Jump directly to the content

The Death of Blogs

Well, some of them, anyway.

As weblogs proliferated earlier this decade, Andy Warhol's famous aphorism was modified to read, "In the future, everyone will be famous to 15 people." Now it looks like Warhol was right after all: Thanks to widespread blog burnout, everyone will be famous to 15 people for 15 minutes.

Tech researcher Gartner Inc. reported earlier this year that 200 million people have given up blogging, more than twice as many as are active.

"A lot of people have been in and out of this thing," Gartner analyst Daryl Plummer told reporters. "Everyone thinks they have something to say, until they're put on stage and asked to say it." Given the average lifespan of a blogger and the current growth rate of blogs, Gartner says blogging has probably peaked.

Which isn't to say that blogging is dead. Quite the opposite. Blog aggregator Technorati estimates that 3 million new blogs are launched every month. The site's tongue-in-cheek slogan: "Zillions of photos, videos, blogs, and more. Some of them have to be good."

Actually, some Christian blogs are very good. What tired bloggers are increasingly discovering, however, is that it's not necessarily the quality of their blog posts that matter. It's matching their quality with frequency.

As conservative political blogger Glenn Reynolds told Wired News in 2004, "I know that if I go more than about five or six hours without posting or telling people that I'm not going to be blogging for the rest of the day, [I'll get worried messages asking,] 'You haven't posted anything in five or six hours. Are you okay?'"

"Good bloggers work like dogs," says Michael Parsons, editor of the tech site CNet.co.uk. "You can't expect readers to show up unless you show up. And the Internet never closes. … Every successful ...

Article Preview

This article is currently available to CT subscribers only.

To continue reading:
LoginorSubscribe

More from Christianity Today
A Fractured and Beautiful Faith

A Fractured and Beautiful Faith

How songwriter Audrey Assad transcended "positive and encouraging" to create music for the church.
A Terrifying Grace

A Terrifying Grace

Why God’s omniscience is good news for us.

Streaming This Weekend, May 24, 2013

What to watch this weekend (hint: don't make a huge mistake).
Can a Christian Family Ever Be Too Big?

Can a Christian Family Ever Be Too Big?

Experts weigh in.
Get Instant Access
Christianity Today Magazine
Subscribe now for a year (10 issues) at $24.95 for print, iPad, and instant web access.

International Orders

Comments

Displaying 1–3 of 8 comments

Dean Peters

October 01, 2007  12:59pm

Hubris - that's my thought. I think it is easy for a full-time, in print journalist whom has a history of demonstrating disdain for blogging to use their bully pulpit to entirely misread the Gartner Inc. numbers. Perhaps interviewing and/or attending those who get the whole Web 2.0 phenomenon would provide a more productive analysis in the future?

Bebe

September 27, 2007  4:56am

Writing is my passion and so I blog and i know that in a way or another i do touch other people's lives because of my blog. I love blogging about the wonderful love of God. =)

H. D. Schmidt

September 27, 2007  4:48am

Lets face it, America has simply made itself into nothing but a basket case. Truth and honesty where is it anyway anymore even all the way up to the President of this United States of America. Where is our privacy anymore, actually being destroyed by our very Government? America speaks of Democracy yet acts like the most far-reaching Empire the world has ever known. Every other nations is now America's enemy etc., etc., etc. One walks into a bank today and yes, there is thick bullet proof glass. Anyway, am I blogging with these comments? I am speaking as a legal, yes as a legal immigrant of 51+ years and am also a Staunch Conservative Christian Republican. I reapeat the question: Is this blogging?

See All 8 Comments
You must be a Christianity Today subscriber to post comments
(on articles open to the public, you must at least register for a free account).
Login
or
Subscribe
or
Register

Don't Miss

Rob Bell's 'Ginormous' Mirror

Rob Bell's 'Ginormous' Mirror

To read his book is to read about our fascination with ourselves.
Losing my Edge

Losing my Edge

When your initial enthusiasm fades, you need a plan if you're going to bring your best to your calling

War and Peace

War and Peace

Pastor Tullian Tchividjian survived a leadership coup by finding rest in the liberating power of the gospel.

more | current issue

Today's Christian Woman

Ministering to Military Families

Ministering to Military Families

Five tangible ways to...

Books & Culture

A Measure of Forgiveness

A Measure of Forgiveness

Memories of a British...

Small Groups

Conflict in Small Groups

Conflict in Small Groups

Work through conflict...

Out of Ur

Review: Missio Alliance Gathering 2013

Review: Missio Alliance Gathering 2013

Reflections on mission...

Facebook

CT eBooks & Bible Studies


Shopping