The Post-Election Blog World?

From a Joe Gandelman post at Dean's World:

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...

What's amazing as we head into this post-election era is the number of blogs that have simply been abandoned.

Given that I started this blog just months before the election I barely understand the pre-election blogosphere, though I have some things to say about it. In some ways one might be better able to comment objectively having not been a part of it. What I've watched is the blog explosion and now the inevitable fallout. And as an observer of things, I have put a reasonable amount of thought into blogs, blogging and the future.

The first problem in discussing this issue is that the language hasn't kept pace with the phenomenon. That's not unusual in the world of science and technology; the language gets made up as we go. That is happening and will continue to happen as regards blogging. We just aren't "there" yet. As a quick aside, law keeps pace even worse than language because it depends upon it - a much more complex issue for another day.

If you ask someone to define a "blog," you'll get many answers, not all of them compatible. Most will fall along two lines - the "personal" and the "informational." To the personal blogger Powerline isn't necessarily a blog - it's a mini-free media conglomerate. And at least part of the reason they were "Blog of the Year" according to Time is that they were better positioned to be what a Time magazine would expect a blog to be.

They can cover a topic in depth, apply some resources to it, yet continue to post and cultivate readership by not simply doing one thing or one topic without burning out or falling way short. A more pure political blog, PoliPundit seems to be an attempt to apply the multi-blogger theme basically within politics and Winds of Change  already does a stellar job with the format as applied to global issues and news. Winds may even be better than Powerline in the sense that it is broader and assimilates more information - your mileage may vary, which is precisely the issue. But the world at large doesn't like things amorphous and it will push us to more deeply and concisely define blogs and even bloggers in the near future.

However they started, the above are chiefly examples of the information-based model and as they grow they are forced to become ever more impersonal. Instapundit, who linked to the Dean's World post is an individual blog but is chiefly informational in nature - likely born by necessity. Witness there isn't even a comments section or a TB ability. By and large the informational blogs are winning the wars in traffic, MSM media acknowledgment and linkage, for whatever that's worth to you. That shouldn't be a surprise as NRO (a blog, or an e-zine?) is primarily informational, as are all big media e outlets - though they are trying.

But what about the personal blog? Well, The Politburo Diktat, who posted on the future of blogs some time ago seems to be working very hard to grow in an informational sense while maintaining a personal touch, and has even opened a new blog on the Iraqi elections. Frankly, blogging is a lot of work and who knows how The Commissar will keep up. I certainly admire the effort. And as a co-authored blog, who knows how long the personalization can or will continue in the face of growth.

I expect many great personal blogs to ultimately become conglomerated within disparate communities. Were I at Fox or NBC I'd be building that community now and include a hosting module. Look for media outlets, new and old, to "acquire" or roll up blogs and bloggers, as well as develop them. A humorist here, an internationalist there, political blogging and some arts ... etc. The TV networks of the fifties and sixties are likely the best model to look at - independents, affiliates, network blogs (read stations) are on the horizon. The individual blog will go on - perhaps even hosted by the conglomerate to develop small, medium and large contributors and maintain readership loyalty.

As for pre-election blogging and the many now falling away? The fact is that between some note-able  flashes in the pan, some poor but perhaps "nice" blogs, and many who simply no longer want to be part of the deal - it's just the weak or uninterested being separated from the pack. There are millions who will follow to take their place. Personally, I'd love to see as many of the "old timers" stay and make it, whatever that means. They started the whole thing. They just have to become reconciled to the fact that it's in large part no longer theirs. That won't always be easy because, surprisingly, at least to me, so many of them are rather young and have a lot of life in front of them with which to reconcile their blogs and blogging.

The language will define itself overtime - i-blogs for independents, corp-blogs, Clogs for conglomerated blogs - At this point the precise language is harder to predict than the trend.

