Is Blogging on the Decline?

michaelkpate · 2011-02-21 19:03:03

Point

Blogs Wane as the Young Drift to Sites Like Twitter – The New York Times

Counter-Point

Another misleading story reports that blogs ‘r’ dead – Scott Rosenberg

I tend to blog about specialized topics and I really can’t see bombarding my friends from high school with stuff that doesn’t matter to them. And as Matt notes, “at some point you’ll have more to say than fits in 140 characters.” I use the social networks but I don’t really see them as a place to publish content.

Ninja-Backflip · 2011-02-22 01:34:58

I’ve used TXP on 6 sites. Each time, I’ve had to de-blog it with various back-end plugins to suite my client group. Blogs can still drive some serious traffic. Still, why the TXP default feels the need to affiliate itself with a default blogging system is beyond me.

Eschercms has been a breath of fresh air. So to Concrete5. Yes, a blog, or journal, is important to some sites. TXP should however gear itself to what most people use it for. Shame most of the TXP hardcore are inward looking (Without sounding twatish, geeky niche bloggers)

First post, banned forever!

maruchan · 2011-02-22 02:20:56

Lots of splintering going on. It’s lovely. Even if you only look at commenting systems, which are in the middle of their own backlash, you can’t really say that one is winning out or that comments are dead — there’s just more choice, and webmasters get to pick what’s appropriate. That’s a great thing!

I’ve actually been worried about the term “webmaster” though. Shame if it disappeared in favor of terms like “designer” or “developer.” Webmasters kick all sorts of awesome.

Ninja-Backflip · 2011-02-22 12:02:08

maruchan wrote:

I’ve actually been worried about the term “webmaster” though. Shame if it disappeared in favor of terms like “designer” or “developer.” Webmasters kick all sorts of awesome.

So true! In fact, apart from a few forums I visit, I can’t remember the last time anyone referred to themselves as a Webmaster!

Re- The Blog is dead debate, when was the last time anyone has been asked by a client to incorporate a blog into their site build? All I get is requests for Facebook / Twitter integration. Personally, I don’t think the Blog is going anywhere yet. The Company blog however, is not the hot new feature must-have it once was…

hcgtv · 2011-02-22 13:52:56

michaelkpate wrote:

I use the social networks but I don’t really see them as a place to publish content.

I don’t use the social networks, if somebody can’t find me on the web, they don’t know how to use a search engine.

Blogs, I never liked that word, nor the premise that you write a piece and the world can’t wait to comment on your elegant use of words. Blogs declined because we let spam get out of hand, I have commenting turned off on all but one site where I use commenting as part of the site’s content and structure. For those of us that have been interacting online for some time, we’ll just shrug off a harsh comment or have fun with a troll by doing a 4chan on them. But those individuals that are new to the Google, they’ll run and hide at the first sign of trouble. That is why they like the apparent safety of Facebook, where only their so-called friends can see their posts and comment on them.

Let’s refer to them as Personal Presences, that’s what I use Textpattern for, to write down what I feel. I’m not interested in getting Dugged, or having pages and pages of comments, I’m interested in just recording my life. That’s where Textpattern shines, I can write about my dog one day, and about installing the latest version of Debian the next, without worrying what my friends will think. It’s my PP, and I’ll use it for whatever I want ;)

Ninja mentions Escher, what Sam has done from the starting gate is to offload comments to a forum, in his case it’s Vanilla. This seamless interaction between the two apps uses their strengths, Escher for publishing, Vanilla for discussions. That’s the way we should of shifted course many moons ago, the newbie would of still gotten a troll message to the effect of you look fat in that bikini, but they would have had more controls to deal with the scum (bans, membership, captcha…).

Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and WordPress.com are all good services, and for someone just starting out on the web, it’s their best option to get their message out. But you outgrow them over time, then you use these services to drive traffic to your own domain, because you have 100’s of friends and there’s 200 people following you on the Twitter. However you cut it, it’s good news that more people are online, eventually they’ll need a Personal Presence.

michaelkpate · 2011-02-22 14:03:25

hcgtv wrote:

Let’s refer to them as Personal Presences, that’s what I use Textpattern for, to write down what I feel.

