Blogging is Dead: Long Live Blogging

I was going to post my own comments on the false notion that blogging is dead based on this piece from a week or so ago at Mashable, as have dozens of others.

But Kimberly Turner writing at The Regator Blog (that's not her in the pic) has taken up the cause with more effect than I could. Here is the Coles Notes version of her well-argued comeback(my emphasis):

"The Mashable article’s (current) headline states: “Everyone Uses E-mail, But Blogging Is On the Decline.” According the study Schroeder based the post on, this is false. As the handy-dandy chart below (from the same Pew study) shows, blogging is on the decline in Millennials (18-33) and G.I. Generation (74+) but on the increase in all other age groups with an overall increase from 11 percent of internet users in December 2008 to 14 percent in May 2010."

"The Mashable post turns its nose up at blogging but makes no mention of stats from the same report indicating that even after blogging’s decline with teens, there are still more teen bloggers than tweeters."

"The blogosphere has become the realm for things that cannot be expressed in 140 characters, a place where significant conversations, debates, and information exchange can occur. This shift means the blogging is maturing and evolving—not dying."

"The evolution of blogs has made the very definition of a blog ambiguous. Millions access blogs such as Mashable, The Huffington Post, TMZ, Gawker, and Boing Boing every month. Because the line between blogs and other websites has blurred with blogs’ maturation, visitors may or may not consider themselves to be blog readers…even when they are."

I guess I'll keep at it.

Comments

[Rusty Cawley]

Whether you are talking about vlogging, microblogging or podcasting ... no matter the platform you use (Twitter, Tumblr, YouTube, WordPress, Typepad, etc) ... it is ALL part of the blogosphere.

[JK Daina]

So true. Just a few days after you posted this, FT published an article, "Tumblr gives blogging a shot in the arm." http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b2e28758-11e2-11e0-92d0-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1AMbdhLW7