I only want to stop pretending...
As I said earlier, I like the new K-OS song, Crucial and this is as good an entry into this post as any so here goes. Nealenews links to a story about blogs in Macleans. As the title suggests I am not in this blogging thing to change the world (well not completely). My motivations for doing this aren't entirely clear to me. However I am not under the illusion that I can change the world or even my country by doing so. If I could that would be great. But unless I get a lot more traffic it ain't going to happen. If I am being honest the reason I write hear is ego driven. Those who know me know that I am an opionated guy. What better way is there to stroke an ego than to post your rantings and then watch how many people read them? Besides, reading can be less in your face than I can be live. (well I don't think I am that bad but as the saying goes, you can read me in your pajamas).
Anyways, on to the Macleans piece.
... What they often fail to point out is that the overwhelming majority of blogs get almost no traffic. According to data from SiteMeter and other tracking services, more than 99 per cent get fewer than 10 hits a day
Alright, I am in the top percentile!
...Even the ones that do attract readers don't hold their attention very well. The same reports suggest that the average blog reader stays on a site for just 90 seconds.
Comparing the total blog audience to the circulation of major newspapers or viewers of network newscasts is a total sham. Let's say you never watched a single episode of Everybody Loves Raymond, but you clicked past it many times while channel surfing. Maybe you even paused occasionally to remind yourself of its utter lameness. Does that make you a viewer? It does in the blog world.
Interesting analogy.
... As a result, people are naturally migrating to the blogs they know and trust, usually by prominent writers or celebrity commentators. In other words, the blogs that matter are quickly becoming just another extension of the dreaded MSM.
I am not sure this is entirely true. It is true I enjoy MSM blogs like Andrew Coyne's (when he posts) or Paul Wells' or Antonia Zerbisias' but at the same time I am an avid reader of Kate McMillan's or Bob Tarantino's or Damian Penny's or Kathy Shaidle's or dozens of others. I indeed migrate to blogs I know and trust but in general it is not from prominent writers or celebrity commentators (does this mean celebrities who commentate - in which case, no way!, or commentators who have become celebrities...in the blogosphere). Also, you expand when bloggers you trust link to other bloggers - if they like it than it must be alright, right?
I guess the bottom line is that blogging has changed my world. So that is good enough for me.
