The Blogosphere: Still Fast, Fresh, and Evolving

Buzznetworker has had the privilege of being the top choice for many guest posts, and the quality of the posts we get is astounding. This one, by Dave Macaulay of Aplus.net is certainly no exception.  Dave as been thinking a lot about the ‘Blogosphere’ and has some great insight as to where we’ve been in the past few years and where we’re headed.

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Acme Printing has one. The local historic preservation society has one, too. So does your Aunt Clara. Chances are that at one time or another you’ve read someone’s blog, even regularly. Or maybe you have your own.

There are political blogs, business blogs, university and high school blogs, blogs about just one thing: woodworking or coin collecting or 1950s bebop. Now there are even photoblogs, sketchblogs and blogs comprised solely of music (MP3 blog), video (vlogs) and other multimedia, in addition to the traditional text-based blogs.

How did we get here, arriving in Web 2.0 land? The “blogosphere” has become an Internet fixture – although technology watchers like Gartner predicted that blogging would peak in 2007 as the novelty of this as a publishing format gradually wears off. Still, Technorati’s “State of the Blogosphere / 2008” may suggest otherwise: in 2007 there were 94.1 million U.S. blog readers and 22.6 million U.S. bloggers (eMarketer, May 2008); while 184 million people worldwide have started a blog and 346 million read them – 77% of active Internet users (Universal McCann, March 2008).

It’s remarkable to think that the concept of a blog, or “Webblog,” dates back only a few years to the early/mid 1990s. Many credit Swarthmore student Justin Hall with creating the very first blog, Links.net. Other early bloggers followed, experimenting with online diaries, journals and Web-based commentary that linked to other articles. Commercial blogging platforms launched with Open Diary in 1998 and LiveJournal in March 1999 and then Blogger’s free blog-creation service later that same year. Blogging went mobile with the availability of new apps in 2003, and by the end of 2004, Merriam-Webster dictionary declared “blog” as its “Word of the Year.” And ever since, blogs have been gaining notice – and notoriety – for their role in breaking news and entertainment stories.

So where’s blogging headed? The future is here…it’s mostly about making what we have now – even better:

• Better design, more sophisticated blogging platforms: new widgets, plug-ins, custom CSS and a wide array of SEO tools – thanks to TypePad and WordPress and the other major blogging services
• Mainstream marketing/brand building channels for business, higher education and the non-profit world.
• More ad revenue – and not just for the big guys: Google AdSenseAdify and other ad networks are generating some serious ad revenue for the A-listers, and they’re interested in the smaller and mid-sized bloggers too
• “Tweet”, and then some: Micro-blogging – short text (140 characters or less) and/or multimedia posts – is here to stay. TwitterPlurk continue to transform the world of social blogging. So do lifestreaming aggregators like FriendFeed and Plaxo Pulse that allow people to continuously share their daily activities and discoveries online

New and different kinds of blogs and blog hybrids will start to appear as well:

• More collaborative, multi-author blogs
• Cross-platform “tumblelogs” like Tumblr will bridge the gap between long form content and micro-sharing
• Blog mashups that combine wikis and electronic mailing lists with other content-creating virtual communities online

At the same time, we’ll return to long-form blogging in a big way – something that’s already happening. The best new blogs are still personal and diary like, but very, very focused: What I Saw Riding My Bike Around about post-Katrina New Orleans and Art Spark Theatreby an illustrator in Northern California who likes to discover unexpected connections. Or they delve deeply in a special topic: I Love Typography and Film Noir

Blogs continue to be democratic, diverse, dynamic experiments in self-expression that have quickly become an integral part of our lives. Even the lines between blogs and mainstream media are beginning to blur. Bloggers increasingly influence political races. They drive conversations that can make, or break, brands. They offer informed insights on topics we care deeply about – and often can’t get elsewhere.

We’ll continue to want the first word, the inside scoop, the final say. We’ll also network more. We’ll use video, audio and chat in ways yet imagined. And someday soon, your blog will be the first thing you read in the morning, every morning, over your cup of coffee. For many, it already is.