Having trouble sleeping, so take this for what it is – 4:26am rambling (either my best or worst thinking, perhaps the comments will let me know).
Jason Calacanis’ retirement from bloging. Like others makes me cry foul and B.S.
But the reason I’m upset isn’t just because Calacanis’ move is obviously egotistical (I mean, calling “blogging dead” because you are leaving is like Michael Jordan saying basketball is over because he retired. Kobe and Shaq would disagree. And, you are not the Michael Jordan of blogging).
What upsets me is that his post has a lot of good points about the state of the blogosphere.
Jason writes:
“Bloggers spend more time digging, tweeting, and SEOing their posts than they do on the posts themselves…..[Gawker pays] not [by] the quality of the words but the number of page views those
blog posts get….Excelling in blogging today is about link-baiting, the act of writing something inflammatory in order to get a link.”
Now my first response (and why I call B.S. on Jason) is that he has contributed to the state of things. This is a guy who gave away a Macbook Air to try and get more followers on Twitter and now he is complaining about hype over content?
If anything Jason quit because the above has been his experience with the medium. He has nobody to blame but himself. His statement “blogging is dead” is sort of like a coward-villain saying “if I can’t have her nobody can” and shooting the love interest of a movie so the hero can’t run off with her. As we know, that move never works.
Being distracted by Techmeme? Stop reading it. Worried your traffic is falling? Stop looking at the stats. Either way – blogging is a MUCH better way to stay in communication with people than a 1995 email newsletter.
The fact is, it is impossible to ignore the stats, techmeme and your Twitter followers. Why? Here’s a phrase we all learned from our favorite high school history teacher: “follow the money!”
For some people there is too much money at stake. I’m reminded of a Cyprus Hill song called “So You Want to Be A Rock Super-Star.” Go ahead, check the lyrics.
So you wanna be a rap/rock superstar, and live large
a big house, 5 cars, you’re in charge
comin’ up in the world don’t trust nobody
gotta look over your shoulder constantly.
This notion of the A-list is creating a frenzy for the top. Indeed Robert Scoble has already handed over the keys to the blogosphere (who is Robert to make this decision and wtf does it mean?). And what awaits you at the top? Well – the dream is money, fame, respect, free gadgets sent to you for review and other geek dreams. But the truth is – it’s just life. I think Robert Scoble is one of the few at the top who realizes that what he has been given is a privilege, not to be taken for granted. Other “A-list” bloggers seem to act as though “the world owes them a living” (see one of my all-time favorite moral-lesson cartoons).
I’m left with the same ill taste in my mouth from when I was compelled to write the post “What I hate About the Internet Everyone is a “Social Media Consultant.”
The blogosphere needs to mature. The vast majority of people don’t care about the tech/geek concerns of the “A-listers,” so why do they dominate the air-waves? I am still amazed that tech as a subject dominates the blogosphere. Think about it. If you had to pick the top five topics that people in the world are concerned about in life, I doubt technology would be at the top. Even if it were, it wouldn’t be this Apple iPhone gadgety-crap, it would be about useful stuff like solar technology or AI. Yet Engadget, Gizmodo and TechCrunch rule the day.
I just see so much more potential and I guess that’s what frustrates me.
(hopefully, now that this is out of my head, I can fall asleep).
End transmission.
I dig it, Dave. Like some other people are saying, the medium is evolving.
It ain’t over ’til it’s over. And it ain’t over yet, not by a long shot.
🙂
This happens with every thing that becomes commercialized. People stop doing the craft for the sake of the craft and do it simply for the money.
Amen. The whole concept of A-list blogging is getting tiring. Think about it – the term ‘A-list’ comes from the world of celebrities and socialites. Do you really want to be associated with them? I would guess most people would rather be compared to a great jouranalist, risking it all in the field to write a great story than an A-list blogger with cars, mansions, and groupies. I would agree that Scoble is an exception – he’s humble, works hard and genuinely personable. But the rest? Fuggedaboutit.
I wonder if this is just part of the evolution of the blogosphere? Radio in its early years was dominated by young men who built radios. Guess what they talked about mostly over the air? Building radios. Maybe it’s just that those who know how to game the system will talk about what interests them.
Not bad for 4.30am Dave. Tiring is the word, too much ego from too many people. Social media has changed blogging, and so will the next thing and the next. Just like desktop publishing morphed in it’s day and had chicken little’s talking about the death of publishing. (see it’s 12.20am my time i am at the other end of the sleep thing). Point is blogging is not going anywhere soon. You wrote a good blog post from the heart, we read it, connected with it, and already a handful of people commented. All the forelock tugging and hand wringing is a waste of energy.
