Um, don’t blog, or something
In Twitter, Flickr, Facebook Make Blogs Look So 2004, Wired, which ceased to be relevant in 1999, says you shouldn’t write a blog because, um, Calacanis and Scoble.
Uh, wait, the problem is that some comments are not thoughtful. And I guess you can’t turn off comments in blogging software (except in all the blogging platforms that are already out there in the marketplace). But all those many long-established blogging platforms aside, I guess, like maybe in some new as-yet unreleased blogging tool, you might not be able to turn comments off. And then you’d have to, like, endure that some comments might not be thoughtful. So clearly you should just use Twitter and not write a blog because people can’t respond to you on Twitter. (What? They can?)
Well maybe the reason you’re not supposed to blog is that you won’t get rich blogging, because Calacanis did, so I guess he used up all the rich. Sorry, no more rich to go around. I mean, what’s the point of expressing yourself if there is no immediate rich to be had?
In conclusion, Twitter, Flickr, Calacanis and Scoble. Which proves you can’t have a blog and also use Twitter. Or maybe you can have a blog and use Twitter but you shouldn’t because comments, Scoble, rich.
Paul Boutin is usually a good writer. I’m not sure what happened here. Paul, when do we stop talking about web content exclusively in terms of narrow platforms and shallow, self-interested goals? When do we stop saying x makes y irrelevant? When do we stop reducing the web to a vulgar and trivial competition between head boys, and start appreciating it as a maturing medium for real thought and expression?
Obviously, not today in Wired.
Tags: journalism, opinion, idiocy, wired, blogs, blogging
Filed under: Advocacy, Blogs and Blogging, Design, writing
Ouch. I enjoyed this, Jeffrey. Maybe these comments will be useful and we’ll all get rich.
I have a feeling deadline-itis kicked in on Mr. Boutin.
“When do we stop saying x makes y irrelevant?”
When stunt-journalistic essays stop being cheap and easy. I can see the editorial discussion now: “Oh, hey, that sounds like a sexy thesis that will piss people off and get pageviews.”
Just a terrific post, Jeff. But can I get it in 140 characters?
Good read. I’m not a huge fan of half the things Wired puts out, and as such have never really given them much credence. The thought that we have to monetize something in order for it to be useful is such bullarkey (my own portmanteau of bullshit and malarkey) that it just cheapens what people do for their own enjoyment.
I thought much the same, reading this Wired article. Only my less-eloquent train of thought was something like, WTF? Glad some people don’t think blogging is pointless.
I love Wired, but this time they fucked up. I’m looking forward to see how they will handle this. I expect them to be cool, but we’ll see.
Awesome! Hilarious! Spot on! Twitter, Flickr, Calacanis and Scoble. Yeah.
What is with users these days huffing on their tweets so much that they think blogs are dead? They have get hyped to move forward, and throw out whats behind.
Its like saying we should get rid of fridges because of the invention freeze dried food.
Awesome Report as always Zed!
I wonder if the people at Wired notice that a lot of the discussion on Twitter is referring back to articles posted on… wait for it… blogs.
Maybe they’d like everyone else to stop blogging so they don’t need to try as hard to produce good content for THEIR blog.
Ultimately I think it just wasn’t that great an article. Oh well. :)
Perhaps bad habits he’s picked up since joining Valleywag?
Ironically, there are comments on that article, and the author probably did not get rich writing it.
Oh, and Scoble.
Great take. I can’t take following either Scoble or Calacanis on Twitter. Nothing good in all the noise. I like Twitter for what it is: the little piece of candy you get from the jar on the secretary’s desk. If I wanted a whole candy bar, I’d go to the vending machine.
Perfect post, Jeffrey, as if multitude of things and web services couldn’t coexist.
Oh man, I definitely enjoyed this post. :)
Whether it was a cheap shot to enrage users and drive up page hits, or whether it’s someone’s actual opinion, it’s incredibly stupid and they totally bombed on this one.
That shows that someone didn’t do their homework, or they have a death wish with their blogging/twitter audience.
It would be interesting to see what the “letters from the readers” section looks like in the next issue.
If it really is just an idiotic marketing stunt, they should know better. There is little patronage for people that don’t know what they’re talking.
Here’s my comment:
I have a belly button.
Pay up…
I read that article the other day and nearly scoffed myself to death. There I was, reading a magazine, telling me that blogs are dead. How archaic!
Great post Jeff. Who are wired to say? I blog because I want to, not because its trendy, or because some rich fat heads who think people take them seriously are not man enough to take a few nasty comments once in a while.
