You Won’t Be Blogging Forever
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When I speak to folks about blogging, a lot of them ask me if blogging is here to stay.
Nope.
Asking someone if blogging will be here forever is like asking the guys that were printing their newspapers with the Gutenberg press the same. Just like the free press, blogging will evolve with technology, bloggers with huge followings will be bought out, and blogs will become integrated and embedded with other communication mediums.
Blogging is fast becoming the medium and strategy for corporations, but it won’t take long before it’s swollen ego shrinks back to ‘just another communication method’ that’s up there with signage, location, email, web sites, and social media interaction.
Talented bloggers will be depended upon to help companies move the needle. The next few years will be great for bloggers, who will continue to be swept up by larger organizations either on a consulting or full-time basis. That’s good to hear, isn’t it? It means this whole thing has been worth it - honesty and transparency can bring you success.
On that note, congratulations to Loren Feldman, a successful blogger who will be doing some writing and videos for c|net.
Side note: While I cringe at Loren’s raspy, cussing, in-your-face, East Coast rants… or uncomfortably watch him vlogging in bed - I’m in awe of both his transparency and his success. He shows that you can be honest, be yourself, be opinionated, and still be successful.
Where’s Blogging Going?
There will be something new to blogging in the future, just as with newspapers… but it won’t take a hundred and fifty years. My vision of a blogger of the future may involve a speech-to-text voice recognition that’s passed through a grammatical filter, with smart algorithms that organize the content, and auto-generated interactive ‘views’ into related subject matter available over the web.
Corporate Blogging in the future will probably fall back into the Marketing, even though we’re fighting like hell to keep it out of there today. The reason we fight it now is because Marketing awards are usually given for perfection, beauty and finesse - not results, reality and transparency. Bloggers and blogging don’t fit into the seasoned Marketing Executive’s cubicle farm.
Once companies realize their success is attributed to how effectively they communicate and foster relationships with their clients and prospects, Marketing departments will begin to appreciate someone having the balls to get on a blog and tell it like it is. When they do, marketing will change and companies will be better for it.
When it’s a mainstream factor in corporations, it’s going to change life for the independent blogger like me. Companies will seek out those with a following, who can write well, and pull them into their bag of goodies. If I were running HP, Dell, IBM or Cisco, I’d be padding my web presence with bloggers today - before they’re all gone tomorrow.
When everyone is blogging, we’ll either get promoted to someone else’s spotlight or fade into obscurity. Don’t get comfortable, we won’t be here for long.
