The era of the pro-blogger is changing, not ending

It’s pretty safe to say that I’ve been doing the pro-blogging bit from the beginning.  I’ve seen the beginnings of this “industry” or “new career”.  From the corporate blogger, to blogger for hire, to network blogger.  I’ve done all of that.  As the past (nearly) four years have gone by, every six months or so someone is saying that pro-blogging is done for.

Whether it’s companies will just roll the job into marketing or that ad revenue is going to dry up, I’ve heard it all before.

Mark Evans, oddly enough a pro-blogger of sorts and former b5media Operations lead, is raising the alarm along with Louis Gray—louisgray.com: Blogging 2.0 Causing Friction With 1.0 Bloggers:

While I agree with Louis that bloggers need to embrace the new landscape, the reality is if blogs continue to lose their role as the primary way people consume content then the days of the pro blogger running a lucrative blog franchise are going to be over soon. Amid this environment, there seems to be few opportunities for people to create a viable blogging business. Fewer page views means less advertising even if you’re creating terrific content. I’d be willing to bet that if this landscape existed a few years ago, people such as such Om Malik, Richard MacManus, Darren Rowse (aka Problogger) or Andrew Sullivan would never have been able to become pro bloggers. The writing is definitely on the wall so bloggers who are in it for the money, or in it to build a brand, or in it just for fun need to adapt, although the change will be far less painful for people not trying to make some serious bucks. Marketing and presence are going to be more important so you’ve got to go where the action is happening, be it Twitter, Friendfiend, Shyftr or Facebook.—Are Pro Bloggers Going Extinct Soon? | Mark Evans

Pro-blogging is no different than any other job.  Technology and best practices change, adapt, mature, and move on.  Yep, if you stay stuck in your thinking, you’re toast.

I don’t see a lot of the pro-bloggers I know, and more importantly the ones I train, resting on their laurels.

Twitter is huge for me.  FriendFeed, not so much.  That’s okay really.

(Okay, just out of curiosity I checked out my FriendFeed, feed … wow I was surprised.  Saw some things favourited and commented.  So I’ve subscribed to my feed to track it, seems simple to me.  I also had to add Manscaping 101 too.)

The point is that I haven’t lost sight of what is really important here: communication and good writing.

Corvida hits it on the head with her post—5 Great Ways to Contribute to Social Media – ReadWriteWeb.  It doesn’t really matter, then, how things progress.  Even in recessions ad spending marches on.  Even in recessions people still want to read the news.

I have no doubt some people won’t move and change with the times, but not me … I’m too much of a beta addict.

That and I stay up at night mulling over how to make things better.