These are not thoughtful comments.
* applause *
Nicely put, my friend.
I would disagree with that. I just started up a article based blog in March and it’s been doing really well for just starting out. I’ve already landed one article on the home page of CSSBeauty. Blogs will always remain relevant at least to search engines because other than Wikipedia, they make up much of the content on the web.
[...] blogs are over and done with. At least, Wired thinks so. Jeffrey Zeldman just wrote a scathing critique of Wired’s editorial pronouncing blogs dead, and although his [...]
Well craptastic! Guess I should shut down all my sites and just rely on twitter to blog, flickr for my portfolio and facebook for contacting folks. Sounds like there needs to be a “State of The Web” speech to remind non interwebist that there is more to be done. Plenty yet accomplished on the web. I think the idea of a potentially limitless medium scares some.
Wait, should I have replied to your tweet rather than leave a comment?
Nailllled it!
Bullseye!
Scoble has definitely not used up any rich. I’m pretty sure Calcanis hasn’t either. Tech and Politics are not the only marketplaces in town. Ever heard of a niche, Wired? This piece (in Wired) was very misguided and uninformed.
Well, yeah, since Wired had that article announcing the end of science because there is too much data (i.e. the stuff science eats) I think they are just writing stuff randomly, maybe using a phrase generator.
I wouldn’t say STOP blogging per se but Facebook with their privacy options, whitelisting and blacklisting, “Live Feed” and Applications pulling data from almost every “Web 2.0″ site people use. People still go out away from their computers – though they use Twitter and take pictures for which may go on FB, Flickr or Picasa…
But people still like to write, ponder, create, etc. That won’t stop and none of these tools take the place of that. However for me, I’ve stopped blogging ages ago. I still do from time to time but when I can “post items” and comment on them it’s few and far between when I find the time to sit down and type out a thought piece that’s not work related.
While I do think it’s harder for solitary writers to attract major attention (and keep it) in the face of more and more professional blogs, from spam to zines and everything in between, I also wonder how attention in itself is a valid goal. It certainly doesn’t speak for the quality.
Blogs shouldn’t be competing over feed subscribers, number of comments per post, ad profits etc. Those who think that’s what it’s all about, obviously don’t get it (hint: it’s about the content). I would’ve thought WIRED understood that.
Not everything should be condensed to 140 characters or an iPhone snapshot.
And please accept my apology for this unthoughtful comment.
“…That’s why Calacanis has retreated to a private mailing list. ” Um….so he’s gone back to a mailing list which was popular in 1997…because blogs are so 2004?
Or maybe I’m thinking 1986? How RETRO!
140 characters should be enough for everybody!
Wired has lost it’s edge. The editors are trying too hard to regain a sense of importance.
This was the article that finally made me unsubscribe from the feed. Done. Nothing of value to see here, just nostalgia for a time when they were relevant.
@B.K. DeLon Makes me think. Maybe that’s the core of the fear. Creating, thinking, writing, and pondering… that could be a dangerous thing for some.
Stunt the web’s growth, by limiting individual creativity.
So many, for so long have made careers out of “creating content”. That ability some would say, is being stripped from them. By who, by the bloggers, the free photo’s on flickr, news via tweets, etc.
I don’t know, lost my point. 2 unsolicited cents
aeb { sr }
Bitching at Wired is so 2006 :)
That Wired article reminded me of Mark Twain’s quote “The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”
So, blogs are dead… but magazines live on? Right…
Dan took my line.
It’s unfortunate that Boutin thinks future discourses will only take place a few words at a time. I appreciate brevity, but
*message truncated; past 140 character limit*
FIRST!
aah crap…
“When do we stop reducing the web to a vulgar and trivial competition between head boys, and start appreciating it as a maturing medium for real thought and expression?”
Jeffrey – I appreciate your comments here. I read that story a few weeks ago in Wired and was confused. And I don’t like confusion. So I decided after reading it that I didn’t care what some magazine was telling me what the “new” blog was, or why I should “stop” blogging.
I love to write and I love to meet others in the blogging community. I only wish they could see how services like twitter and facebook are there to assist us, not replace the platforms we love so dearly.
LONG LIVE WORDPRESS!
Jeffrey, excellent post. The notion that one form of expression immediately and irrevocably renders prior forms obsolete is so much Calacant. With that reasoning, we may as well scrawl Loser in red Sharpie on the forehead of any sad sack caught toting around a book printed on paper rather than vellum.
Then again, you have to remember how prescient Wired was about push rendering the browser obsolete.