Ultimately, in the money and traffic race, the conglomerated will always prevail because of dollars and economies of scale. Also, we are a social and now a networked species. The only real difference may be that the "conglomerate" in this case could wind up headed by some youthful computer geek with incredible vision, drive and ambition. I think the last one to come along was named Gates. He seemed to do OK for himself. But, again, as with everything in today's blogosphere, your mileage may vary.

Comments

[daisy]

Dan,

Re: the future, we'll just have to see ... Big conglomerates never respond as rapidly and as well as the "light infantry" of business. As for me, it's a matter of principle. If any one wants to pay me off or buy me ... well, it's only to the highest bidder.

Take care and blog on ...

[Nickie Goomba]

I went through the post-election blues. Farce and satire is often ineffective when the target is itself, so pitiful and clueless. But, the spirit is returning. Merry Christmas to you.

[tag]

For a geek analogy;

Have you ever read the "cathedral and the bazaar"? It is a classic geek history of the software industry - public domain versus corporate. the author was in a film about Linux called _Revolution OS_. Anyway, blogs are another iteration of the older computer community. i.e. BBS, Relay_Chat, FTP, gopher, AOL, email, IRC, personal web sites, etc... I am sure i am missing a few, but the point is that if you look at the development of these communities and how they evolved you see several things:

1- the format or software platform that the community is living in has an effect on its longevity and size - public domain based communities or those that are based in software that is at the root of the technology (unix) are better off for survival. These communities started out just for computer geeks sharing RPG and socializing. As the spread of the technology with the advent of cheap PCs the community began to expand to include users of technology in the workplace - offices, schools, added to those who worked with computers before. Quickly, those communitites that were based in proprietary software, are slow to respond to the market demands. For example, AOL has a huge community, but is loosing market share with the advent of DSL and cheap web hosting. The point is that the blog is part of an evolution and it will do well because it is rooted in the public domain.

2- the learning curve has decreased with the access to user friendly software and has increased the amount of personalization tools and options that a user has at his/her disposal. Here we see the effects of cheap or free software packages on a huge market and access to a host of other technologies that are a perfect outlet for our voices and lives - i.e. digital video/photo/audio, scanners, photoshop. The point here is that blogs are again on the right side of the equation.

3. blogs are a great advance in the abiliity for people to express themselves. People are social creatures and want to hang with their friends and talk about their interests. With the advent of the home internet access coupled with cheap hardware, One could talk to anyone with a computer in the WORLD about your day or help with a problem. On a personal level, this allowed people to relieve stress, get support, talk to loved ones, share interests and express opinions. On a social level, it allowed people to share information on the news/media and get instant access to the same sources that the TV used it used. On a political level, it allowed those same social networks of friends to organize for ethical or poliitcal causes - i.e. EFF, Tienamin (Sp?) Square, religious or secular PACS, Phish (not a cause, but a remnant of another soical network - the grateful dead). So blogs are the latest evolution of realiziing real free speech. If you are concerned about censorship or governement control of iinformation - rember flame wars? People do a pretty good job of keeping each other in check while spreading information fast and increasingly more efficiently - thank God for html and DSL.

Without getting to evangelical, blogs are here to stay and will only get more stratefied and mimetic of our "real world" lives. I am looking foreward to the days of one piece of technology that gives access to others (cell phone/MP3/DVD/WWW/MD?) but most important is that the device can be turned off and I can go hang out with some friends in the woods for a week and remember where we came from and what we have accomplished as a species.

Finally, I am one of those readers who never gives back to the community that has given me so much. Thank you and I will make a point to give and support when and where I can.

hasta

tag

[tag]

here is link to an article from the Gaurdian that states that Farsi Blogs are the 4th largest language group out there. true or not, the impact will be felt. Further evidence of the mantra of information and people yearning to be free.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/weblogs/story/0,14024,1377538,00.html

tag

[tag]

here is link to an article from the Gaurdian that states that Farsi Blogs are the 4th largest language group out there. true or not, the impact will be felt. Further evidence of the mantra of information and people yearning to be free. - I found a link to the article on captain's quarters.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/weblogs/story/0,14024,1377538,00.html

tag