Blogs to Riches-The Haves and Have-Nots of the Blogging Boom.
The Long Tail
Linkology
They were interesting but I wasn't overly impressed with any of them. It is considered cool to write about blogging because so many people see it as the next big thing. Or should I say that many people see as the last big thing as they are already onto the next big thing..
Anyway so many of the comments and articles about blogging are written by self-proclaimed experts who are ready to tell you how to become the king of all bloggers. All too often I see their comments as being nothing more than the obvious, but if it helps you pay the bills I suppose that it is a good thing.
But let's go back for a moment as I want to comment on one part of the blog to riches story.
"But if you talk to many of today’s bloggers, they’ll complain that the game seems fixed. They’ve targeted one of the more lucrative niches—gossip or politics or gadgets (or sex, of course)—yet they cannot reach anywhere close to the size of the existing big blogs. It’s as if there were an A-list of a few extremely lucky, well-trafficked blogs—then hordes of people stuck on the B-list or C-list, also-rans who can’t figure out why their audiences stay so comparatively puny no matter how hard they work. “It just seems like it’s a big in-party,” one blogger complained to me. (Indeed, a couple of pranksters last spring started a joke site called Blogebrity and posted actual lists of the blogs they figured were A-, B-, and C-level famous.)"This bothers me. I didn't start blogging because I wanted to become rich, wealthy, powerful and famous. I won't say that I haven't thought about that or from time to time hoped that it would happen, but it is not what drives me. The passion I feel is not based upon the thought that tens, hundreds, thousands or millions of people read what I have to say.
Would it be nice? Probably, but it is not what moves me. I think that the blogs that I most enjoy are those that are written by real people about real things. The humanity we share in common attracts me.
All I know is that I couldn't have done this for the past 21 months if I didn't love it.
Just my two cents.
8 comments:
They should have gotten you to write the article instead, so a little of the passion in blogging could have shown through. They made it seem like a lifeless corporate endeavor, probably because they know a few coworker journalists who quit to blog for profit as if it was the latest dot-com scam. As if blogging is about "targeting a lucrative niche." Sheesh.
That is just a small piece of what's going on here. The rest of us are having fun, and growing. Thanks for putting in words what I also felt in reading the article.
I agree with you. Blogging is really about being able to communicate with people all over the world, and being able to share information that is not accessible from the MSM.
It is also about being able to vent, and share advice.
In a way, we are inventing a type of extended family.
It's true that the essential purpose of non commercial blogging should be for oneself, but I can't deny there's some truth in the article.
Even among the Jewish blogs you see it. A popular blog will post.
"Have no time to post today" and will get 100's of comments. Another one will write an intelligent concise article on an interesting subject and his writing will barely get any acknowledgement.
Yous said it once Jack, the 'big' guys often refer to one another!
I have a blog with numerous pieces in it on numerous subjects. I do not base my blog on any particular subject but just write generally.
How many people have read parts of it and commented. Not many I don't think. Take a look at my blog please:
http://20thcenturyhistorian.blogspot.com/2006/01/bye-bye-sven.html
Or just:
http://20thcenturyhistorian.blogspot.com/
I agree, I blog because I have to. I have no choice, if I don't blog I feel like something is missing. it is completely cathartic for me. I had one reader a day, I would be posting.
Sometimes blogging seems to be taking over my life. But I am grateful that some people seem to read and enjoy my blog. It's even better when they comment.
Most of all, I enjoy reading my blogfriends. Some of them--not necessarily the most popular--are so talented and original, it's a gift to be able to share their thoughts.
Hi AG,
It was devoid of passion. There was no life or feeling in it. You hit the key word, 'fun."
West,
It does feel a bit like an extended family, doesn't it.
Prag,
There is some truth in the article, but I don't think that this is as sterile and antisceptic as they make it out to be.
Elster,
Your comment makes sense to me.
Matthew,
Keep on plugging away and good things will happen.
SK,
I understand the feeling of release. It just feels good to blog.
Hi Miriam,
I enjoy learning from the people I meet around the old blogosphere.
Donna,
Nah, they are worth about two cents. ;) Thank you.
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