Not to mention that Twitter, Facebook. Flickr et al are ruining the distributed diverse nature of the Internet. Collecting everyone’s pictures, posts and e-mails into a few key places puts everyone at risk for losses (probably due to legal battles or economics) but also serious invasion of privacy. Not to mention if everyone just used Flickr there wouldn’t be a lot of great new software and features being developed.
Keep blogging!
Seriously, though. We should absolutely abdicate our right to free speech, because free speech isn’t cool anymore ’Cause Wired said so. </sarcasm>
The good thing about the web is that it gives the wackos, weirdos, out-of-touch and unpopular unwashed masses a voice and a platform that they otherwise would never have.
Once upon a time the Big Bang theory was considered preposterous by the majority. Or the heliocentric solar system thought “fringe”. Or Luther’s 95 theses considered outrageous.
Who knows? Perhaps the next revolutionary, world-changing idea will come from the blog or twitter feed of some so-called nutcase.
Thanks, Jeffrey. I read that in Wired and laughed. Obviously Mr. Bouton doesn’t realize the merits of having a personal website.
Long before Twitter and Flickr, and Adsense and affiliate programs people were telling their stories on the web. Some would think we’ve fallen away from that; we haven’t. Those sites are just tougher to find because they’re hidden in the cracks where the Google spiders fear to tread.
At least 10 years ago, you were the impetus for me starting my own personal website. Frustrated, I’ve taken in down and put it back up several times. I even went incognito for a while, but am back.
I think of you and your belief that you inspired in me 10 years ago every time I tell a story on my website. Thanks.
And thanks for putting into words my frustration at the wired article. And thanks for your continuing inspiration.
I haven’t read the article, but maybe the writer was trying to say that the blog phenomenon is over? Now, I couldn’t care less, because I didn’t start blogging to be the popular kid in the class or to make money – I started blogging (6 years ago) because I felt I had something to say, and my blog was just the platform I chose. If other people can express themselves through Twitter or their Facebook status that’s fine by me, I don’t discriminate against anyone’s chosen platform, and no-one should stop reading my blog just because it’s a blog. People should stop reading me when I stop making sense!
LOL nicely put…
I totally meant to blog this too! You sum it up in the first line. “ceased to be relevant in 1999″
I got a free subscription, and figured what they heck, maybe they don’t suck now… I was wrong. It’s still not a very good magazine, and is now polluted with lame ads.
Yeah blogging is as dead as email and the telephone.
Sorry, you lost me 140 characters into it.
At the risk of sounding somewhat controversial, while i do not consider the blog movement to be dead (far from it), i do think that the motivation of many bloggers is waning. It’s not easy writing insightful and interesting blog content, and now that the web is teaming with innumerable personal perspectives on every topic imaginable, it’s increasingly difficult to write original content. The question that many bloggers now face is: why bother? For many, the hard work of writing a blog post only results in the creation of redundant content drowned out in an overcrowded market. On the other hand, to twitter, or scrobble, or bookmark, or stumble, or digg, is easy. These activities also allow people to carve out a personal record or identity on the web, to build communities, and most importantly, they don’t require anywhere near the effort of writing a blog entry. The hype has passed from blogging, and now that it is mainstream, i suspect that some who previously sat up in the wee small hours of the morning churning out blog posts are questioning their motivations. This is only natural, and in no way reflects the death of blogging, or the superiority of other communication media. It’s just the web growing in maturity.
Ya know, I just think that the blog as hype is kind of done. I think that is the takeaway here. For a long time the ‘blog’ was the next big thing, now it’s not. Twitter and Facebook and all these other things are. That’s ok. The blog is still relevant, it has just matured. Just like I believe that although they have lost significant market share, so are magazines. I love magazines and I guarantee many others do too.
Wired really just wrote this piece to garner attention. It’s ‘linkbait’ if you will.
[...] I looked forward this morning to going to his blog and reading the comments of those who were in on the joke. It turns out, you can’t talk much about politics without trolls attacking your comments section. Maybe Wired was right. (I don’t think so) [...]
Zeldman, you rock, man.
I’m not convinced that Wired should be the authoritative voice for what’s timely or relevant.
I was going to write, pretty much, this exact same post about that stupid article, except i [was drinking Kool-Aid and] was going to spread it out over like 30 or so tweets. Because that’s real useful.
No, honestly, there’s a place for pithy remarks, as all of Twitterland knows, but you can’t write a fucking article in Wired arguing for the death of public exposition. Anyway, it seems in poor taste to write it in more than 140 chars.
