Posting Date: June 24, 2002

Is Blogging a Fad? -- "One way to distinguish a fad from a trend is to ask what would happen if you reversed the order in which technologies were invented. For example, suppose that we had all of the highly-touted electronic technologies for distance learning, and then someone came along and invented the book." (Comments: Blogging is many things. It is writing. It is publishing. It is expressing ideas. It is sharing. I've been doing it for nearly three years. Cam has at it for over four years and Jorn has been doing it longer. To some people, including me, it isn't a fad. The technology might change, and I expect it to!, but people will still be people. They will communicate. And the web isn't going away. Sure, it'll morph-o-rama, but it is here to stay. Oh, tell me, what was my point?)

Reader Comments...

The way I see it, "personal" blogging is a fad, but "professional" blogging is probably here to stay.

Your blog, for instance, is designed to support a business (or a profession at the very least). Personal blogs are the "My boss is an idiot because..." kind.

Most personal ("confessional"?) bloggers come and go within the space of a year or less. I see a dedicated few who morph into a sort of "news and events commentary" blog (or just strictly link to other things without much fanfare), but most of the others who hang on to the "confessional" format tend to fall in that category of "mind numbing tedium," to quote a friend.

I'm not sure why this keeps happening, except maybe that everyone thinks "ooh, fun, I'll try this" then fall into the "fame trap" of revealing personal thoughts and feelings only to be rewarded by constant misunderstanding, personal attacks, and unwanted intimacy from strangers.

Interesting question, though.

Posted by: Lydia on June 25, 2002 02:03 PM

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