Paul Chaney of Radiant Marketing in Tupelo, Mississippi, USA, has posted the thoughts and opinions of some high-profile US business bloggers re how they see the future of blogging. Not another self-promotional piece by bloggers about blogging, you may be thinking. Actually, no, far from it.
There are some very interesting views expressed in Paul’s two reports, published on his blog, by a group of people who have attained respectable credibility in this still-emerging communication medium: Seth Godin, Rick Bruner, John Jantsch and Debbie Weil. There’s also comment from the creators of the Cluetrain Manifesto: Doc Searls, Christopher Locke, and David Weinberger.
Paul asked the group to comment on these points – Are blogs ready for prime-time? What is the future of blogging? Will it become a mainstream medium and, if so, when?
Some examples of what they have to say:
“Before enough people really even know what the term blog is (yes there are very many of these even in the high tech world) the term won’t mean anything because it will become simply another way to access and publish information. In fact, I have referred to my blog as an information management system. I would categorize blogs as an evolutionary step only and not the end of the road.” — John Jantsch.
“The real question isn’t how many people read blogs but the influence that blogs will have because of who it is who reads them. You ask “What signs” indicate a move in the direction of their increasing importance? I’m sure I’m not the first of your correspondents to mention the [US National] Democratic Convention. That was pretty huge for the profile of blogs.” — Rick Bruner.
“Blogging isn’t mainstream yet. But I predict that in the not too distant future the most successful websites will be built around a blog. In other words, the index or home page of an effective website will be a blog, with constantly updated, fresh content.” — Debbie Weil.
“[Blogging is] a practice. Specifically, a personal practice of journalism in the literal sense of that word. Every blog is a journal. The number of blogs, which keeps going up (now in the millions) is redefining journalism rapidly, and unavoidably. Blogs are real voices of real people. Applied by business, they leave the marketers of the world out of a job. You can’t job out your own voice. You can’t leave it up to some department.” — Doc Searls.
Read more on the Radiant Marketing blog:
– The Future of Blogging, In Their Own Words, Part I
– The Future of Blogging, In Their Own Words, Part II