Are Blogs Headed Towards the Graveyard?

Jeff Bullas over at the jeffbullas.com blog addresses the question of whether blogs are dying out and social media sites such as Facebook are taking over.  Bullas reports that blogs are not dying but instead evolving.  According to the “State of The blogosphere 2010" report published by Technorati, blogs are in a state of transition as the lines between blogs and social media sites disappear. As noted by Bullas, the Technorati report revealed several trends that are emerging in the blogosphere:

• Blogs are in transition and are no longer considered an upstart but are being taken seriously as an alternative to mainstream media with a 40% of people trusting a blog as a source of information and news.
• Bloggers use and engagement with social media tools is expanding with increased use of Twitter and Facebook.
• Sharing of blog posts is increasingly being done via social networks
• Mobile blogging  on smart phones and iPads is quickly evolving with 25% of all bloggers already engaged in mobile blogging and has changed  the way they blog to shorter and more spontaneous posts.
• Women and mom bloggers are very connected with their communities and making their voice heard online with their influence and impact on brands being taken very seriously with over 50% of them being approached by brands

Bullas concludes that blogs are here to stay and will continue to evolve into the future.  What are your thoughts concerning the future of blogosphere? 

 

 

Comments

[Aaron]

Blogs are a way to put content online, and that will continue to draw eyeballs and, ideally, business. I do sense that we're seeing a shift away from blogs and toward other means of delivering information, some highly transitory. Fewer people subscribe to blogs as opposed to using other forms of social networking to lead them to interesting information from a broader range of sources than a traditional blogroll.

Blogging is, in essence, the publication of web content through a simple CMS combined with a simple means of syndication. A reduced population of bloggers could end up being beneficial to those who are publishing quality information on their blogs, as it should become easier for search engines to separate the wheat from the chaff. I would not suggest to somebody who was interested in creating a serious collection of online materials, "Post it to a 'here today, gone tomorrow' service like your Facebook wall," although I might suggest that they keep their mind open and their eye out for content management systems (or additional features for their blogs) that might improve content deliver, long-term traffic and reader interest.