Is There A Shake Up In The Post-Election Blog World? (Joe Gandelman)
Joe Gandelman
Blogs are abuzz these days with suggestions or predictions that election day meant more than an end to the endless 2004 Presidential campaign — but perhaps a shake-up in the blog world.
Some bloggers exchanged emails (I got some) saying that with the elections their hits were going down. Some blogs started to change course. Some blogs notably stopped updates.
The blog The Politburo Diktat looks at this issue, and details (with links) some changes on some blogs. Here's an excerpt (but it's worth reading the entire post):
War and politics, the staples of so many bloggers, have reached a downturn in their blog-ability. With an American presidential election behind us, that downturn is obvious. While the war in Iraq continues, and even picks up with this week's attack on Fallujah, it's largely a guerilla war, punctuated with overly familiar car bombings, official declarations of progress, beheadings, boldly named Operations, and flak-jacketed flaks on cable news. There's less to blog about, less to argue about than "Should we go to war at all?" The war in Iraq is by no means unimportant, huge differences of opinion remain, not merely on how to proceed, but on the war's broader legitimacy.
What is next? First, the shake-out will continue. Blogging, as voluntary and individualistic as it might seem, can be profoundly draining and distracting. People burn out; others step in. The post-election winter is a natural time for that. Secondly, there will be stronger mix of the personal, a little less Karl Rove, a little more cat-blogging, if you will. I think these will be mixed together, less straight news (although there will always be a place for the Drudge fire alarm items), and more reflective discussions of events outside our lives and internal to them. There'll be an uptick in technology interest (aided in the upcoming year by the inevitable move away from Movable Type to open source, i.e free, platforms). Maybe more photo and multi-media blogging, as people play and learn more. Then again, maybe we'll all just do soft-core porn and celebrity trials.
The blog is dead. Long live the blog.
And, of course, readers being readers who often lose subtlety (like this joke: Nellie Rose sat on a tack. Nellie rose.), The Commissioner had to add this as an update:
The blogosphere is undergoing a cyclic process, a changing of the guard, a slight shifting of subjects. That last line paralleled the English "The (old) King is dead. Long live the (new) King," a phrase which celebrated the monarchy's continuity, even as one king passed away.
Indeed. I worked on a newspaper and one of the key features of newspapers is that they at least attempt to be adaptable. They see what readers want and try to at least adjust to some of that. Similarly, blogs, although highly personal, can (and should) undergo some adaptations.
I know that now many blogs find their hits diminishing as compared with election week highs. record blog readerships overall, and then a drop afterwards (people burned out by reading political commentary or just needing a break from the election). But the general trend for a good number of blogs (such as Dean's World and my own The Moderate Voice, which seems to be enjoying moderate steady readership with an increasingly loyal group of readers from both parties) remains steady overall growth.
What's amazing as we head into this post-election era is the number of blogs that have simply been abandoned. I have an extensive blogroll on my blog which I personally use all the time. I have had to remove at least four blogs in recent weeks because they were still dated early November. And this week I'll go through the whole blogroll and remove some more. It's a pity because these people had SOMETHING TO SAY that probably could be said after the election, too — and I'm talking about people in the right and on the left, not just one ideology.
Indeed, there had been a phrase before the election about blogs "likely to be around after the election" and I used to dismiss it, figuring people wouldn't let the end of the election end their ability to use this incredible new communication form which allows people to write without an editor's intervention or a corporate publisher's forum. But I was wrong.
What does it mean in the post-election world? Well, with more than a million weblogs, it means that each person has to make their own decision about what they want to write about what other want to read. This likely means more diverse subjects...which is not a bad idea. The polarized, partisan nature of the blogosphere probably won't change, although it will be muted somewhat until major battles emerge (and return full force during mid-term elections).
In my own case, I've made no secret to email friends that this election could not be over soon enough for me, since to do a credible weblog I had to write about main campaign issues and developments to keep the site updated and relevant...which meant ignoring some other big interests (such as foreign affairs, popular culture and serious media issues). I don't mourn the end of the campaign; I truly celebrate it — because it opens up more opportunity for writing and more challenges to work to expand and broaden readership.
