Curious Christian

Reflections on culture, nature, and spirituality from a Christian perspective

Still Blogging Strong

Published by

Matt Stone

2009-04-25

Who said blogging is dead? I was reviewing my subscriber stats today and in less than twelve months they’ve doubled with no sign of tapering off. My other traffic metrics paint a similar picture. Facebook and Twitter are fine for swapping trivia and links but for more serious writing (and information gathering) I find no substitute to the blogosphere and online journals.

An Information Ecology?

I think what we are seeing now is the emergence of an information ecology. We’re experiencing the digital equivalent of a cambrian explosion. As the more and more options emerge people are finding their niche. As the blogosphere is maturing, its strengths and limitations are now more apparent, and some are finding blogging isn’t their niche and moving on and that’s ok. But I no more think microblogging is taking over from macroblogging than I think television is taking over from books. It is a niche, but its just a niche. Microblogging will eventually find its ecological limits too. I don’t think the niche that macroblogging fills will be evaporating any time soon.

Tags Blogging

5 responses to “Still Blogging Strong”

Steve Hayes

2009-04-26

Nevertheless, there are some whose blogs I used to read that I only see on Twitter now.

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Matt Stone

2009-04-27

Yeah, I can think of a few who were really only blogging for connection, who’s blogs largely consisted of repostings and find Twitter now fills that need. I think well see a die off of blogs of that sort. Those who produce a lot of original content though, and who can keep it up long term, I don’t expect so many of them to completely migrate.

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Steve Hayes

2009-04-27

When I first joined Twitter, I thought it would be useful for letting my family know i would be late for supper. But I find that none of the people who care about that are following me on Twitter, and none of the people who follow me on Twitter really care.

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Matt Stone

2009-04-29

LOL, doesn’t surprise me.

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Matt Stone

2009-04-29

See this article:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/biztech/twiiterfail-high-churn-concern/2009/04/29/1240684502081.html
“More than 60 per cent of Twitter users have stopped using the micro-blogging service a month after joining, according to Nielsen Online research released on Tuesday.”
“‘Twitter has enjoyed a nice ride over the last few months, but it will not be able to sustain its meteoric rise without establishing a higher level of user loyalty,’ said David Martin, Nielsen Online’s vice president for primary research.”
“Martin said that when Facebook and MySpace were emerging networks like Twitter their retention rates were twice as high and they now have retention rates of nearly 70 per cent.”
Limits becoming evident already it seems.

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