This week has seen a couple of high-profile articles either claiming blogging has died or has become too elite to actually matter anymore. As a blogger myself, this obviously rankles, and while I admit that blogging has clearly become mainstream, is that really such a bad thing?

When blogging began it was nothing more than a group of individuals telling the rest of the Web all about the minutiae of their lives. This kind of blogging is what first attracted me, with an online diary being the perfect way for me to connect with the world outside my immediate surroundings and have a presence in an area outside of my house.

But blogging soon evolved, with writers realizing they could focus their attention on one aspect of life and give their views on it, whether their specialist subject was current affairs, music, or video games. They suddenly had an outlet other than print media to express themselves.

And then an even bigger development hit the blogosphere, with paid blogging becoming a serious part of the Web. Writers who wouldn’t have got a sniff of a job on a newspaper due to a lack of qualifications, or because their face didn’t fit, now had the opportunity to get paid for what they loved doing.

There is now a clearly defined line between personal and professional blogging with the latter being a more disciplined skill where accuracy and traffic driving are important elements. But personal blogging is hardly dead as as some would have you believe.

Blogging has just evolved naturally in to something bigger than what it started out as, and with every major news website having their own bloggers, the lines between journalist, commentator, columnist, and blogger are narrowing every day. Surely that’s a good thing as it means ordinary people have more chance of getting heard by the mainstream now than ever before.

I’m proud of being a blogger and even though I still has to explain what my job title means to some people, proving the lurch to the mainstream is hardly complete, it’s empowered me as a person and as a writer. And I’m sure that statement rings true for many people.

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Entry was posted on Saturday, November 8th, 2008 at 4:01 pm under Blogosphere, Internet, Opinion, Technology.

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