Comments on: Felix TV: Is blogging dead?

By: FelixSalmon

FelixSalmon — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 22:58:48 +0000

@TFF, I think the main difference is links and conversation. Bloggers respond to other things on the internet, and link to them, much more than columnists, whose pieces are much more self-contained.

By: FelixSalmon

FelixSalmon — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 22:58:45 +0000

@TFF, I think the main difference is links and conversation. Bloggers respond to other things on the internet, and link to them, much more than columnists, whose pieces are much more self-contained.

By: GregHao

GregHao — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 04:45:22 +0000

I think, somewhat similar to Felix’s title about donating to Japan, the title of the post was a bit hyperbolic. Blogging won’t ever “die”, which I think isn’t even really an issue that Felix raises in this post but rather blogging has gone mainstream. It’s not 2004 anymore where a Ezra Klein or Matt Yglesias can start a personal blog, which turns into a fellowship at smallish magazine and then gobbled up by a conglomerate. The vacuum that’s left behind by the Kleins and Yglesias of the world has now shifted to twitter and tumblr (although IMO, tumblr is really just another form of blogging?) but the question is, how do these new people move up the food chain.

By: KenG_CA

KenG_CA — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 01:11:43 +0000

@TFF, I’m guessing the blogger often gets paid less than the old-fashioned columnist. And is less edited, for better or worse.

By: TFF

TFF — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 23:41:55 +0000

What is the difference between a “blogger” and an old-fashioned columnist? Especially when the “blogger” is part of a larger news organization?

By: DonthelibertDem

DonthelibertDem — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 21:48:45 +0000

What is the pleasure based upon that comes with proclaiming something ‘Dead’, as opposed to ‘Less Relevant’ or ‘Less Popular’?

By: CDN_Rebel

CDN_Rebel — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 21:02:00 +0000

I generally like this blog and find lots of good links from it and would call it newsworthy though it be opinion. But the problem is most blogs are opinions not based on fact or in context… it’s a new voice but it’s one that panders to the lowest common denominator a lot of times because that is the majority of America. Now a financial blog may not be sullied by those pressures, but everything from politics to sports to baking cookies is racing to reach as many people as possible and debasing itself in the process. In that sense, RIP blogs (and frankly all newsmedia in that regard). I think instead there should be a responsibility to elevate news and FORCE people to understand what’s going on rather than appeal to the masses and say what (one thinks) they want to hear.

Now I know I’m not exactly on point with the above ramble, and maybe t’was just stating the obvious, but I think those are the convictions that need to lead media (whatever the medium).

By: BarryKelly

BarryKelly — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 20:37:08 +0000

“even he agreed that old-fashioned single-person blogs are largely a thing of the past, with the exception of enthusiastic practitioners in the fields they write about, be it banking or science or anything else”

- for me, blogging is and was only *ever* about enthusiastic practitioners in the fields they write about. Things like TechCrunch, Huffington Post, etc., were and are not blogs (IMO). They’re something different, a new style of journalism or what have you, but if it becomes your job, then IMO it’s not simple blogging. It’s more like rapid-fire op-eds with less thought and greater topicality. But the degree to which I seek out voices in any particular field depends on my interest in that field.

I read you on finance to keep abreast of what’s going on; you, to me, are more like an eclectic collector of links and opinion tidbits. RSS is just your publishing mechanism.

Three things I think need disentangling: (a) the presentation and distribution of articles (i.e. reverse chronological order, RSS feeds etc.); (b) the conversational voice and presence of comments etc. vs po-faced communiques; (c) deep insight from actual practitioners, rather than commentators.

(A) can come and go, I care not; (full) RSS feeds had better stay though, and they are intrinsically chronological. (B) – the conversational voice – I think is here to stay for a while, as it is friendlier to the culture of the medium and it’s in line with the broader trends of the times (I wouldn’t bet against things changing in time spans of decades though). As for (c), there is definitely less buzz around blogs, and that has reduced the broad levels, but if you have something to say and you want to broadcast it, a blog is still one of the easiest ways of doing it (tumblr, posterous, twitter etc. included). I personally have no issues with subscribing to an RSS feed that only updates once a year. I actually prefer them to the firehoses who blog every day, unless I want continuous monitoring on a particular field.

By: 8burlroad

8burlroad — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 19:09:25 +0000

Blogging isn’t dying it’s simply evolving. From an SEO perspective Google values fresh content and nothing provides that as efficiently as blogging. From a social media perspective shares and crowdsourcing are equally well suited to a blog.

WordPress isn’t difficult, it just takes some time to learn the best way to use it. Tumblr, while fun, is little more than the myspace of blogging and appeals to the same demographic.

By: SouthernBeale

SouthernBeale — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 19:04:10 +0000

Well that’s a shame. I just added you to my bookmarks yesterday. Dang, I’m always late to the party.

By: bobbymacReuters

bobbymacReuters — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 19:00:46 +0000

Did you ask him if he could keep his mojo working if he took off his hat? I think that the head gear must be the secret of his success.

By: rmhitchens

rmhitchens — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 17:36:37 +0000

Boy, I hope blogging isn’t dead! Sure, I read the WaPo most days but I get far more out of the blogs I cruise, both individual & group. For better or worse, paid or unpaid, you guys are the new journalism.

By: bmozaffari

bmozaffari — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 17:13:58 +0000

Felix, this may not be directly relevant but do you count your RSS hits as part of your traffic? I use Google Reader for my daily reading but in 99% of the cases, I read the headline and click through when interested in reading the content. Yours is the rare exception that can be entirely read through RSS so I barely ever come to the site.

By: q_is_too_short

q_is_too_short — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 16:57:50 +0000

anyone over 25 use tumblr?