Generations of Bloggers – Genuine Problogging & PRBlogs.org
Duncan Riley promoted a lot of discussion with his Demise of the Geek Bloggers post over at Blog Herald (and rediscovered by TurboBlogger) and I reckon he’s got a good point.
But what he, and a lot of the commentators don’t seem to get, or at least latch onto, is that we’re not looking at the rise of consumer blogs, extrovert blogs or even a demise in geek bloggers… what’s catching on is a rise in genuine problogging… professionals who blog.
It started earlier in IT (obviously) and has been picked up and ran with by education (another regular early adopter / innovator) but what’s starting to happen is that as blogging becomes more accessible, the tools become far simpler to use and the concepts become more broadly understood (nobody understands blogging… everyone understands podcastng!) is that professional communities are starting to move from listservs and email groups over to the blogging world.
Take edublogs… not a tool for educators to use with students but a blogging provider for people involved in education… 1 month old today and already with 837 blogs!
And in that light I’d like to introduce PRblogs.org a collaborative project led by Robert French and supported by Blogsavvy:
“Free blogs for public relations practitioners, educators and students. Building a blogging community.”
It’s a natural development, makes sense… 1st Gen bloggers have been the geeks, the teenagers and the ‘out there’ but 2nd Gen will be the professionals, watch this space!
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Forgive me if I don’t agree, although I do recognise the rise that there is a rise in professionals who blog.
1. Your ignoring long tail theory, and although again professionals are increasing in the blogosphere the general consumer, on non-professional if you like are multiplying far quicker than any other demographic in the marketplace. The key here is as to whether professionals entering the blogosphere can capture the top spots within each niche marketplace within the blogosphere.
2. The professional market, although probably more profitable, is going to be a high return niche market compared perhaps to the more low return mass market that is say typical amongst the mainstream press now and which is starting to reflect in the top blogs. 2 years ago we’d never had imagined gossip blogs, blogs about bad dress and celebrities, and college humor blogs would make up a significant portion of the blogosphere. They do, and this mass appeal, non professional market will continue to build dominence simply due to numbers.
As I’ve mentioned though, a lot of the high return propositions though will be amongst professionals.
Thanks for the comment Duncan, no need to ask for forgiveness
As it happens I’m not ignoring long tail but rather saying that it doesn’t matter a whole heap… I think an analysis of the usage of, say, Yahoo groups, will give you a much better view of what’s round the corner than that.
Which is, admittedly, not entirely professional – although I’d still argue that this is where the cusp is now, far from moving into the general arena yet – focused around communities, interests, and professions rather than gossip, clothes, product etc.
I think – I’d have to dig too deep on a Wednesday night to get a real grip on this.
Again, it might just be wishful thinking on my part, but to assume that we’re going to get a replication of mass media tendencies through this medium isn’t necessarily accurate… we’ll definitely copy existing patterns initially (think filming the stage in early days of cinema) but I can envisage something different happening beyond that, niched / professional and community focused… A listing is so 2004 ;D
Thank you, James. Thanks for the mention and thanks for the support.
We’re having fun with this project. Baby steps, but we seem to be starting to add a blog every day or so. We’ll undertake a more involved outreach to educators and practitioners in the coming weeks.
I, of course, agree with you that ‘pro-bloggers’ are going to take off. What sub-group takes the lead or becomes more popular to a mass audience – I could care less.
The idea of a centric / focused community for elearning and sharing is our goal. And, I’m talking learning in educational institutions and/or professionals with their peers. The sharing and interaction of blogs/CMS is what fascinates me. The ability for students to interact – daily – with professionals doing the jobs these students wish to achieve one day is oh, so valuable. Inestimable value, in fact.
I hope we can have a small or large community. Most of all, I want it to be active and valuable to the participants – no matter how niche the community may be.
Thank you, again, for your support.