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Transformation of blogging has been amazing

September 30, 2010

Blogs, once considered a fad by many, aren’t going anywhere. They’re being read by almost half of Americans. They’re becoming one in the same with mainstream media. And we can only expect the popularity of blogs to rise.

That’s the word from a new report from eMarketer released last week titled, The Blogosphere – Colliding With Social And Mainstream Media, the details of which I discussed in a post last week. The discussion that’s ensued following the report among the blogging, marketing, public relations, and publishing community has only reinforced the reports findings.

Take for example journalist and author Mitch Joel’s post this morning that ‘The Future Of Blogging Might Surprise You.’

Key take away’s from Joel:

  • Blogs are (and will become) a mainstream media platform. A blog is the glory of a personal voice – warts and all. That is why people are gravitating toward them. Deep down, we want companies to speak our language. We’re tired of jargon. We’re zoning out when we hear phrases like ‘best of breed’ or ‘end to end solution.’ We want to know that business cares about us and treasures our loyalty. We want more… and we’re starting with a conversation that has a human voice behind it … warts and all.
  • Blogs are becoming almost indecipherable from a mass media news website. Blogs with broad reach – whether media blogs, corporate blogs or influential technology or celebrity blogs – are creating a culture in which blogging is accepted as an integral part of the media landscape.
  • From a personal journaling platform in 1997 to a full-on publishing platform, the transformation of blogs over the past few years can be best summed up in one word: astounding. It’s a profound shift in how we write, read, contribute and distribute the published word. Blogs are no longer the black sheep of publishing. ‘The New York Times operates at least 50 public-facing blogs,’ the Blogosphere report says. ‘These blogs are intertwined with the paper’s regular coverage. Readers are routinely redirected from the main site to the blogs and back again. There is a near total fluidity between the traditional coverage and the blog posts.’
  • The true growth of blogging is not coming from individuals using this empowered publishing platform to share their insights with the world. The credibility and growth from blogs moving forward seems to be coming from the mainstream media’s desire to have a cheaper, faster and near-real-time platform to distribute their content.

Lawyers and law firms who believe social media success lies in the use of Facebook, Twitter, and social networking sites may want to reconsider. Blogs, which gave rise to social media, remain an integral, if not the leading form of social media for professionals looking for their insight and commentary to become part of and disseminated via media channels.

For lawyers and law firms who think they’re late to the blogging table, worry not. Sure, there were early adopters who lead the way on blogging. But all the last seven or eight years of blogging has proven is that blogs are here to stay, that they are widely read, and that they’re becoming indistinguishable from mainstream media. Others have proven the concept for you.

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