Are blogs losing their bite?

COMMUNICATION

A little over a year ago, I began hosting a private blog based primarily on experiences, readings and my views thereof. I was never the most prompt or periodic blogger, unlike some others I knew but I have kept at it, as I continue to do. But occasionally, I do wonder whether I will be able to sustain it in the true sense or become another statistic.

Technorati, the blog tracking company, reportedly says the blog rush has slowed down from 1,75,000 new posts every day in July 2006 to around 120,000 in March. Last December, internet research firm Gartner estimated the number of bloggers would peak at around 100 million "at some point in the first half of 2007".

Since then, apparently some 200 million people are already in the ex-bloggers list. That list could well include me if it were not for occasional flashes of 'inspiration'. For sure, it includes lots of other people I know and don't know. And of course increasingly I meet people who say they don't scan the blog world as often as they did earlier.

The interesting thing is the most popular blogs I know or knew of are anonymous. Two things happen. It's reasonably clear that what is bandied about in the anon world rarely converts into anything meaningful in the real world, because the words, however truthful they are, lack the conviction of authority. So people lose interest.

Second, when you are anon and spewing venom or are seen as a receptacle for others to do the same, someone's going to take you to task. The digital world, as we all know and are realising, is not so safe and secure particularly if you are up to no good. Again, I have seen this happen in the Indian context on a couple of occasions.

That leaves the personal blogs which are mostly views-based, unless they involve technology or some specialisation. Except for a few, which are good, most suffer from updation pangs. Understandably. Most of us have day jobs to keep. Unless, of course, you are a journalist and you are mandated by management to keep a blog going on the official news website.

I would also argue that the fascination of seeing someone's personal journals or admiring writing styles would fade over time, as it already has. Unless there is something juicy and new. And let's face it, the only chaps with the energy and the resources to generate that all the time are the journalists again!

To be fair, what one sees is a trend slowing down, not disappearing. Technorati itself says the blogosphere is over 60 times bigger than it was only 3 years ago. Even now, 75,000 new weblogs are being created every day and about 2.7 million bloggers update their blogs at least weekly.

To conclude at least for now, blogs will continue to rule. But some will morph into newer entities while others, make that most, will die. Its only natural. We were not all born with burning desires to express ourselves. At least not all the time.