I’ve discussed this idea numerous times with friends and colleagues of mine and each time it becomes clear, no matter how many opinions are thrown in the ring, that blogging has evolved into something different. It’s no longer just a personal log to gather — in a collective digital bin — thoughts and observations, rather, blogging by definition is now considered a working portfolio for prospective job opportunities.
Over the course of the past year, the term blogging has seeped into the media as either the new face of journalism, more specifically a tour de force of independent writers cutting the fat from what would otherwise be edited material, or a threat to mainstream media.
Whether you believe blogging is the new wave of journalism or a creeping threat isn’t the point, it’s that despite all that, it’s mostly a medium in which creative types (writers, educators, artists, web developers, speakers, etc.) can express themselves and potentially collaborate, whether it be discussions that add new levels of thought to the material (be it an article or photograph) or better yet, create something with a more tangible grasp of bettering communication and human interaction.
At this point it’s all opinion, neither right or wrong, but, it’s something to think about if you ever wonder why blogging has become so mainstream and why from here on out it’ll only (hopefully) evolve into something far beyond our current levels of comprehension.
Blogging is the third in a trifecta of huge technological and communicative developments since the dawn of time.
The first, was film. The second, was radio & tv. Both of those mediums allowed people with the power to communicate to the world.
But the third — blogging, finally gives the viral power of communication to your neighbor, sitting in his Hooters t-shirt, in his stained EZ chair.
And that is why this technology will not go away. It will evolve, grow, and keep modern day media from ever having the stranglehold on society that they used to have.
Funny, there’s a discussion going on over at problogger.net about how once you poke your head out of out tight little community, blogging is in fact very far from mainstream.
Mainstream is the mom test. Does your mother know what blogging is? What about her friends? You know, the ones YOU haven’t explained it to.
My friend Taughnee at endeavorcreative.com wrote a piece today about how difficult it is to explain blogging to someone in a sales pitch. Most people have heard of blogging on the news or read about political bloggers in the paper. But actually read a blog? Actually contemplated writing a blog?
Sorry to hog your comments Erik. You got me rolling on a rant.
You can ask 10.000 people what a “blog” is to them, and most likely you will get 10.000 different answers.
Sure, there are plenty of people with a bent for journalism or editorial writing that have found a godsend in the weblog format, getting their message across without a publisher middleman; but a weblog at its most basic concept –a bunch of dated, personal notes stored digitally– still is very much alive and kicking. Where you and I see a platform for a portfolio of essays, for another person might just mean a vehicle to tell his/her closest friends what she did last week, and that’s fine with me. Different strokes and all that.
Sometimes I ponder if those of us that have tried the format for a good while tend to take ourselves too seriously. Then again, these days I just try to publish stuff that won’t be potentially embarrassing five years down the road, so to speak…
We’re not pioneers anymore, but even the medium Internet is still looking for some good mainstream stuff. Good thing for us, though, is the fact that we can be revolutional early in the game, and it might mean something for the evolvement of the micromedium.
I agree with Peter, explaining a Blog to someone who doesn’t know much about technology is hard as hell.
Heck, my boss a month ago said, “we need to get a blog” and me and another developer just kinda looked at each other like, “uh, welcome to 2005″, its nothing new.
Explaining a blog to my father is a hopeless cause. He struggles with getting images from his digital camera let alone use a blog.
[…] he new pimp
Mr. Sagen discusses the state of blogging Some good thoughts here
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Explaining a “blog” is difficult because people try to make too much of it. A blog is a way to create websites easily.
Blog-based websites are ALSO websites, guys, there’s nothing dramatically different about blogs. Same rules apply — good content? I’ll be back. Bad content? Nice meeting ya.
Most good websites that pass off as top blogs or whatnot could have been just that without a blogging software powering them. It’s their purpose and activity that make them resonate.
So try to explain blogs as something different or revolutionary and you’ll hit the same walls. Blogging is still largely mistaken to be personal diaries, and it’s the blogging community’s overenthusiasm that has the sole responsibility for it.
A blog is website creation made easy. End of story. Everything else is the same without a blog or with it.
[…] here for 1 year and I had these responsibilities.” Erik Sagen recently wrote about The New Portfolio at his blog Kartooner. I think this sums it up quite nicely: […]