» Is blogging a fad ?
Sep 03 2005
7 Comments
Blogging about blogging

Is blogging a fad ?

Joi is talking about TV commercials for blogs in Japan and radio shows asking the audience to trackback their blog. He keeps being asked, like me often in Europe too, wether it’s a fad or not with such a heavy buzz around it.

I really like Jim O’Connel‘s comment on Joi’s post:

“I doubt that in five years you’ll hear the word “blog” any more than you here the word “Cyber” these days. It’s a fad, of course, be it Japan or anywhere else.

Blogging will disappear. Not in the sense that it won’t be there, but in the way it will become so ubiquitous that you won’t notice it. The functionalities that blogging has introduced are too useful to go away. Comments, trackbacks, syndication, aggregation, APIs for personal web services are all things that while at present aren’t perfect, show so much potential for changing the way we communicate and form relationships.”

I fully agree. It will just become part of our lives such as email and the web. We won’t talk about it, it will be everywhere. I’m so glad Mena was clever enough to choose TypePad and Movable Type as our brands, and not blog-something. Having said that let me come back to my daily evangelization about blogs so that we don’t talk about it anymore as soon as possible…



  • http://www.la-grange.net/ karl

    Incroyable. Unbelievable. You’re still full of yourself and without recognizing what has been said before.
    Pierre Carion has said that months ago on Embruns (that you read) !!! I discussed it many times with Boris. And Boris discussed it with Jim too.
    You’re happy we don’t talk about it, but we have to talk about you, you, YOU, YOU.

  • http://www.loiclemeur.com/france Loic

    Karl, it’s a real pleasure to see you back on my blog.
    I can’t believe you could refrain yourself from trolling here for so long.

  • http://www.la-grange.net/ karl

    The fact is that I just don’t troll. it’s the thing you never understood.

  • http://divedi.blogspot.com/ Dimitar Vesselinov
  • http://bopuc.levendis.com/ Boris

    Despite agreeing that Karl’s tone was a bit confrontational (ok maybe a lot hehe), he does have a point. Shall we pageslap you with URLs from blogs where this very topic was discussed months ago, where we have evidence that you are a regular reader? [1] ;)
    What amazes me in this is that Ethan Zuckerman, whom you know and who has a great deal of respct for you, a little while ago said to me “the french blogosphere doesn’t seem to have the traction of the english blogosphere”… and here you are, a frenchman, contributing to, aiding and abetting that fallacy. The french (nay! european!) blogosphere has a tremendous amount to contribute to the conversation, especially on the techno-social side, thanks to a rich heritage of thorough philosophical[2] exploration. You of all people should promote and help bridge that gap, instead of simply labeling someone a troll. (You may hate each other’s guts, but that doesn’t make either of you unworthy of being listened to.)
    As for your quote, yes Jim said that. Jim is a brilliant brilliant, if quiet and understated, guy. He is a dear friend of mine AND Karl’s. And yes, I distinctly remember having this conversation with Jim in his backyard one evening when I was staying with him last spring in Tokyo. That is not to say he got it from me; that is to say we discussed it and agreed, in February, that the blog is dead, long live the blog. We kampai’ed over Asahi and saké. The next day I had dinner with Joi. ;)
    By the way, blogs died at the beginning of 2005. Geolocative and aggregation was where it was at this summer. The next battle is respect of publication licensing and access control. Get ready.
    Entrepreneurs are funny. They overhear the philosophers and poets speak, and three nights later yell “Eureka! I got it!” Which is fine and how it always has been. The artists and free thinkers lead the way, and they need the support of the entrepreneurs… the entrepreneurs make some cash and then pass the buck to establishment… and on it goes. It is obsolete after the first changing of hands though as the forerunners are already moved on to the next thing…
    [1]
    - Chronology of the development of the french blogosphere:
    http://embruns.net/blogosphere/000258.html
    - “Le blogue est mort” “Dilution” of the blog phenomenon (granted it is debateable, and is unflattering to you, Laurent is not a fool.)
    http://embruns.net/blogosphere/000283.html
    [2] philo-sophia: love of knowledge.
    p.s.: Please do not consider this trolling, or make me guilty by association. We all have our roles in this theatre.

  • http://www.loiclemeur.com/france Loic

    Boris, thanks for such a comment. I reacted this way to Karl’s comment because of a history of numerous comments on my french blog that really looked to me like trolling… I don’t know what’s Karl’s problem with me and honestly I gave up trying to understand. He is welcome to comment on my blog and feel home whenever.
    Now to your point of me not giving credit to a French blogger such as Laurent/Embruns on this point, I think you’re a bit tough because like me you probably read *lots* of posts and it’s easy to forget one. I just reacted to what I saw last on this topic and really liked how Jim has put it.
    Basically, I agree with both of you that I should have given credit to Laurent but
    -is Laurent the first one talking about this ? I would doubt it
    -is this “issue” that important !?
    To your point about the French speaking blogosphere against the english, I post five times more in French than English, so I think I try to contribute as I can.
    To Karl’s point: “You’re happy we don’t talk about it, but we have to talk about you, you, YOU, YOU.”
    I don’t understand it. I don’t understand “your happy we don’t talk about it” ???? Maybe should we continue in French.
    About my ego I don’t see what it has to do with this, really, but yes, Karl has a real point here, I am an egocentrist and I keep repeating this in public, sorry about that, I promise to work on that.

  • http://bopuc.levendis.com/ Boris

    Loic, good points. I also should add that your effort on the European blogger wiki list is a good start in hopefully bringing more of the euro brain thrust to the attention of the americans.
    Pointing out who said it first is, agreed, pointless. The criticism came mainly that it took a mention chez Joi for you to mention it here, when it had been mentioned in your backwyard earlier. Granted, it is nit-picking, but it does seem odd… Sure I forget stuff too (do I ever), but I also recognize things I’ve seen before… anyways… ;)
    The “Issue” of, lets say “the golden age of blogs”, being “over” is important for those of us who oeuvre in the domaine and make a living in it, insofar as it is important to know the field one is playing on and be as aware as possible of all factors involved: environment, rules, instruments, etc. Very few people are that aware. And to be egocentrique myself for a moment… very few as much as myself… and Karl… Don’t forget, not only do some of us take a paycheque from this and operate on multiple levels of it all (technology, politics, economics, socio-cultural), but we also *live inside it*. This – computing and communicating digitally – is an extension of our selves, a part of our world and a way of life. :D