Blogging written off as "tsunami of paid bilge"
A leading tech magazine claims social networking sites make blogging a dead medium and advises amateur bloggers to pull the plug. It’s prompted a predictably negative response – including, of course, the post you are currently reading.
The article in Wired is by Paul Boutin, a writer for tech industry gossip site ValleyWag. He appears aims his comments at amateur writers sharing personal opinions:
Writing a weblog today isn’t the bright idea it was four years ago. The blogosphere, once a freshwater oasis of folksy self-expression and clever thought, has been flooded by a tsunami of paid bilge
He continues his argument by championing the likes of Facebook and YouTube (because they allow posters to easily share multimedia rather than just text) and Twitter (because the 140 character limit ‘puts everyone back on even footing’). Indeed, he goes as far as to claim Twitter “is to 2008 what the blogosphere was to 2004.”
The piece seems to have struck a nerve not only with online sites, but mainstream media, include national newspapers and radio stations in the UK. The highlight was a segment in which 65 year-old broadcaster John Humphrys, author of two books on the declining standards of English, found himself in the middle of a debate over whether one ‘twitters’ or ‘tweets’.
Some of what Boutin says is true: the days of personal writings being the most prominent blogs are likely over given that everyone from media outlets to corporations has some form of blog. And it’s certainly true that it’s tough for private individuals to compete with entire staffs of professional full-time journalists who now break stories around the clock rather than working to a single daily deadline.
But the problem is that Boutin undermines his argument by coming across as out-of-touch himself in writing as if he’s only just heard of Facebook and Twitter and is breaking the news to his readers.
(Image courtesy of http://www.jjchandler.com/tombstone/)
Related Posts:
October 23rd, 2008
Blogging, or more precisely the infrastructure it has spawned, has allowed new types of media companies to evolve (BLORGE being an example). However, I do think that Boutin has a point – it would really hard for an individual to start a commercially-viable blog, and even with something like BLORGE, I’m glad I started it two years ago. It would be much tougher to start something similar now.
October 25th, 2008
Valid points. But just because a staff is large doesn’t mean all the writers are good. There are several even here on Blorge that pump out worthless drivel that seems more intent on spurring comment wars than on actually making a point (backed by FACTS)or “reporting”.
October 25th, 2008
DavidB – I regard blogging as news reporting with opinion. You may not like the style of several Blorge writers, me included, but you’d be hard pushed to find an article by any of us that isn’t based on a news story.
We add opinion to the story, sometimes you’ll agree, other times you won’t, but invoking debate is hardly a bad thing.