It is an interesting term to Google.

As we are leisurely walking and talking, the sense is that I am walking, but I am also watching myself walking. I am a personal presence, a fullness that is an extension of the black absolute mystery, walking on the road with Karen. At the same time, I am the absolute vastness, as the background of all appearance, witnessing my personal presence walking. Karen is experiencing herself the same way. We are personal presences, both coemergent with, and inseparable extensions from, the mysterious vastness of the absolute. At the same time, we are each this black vastness witnessing the two of us walking. – Life and the Deathless

I used to be very careful to always use Weblog and never Blog. But after a decade or so, I have sort of given up on that.

ax · 2011-02-23 05:02:32

TxP is a phantastic CMS and this is a phantastic community. But what is this discussion about blogging and “personal presence” all about? The actual uses of TxP is very elborated web design. For blogging sites you have plenty of klick-and-forget internet tools nowadays. Why should a novice blogger attempt to use TxP? They use facebook.

Last edited by ax (2011-02-23 06:46:05)

Destry · 2011-02-26 18:53:58

Another great thread topic, Michael.

Just to play along, I think the desire to have blog comments is waining faster than to have the blog itself. There’s a lot of recognition that conversation in comments goes sour or pointless after the first 20, if not sooner, and blog authors don’t have the time (or interest) to hold follow-up discussions forever; especially if they have other topics to write. Then you have comments like. “Love it.” “Cool!” “Nice contribution.” “Keep up the good work.”, and other gems of clarity. And then you have websites that want you to sign up to comment. LOL! Or play the Captcha game. Pfft. No. Comments, in my opinion, are a wast of design focus in most (not all) cases.

Now, what’s really funny in all this is that it’s another conversation about technology before the content. A blog is only as good as the content it publishes. Same goes for social media tools (which can be perfectly acceptable content publishing channels), and a website in general. It’s about having (or not) a content publishing plan…a strategy. Knowing your audiences, what they need at the time they need it, and so forth. The question isn’t ‘do you need a blog?’ The question is do you have the content and means to maintain as your content strategy dictates. Often a blog can be very effective but only if it’s used wisely and giving readers/customers what they need.

Welcome to the community, Big Baldy Head. :)

Last edited by Destry (2011-02-26 19:08:44)

Ninja-Backflip · 2011-02-26 23:19:38

Destry wrote:

Often a blog can be very effective but only if it’s used wisely and giving readers/customers what they need.

Excellent point. The same goes for any media strategy. For the most part, the facebook / twitter integrations I’m asked to do are a complete waste of time / client money. Company blog’s / twitter feeds / facebook pages are usually nothing more than thinly veiled forms of delicious spam.

What’s the point? Unless a client is willing to invest in continuous, quality content creation, I advise against bothering. Not that it deters them. Silly lemmings! It’s a shame that web devs (awesome webmasters) push these technologies when they really aren’t warranted. We all know why. Fads = dollars.

Destry wrote:

Welcome to the community, Big Baldy Head. :)

Cheers Mr Destry. Another Mach3 fan joins the ranks!

biggreenk · 2011-03-24 15:46:25

There are benefits to social networks and benefits to blogs. I don’t think there is one answer. It really depends on the industry and the target audience. I like to use social networks to promote blogs. You can post a lot of great information through social channels but well thought out content heavy blog posts are still great to live on a company’s website. Not to mention the SEO benefits of a blog.

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#1 2011-02-21 19:03:03

Is Blogging on the Decline?

#2 2011-02-22 01:34:58

Re: Is Blogging on the Decline?

#3 2011-02-22 02:20:56

Re: Is Blogging on the Decline?

#4 2011-02-22 12:02:08

Re: Is Blogging on the Decline?

#5 2011-02-22 13:52:56

Re: Is Blogging on the Decline?

#6 2011-02-22 14:03:25

Re: Is Blogging on the Decline?

#7 2011-02-23 05:02:32

Re: Is Blogging on the Decline?

#8 2011-02-26 18:53:58

Re: Is Blogging on the Decline?

#9 2011-02-26 23:19:38

Re: Is Blogging on the Decline?

#10 2011-03-24 15:46:25

Re: Is Blogging on the Decline?

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