Of course, some argue that writing about blogs has become something of a cliche and that blogs may be old news. Hey: that''d make a great blog post topic!
But blogsites have no such need, because they are not tied to any specific local readership. On the internet in general, locality in no longer a viable meaning, except that blogsites typically are culture-centric.
The overwhelming advantage of internet-based news centers and discussion forums such as blogsites, is that simultaneously they can be broadcast and narrowcast, in a way that no traditional print or broadcast media can be.
On the other hand, as you indicated, blogsites typically are one-person operations that are born, wax, wane and die in accordance with the interest of the blogmaster.
Dean has been able to overcome this limitation on this site because he has successfully farmed out the work of the blogmaster to additional helping hands, brains and keyboards.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
Until the next big thing the weak will fall by the wayside in the face of declining readership and the realisation that that we'll never get rich doing what we do. Those of us who are stubborn enough to keep going through the lean times can wear it as a badge of honour - and come next election we can sneer at the young upstarts. In the meantime we can keep writing, keep screaming for readers, and hope those on our blogrolls will do the same.
I had a number of reasons for starting up my own blog. One of the reasons was to engage in a conversation and I'm finally starting to see that conversation beginning to take shape. And as I hone my wits and practice my writing and do my spadework I've seen my traffic and my influence s-l-o-w-l-y rise.
One of the things that's missing from this analysis is that as the number of blogs rise (and it still is) and the number of bloggers rise (and it still is) the number of blog readers will rise (and that still is, too). And we'll all have more readers and more people to learn from and interact with. There's a lot more up for blogs to go.
My readership did not decline after the election to any appreciable degree. There has been a very tiny decline of 1-2%, which I attribute to the fact that excitement is down.
But this blog never existed in order to be a reaction to the latest headlines. I almost regret it when I let it become that, which I have a few times. It exists to discuss issues and ideas. Indeed, I never much intended to write about the war, and only began to do that because it seemed necessary. I've viewed most of my "war" blogging to be a function of my patriotism rather than something I particularly *wanted* to write about.
Yes, when I burn out I bring others in to carry the load for a bit. But it rarely takes me long to grow restless and wish to return.
The varied themes and ideas here at your blog is the primary reason I come here Dean, because I never know for sure what I might learn here on any given day. Its always an enlightening experience.
But seriously: there's much to be said for the notion of blogging as a learning process. I confess I hadn't quite thought of it that way, but if you are going to opine and not look like a jackass, you quickly learn that you'd best check your facts and think very hard before you write. If you've the courage to face your critics, so much the better.
Although I don't think everyone blogs like this, it seems to me that the most interesting ones do.
There are those which exist for far different reasons, however. I just generally tend to find those uninteresting.
In my case, I poured a ton of my energy and passion into the election campaign, both as a blogger and as a campaign volunteer. Then when it was over, I paid the price: my energy was drained away. And by the time my energy recovered, I had to catch up on work I'd put off during the campaign. And so my blogging dropped to nearly nothing. Fortunately, my blogmates kept the lights burning.
And now this weekend, I've made seven posts and counting, including two on how boring the NASA Channel is, and one with 43 photos from my visit to the U.S. Space &Rocket Center. And I don't think I'm done for the weekend yet.
(And I categorically deny that my newfound energy has anything to do with promising my editor lots of chapters by the end of the year. You can't prove it!)
A marathoner takes an immediate break after the race. But after some rest, he or she returns, often with renewed vigor. I predict that will happen with political blogs too.
http://toddpearson.blogspot.com
I started the first version of Dodgeblogium (Dodgeblog) so as a way to practice my writing and get exposure for me as a writer. My blog has actually fuctioned very well in this regard. My writing is getting significantly better, I have a publisher thanks to my blog (and this one) and made some pretty interesting contacts creatively.
I think blogs are in transition and are evolving. As I have written before, I think the big blogs that will survive will be more likely group ones rather than solo endeavors. However solo blogs are a very well of getting an invite into one of the larger entities. The solo blog serves as an ever-evolving record of personal ability to write and gather interest.
Welll.... duh! ;}