Are Blogs a fad?

[Yaro]

A friend of mine just labelled blogs a fad and said that any business working in the industry will not have long term success. I don't entirely agree but it is food for thought.

Do you think blogging is a fad that will fizzle or because of the proliferation of business blogging that it has cracked the mainstream and is here to stay?

[Blaine Moore]

Originally posted by Yaro@Jan 27 2006, 07:14 PM
A friend of mine just labelled blogs a fad and said that any business working in the industry will not have long term success. I don't entirely agree but it is food for thought.

Do you think blogging is a fad that will fizzle or because of the proliferation of business blogging that it has cracked the mainstream and is here to stay?

[snapback]257[/snapback]

I don't see it as a fad; it's just a new medium. There were some sites that were blog like but without the mainstream ease that it has now; right now it is like a fad in that everyone is jupming on board and has no idea what they are doing. However, some people are being quite successful and will use it as just another tool that will allow them to easily publish content to a website. I can't see that going away.

[TimK]

Originally posted by Blaine Moore@Jan 28 2006, 12:14 AM
I don't see it as a fad; it's just a new medium.

I agree with this. Blogging, at root, is just a means to distribute content over the Internet. Businesses based on blogging technology are looking to deliver quality content to their audiences. We're simply talking about serial publishing over the Internet. Even if the specifics of blogging technology, such as RSS feeds, change in the future, the concept will not go out of style. (Or is someone going to argue that syndicated serial content is a fad? Think again.)

The beauty of blogging technology is that it brings niche content to even a small audience. An entrepreneur with very little investment can start a blog and deliver that content. If he can monetize this delivery, he has a business. There's nothing new here. Saying blogs are a fad is like saying newsletters are a fad.

-TimK

[nado]

Blogs have been around for a pretty long time, it's only recently that it has become a bit of a craze with the release of software such as wordpress and blogger etc.

Here's how I'd put it:

Blogs = the new delivery method of any written content, so lookout newspapers and books!

Podcasts = the new delivery method of any spoken content, so lookout radio and music!

Video/IPTV/Vidcasts = the new delivery method of any video content, so lookout TV and movies!

cheers
Nathan

[Yaro]

Nice way to put it, if perhaps a little generalized.