mike Sansone predicts is possible because what’s taking place now is the maturation of the blog from ego-driven, junk-filled novelty to information-rich, purpose-driven conversation.
Now comes today’s report that another tech company is predicting a decline in blogging, this time in the number of people engaged in the activity:
Could blogging be near the peak of its popularity? The technology gurus at Gartner Inc. (IT) believe so… Most people who would ever dabble with Web journals already have. Those who love it are committed to keeping it up, while others have gotten bored and moved on, said Daryl Plummer, chief Gartner fellow… That’s no knock on blogging. Plummer noted that this leveling-off dynamic plays out all the time…
While the number of active bloggers is a much better measure than how many posts per day are going up, I still believe the “health” of the blogosphere is measured in quality rather than quantity. Some bloggers are just launching blogs for the sake of traffic. Others are still examining their own navels. But a good chunk of them are making a sincere effort to harness the true power of blogs, which offer a platform for self-expression unrivaled since the days of the penny press. That kind of empowerment is a good thing, even if there are only a hundred million of them.
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2 comments to “Has blogging peaked?”
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Interesting topic. This is the statement I like the best.
“But a good chunk of them are making a sincere effort to harness the true power of blogs, which offer a platform for self-expression unrivaled since the days of the penny press.”
And many people are just starting to realize the positive impact blogs can have on business.
Any new “thing” has early adopters who may burn out or decide it’s not for them. Time will tell and it’s bound to be interesting.
Sandy
>>>Any new “thing” has early adopters who may burn out or decide it’s not for them.<<<
Exactly! That’s why I don’t “get” the focus on number of posts or even number of bloggers. I wish there was a way to measure the impact. Are blogs leading to greater understanding, among individuals or of various social issues? Are people (bloggers AND readers) “growing” personally or professionally through their blogging? Are people feeling a greater sense of community and/or connectedness because of blogging? Those are better measures of the ‘health’ of the blogosphere, as far as I’m concerned. ~ J.