Hi David,
On my recent trip to Seattle (and attending a 2-day business networking conference) I learned a valuable lesson: that the tech blogosphere, and the A-list, don’t matter all that much to the millions of small to medium-sized business owners who are seeking ways of connecting with new customers. The landscape of the web has changed, and sometimes it’s the social tools that will help business owners.
From a marketing perspective, blogging is still very important. Regardless of what the A-listers declare on any particular day, blogs are still vital.
Oh, and I hope you don’t hate me because I’m a “social media consultant” 😉 Actually, I soc. media consulting as a way of taking all the experience I have and putting it to good use helping business folks understand what it’s about, and helping to alleviate their stress. When you’re trying to run a small biz, who’s got time to be following tons of people on Twitter?
oh, and I’m taking the summer off from blogging, too…for non-ego related reasons, like needing to experiment with other soc. media. There’s just so many hours in a day I can sit on the computer without getting a bit strange…
Great post Dave!
Great analogies (ie Jordan/basketball)I appreciate your down to earth approach. The moment people stop being REAL so too will their *Success* IMHO
I wish I wrote as well at Noon as you write at 4:30am.
Your points are well made. Just because some first adopters burn out on the way, doesn’t mean that the concept has matured. On the contrary, this world is only getting started.
Keep up the good posts.
Jim
Nice post, Dave. Keep writing at 4 am…I’ll buy the coffee.
A-list bloggers have earned their right to cash in on their brands and build businesses around them. But when the very social media platforms they evangelize and speak through become platforms merely for self-promotion vs thought leadership, then I think reality is warped. Perhaps cash and ego are driving that trend.
And when popular blogs trade editorial posts to those who buy ads or sponsorships and fail to tell readers that “This post is a paid advertisement,” the line between editorial opinion and promotion is blurred.
Dave, this is a very moving article. Yeah fast pace evolution indeed. Well, written. 🙂
Great post – though it digresses into a different discussion the latter half.
The point being that as a race of (semi) sentient beings, we are all on our individual quests for meaning, place and existence in the world.
Ie…the general cycle goes something like this.
Person A comes up with something original and useful. Everybody loves it within their niche.
Person B sees this nice and original thing and takes the basic idea and scales and markets it outside the niche to the general herd and makes ALOT of money in the fresh Blue Ocean. (sometimes A and B is the same person, though not usually)
Then comes C,D and E
Now the Ocean is Red as there are many that come in and emulate Person B – the market then changes from one that is based on quality and innovation to one that is based on getting the largest reach and highest margins.
In the Blogosphere meaning that the being good and being here is not enough. I can make a better soft drink than Pepsi, but is anybody going to drink it? No – I do not have the reach.
But that is why the smart fish move away from the Red and forwards into the Blue Ocean
Wow
Thanks for all the thoughts/feedback. I guess writing at night is a good idea 🙂
I think the best thing we can all do is just take care of ourselves and respond to others in an earnest manner. The rest will take care of itself.
I guess this post reassures me that if you write what you know/think/feel – people will recognize that.
Again: I’m not into personal attacks. I’m sure Jason is a good guy, but I think he missed his mark on this one. Scoble too seems to be nothing but honest and gentle.
But as a group the “A-Listers” need to find a way to be… well… less A-listy IMHO.
This sounds like it could be the first in a series of posts on this theme. It’s not talked about enough, I think.
This cult of personality borders on ridiculous. It occurs in many occupations (my own included) so it might just seem excessive because I’m not a tech person and don’t know all of the “players”. It does appear a lot like high school some days.
The problem is that the A-list bloggers get the stories way ahead of time, thus the news is more relevant/new at these blogs. Arringtons recent post about Foo camp for example: I didn’t read anything good about it other than tweets until his post today.
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/07/14/foo-camp-2008-shangri-la-for-geeks/
I like blogs because it takes it away from “official sources” but as certain blogs grow they become “official sources”.
With that said, blogs are so far from being dead. Calacanis is way off here.
referencing rock music in your enviro blog? that’s my job. just kidding (kinda). what i hate about social media is people who won’t embrace it. ‘i’m not doing that.’ ‘i don’t have a facebook page.’ good for you. enjoy your issue of tv guide.