“Blogs r ded b/c no $$$, b like cool kids & shut up sooner. Discourse = stpd. Good #sndwch 2day at Mikey’s w/ @Calacanis.”
Wired is People Magazine for geeks. Its articles are short, biased, hypertopical, and suitable only for quick reads in the loo.
We can agree, comments are probably the weak point in blogging. When using services like YouTube this becomes painfully clear. In fact, I get surprised time and time again at the magnitude of unhelpful, rude and necessary comments that appear that have little or no thought process behind them.
But, at the end of the day, it’s just something that needs to be managed and controlled properly and by no means makes blogging irrelevant for us today. I’ve noticed, you actually do a fine job on that point Mr Zeldman, sometimes you even close a topic from discussion after a certain time period. This is quite on topic for me as I’ve been contemplating starting my own blog to share my views on specific things and there’s this attitude online of, “No one cares what you think”, which I’ll simply respond by saying, “I don’t care what you think”.
Expression is something to be championed.
[...] out zeldman’s post here and decide for yourself what you think. probably gonna have to go read the wired article so i can [...]
I just recently restarted my personal blog when I was travelling to Norway and since then it’s still running. I use it as a personal playground at the moment and it certainly has not any professional writing on it. ;-) It’s nice to take a few minutes (or more) from a hard work day and write about something what’s on your mind.
So far, I have to see the real value of using Twitter. Must be because it’s not that much used among my German colleagues or among my friends (we use either private forums, instant messanging or just the plain old telephone for keeping in touch). So if anybody can shed some light on the usefulness of Twitter, it would be very appreciated.
Best wishes,
Thorvald
Wired is *such* an authority as to what is or isn’t obsolete or irrelevant… Check it here:
I remember the issue – that was in 1995 or 1996 – where they did an interview over the internet with someone claiming to be the Marshall McLuhan… And of course Wired pumped up the hype saying it was “McLuhan’s ghost”… yeah. Methinks, same kind of hype here.
I came across the same article some time ago, had a good laugh and moved on. Still, like the write-up here, it made for a fair couple of extra good laughs.
Can’t see blogging disappearing yet. I myself am not on Flickr nor Twitter, nor do I spend much time on Facebook. Maybe I’m just getting old, but I can’t see how they will replace blogging. Different world, different tools.
As for the whole deal about comments, I myself wrote a little thing about the use of comments. I’m a bit tired of people trying to kill yet another social feat in the name of 2.0
It’s always nicer to read a good article with 10 thoughtless comments, than reading a thoughtless article.
(and since I can’t find your contact form, I’ll just post it here, since it annoyed me:
The “previous reports” button underneath the comment form is highly confusing – shouldn’t even be a button – since it starts with “prev” and I was expecting to see a preview. Gone was my original post!)
[...] Jeffrey Zeldman: “In Twitter, Flickr, Facebook Make Blogs Look So 2004, Wired, which ceased to be relevant in 1999, says you shouldn’t write a blog because, um, Calacanis and Scoble.” [...]
Blogs are the books of the 21st century. And everyone knows books have ceased to exist since we have the internet.
I mean: look at all these comments. Even if they all are thoughtful and useful, who is going to read all that? The only one reading this is the next commenter … maybe. By accident. And let’s face it: that’s all this comment really deservers.
Why am I even here?
Plus. Comments equals typos.
Deserves, that is, of course.
I love it when you sarcasm…or is it when you irony?
Seriously.
Thoughtfully.
Even Wired’s name is out of date.
[...] prefiero hacerme eco de lo que dice el veterano Jeff Zeldman: Wired como catalizador del pulso tecnológico en Internet dejó de ser relevante en 1999, y sobre [...]
[...] kids had graduated up to Twitter instead. Moving targets being what they are (a barrier to entry) Jeffrey Zeldman took this as a dumb attempt to tastemake at the expense of established bloggers. More specifically it was a misguided attempt to file a provocative story on a short deadline. All [...]
Damn Jeffrey, you mean I’m not going to get rich at this? And I thought it was just because I was too proud to put Adsense on my blog…
For relevance of the web… well I backtrack to the “expert” of 20 years ago and ask myself how they would have accessed all this information – let alone information sharing? They really didn’t. It was a slower world with different expectations of what now was. So an expert may have read 20 or so books and worked 20 or so years at something.
The web as an enabler drops in and we’re seeing experts at 16 and 18 years old, mainly fed by information sharing experts on weblogs willing to share information. It’s definately in contrast to Kevin Kelly’s Ted Conference talk on TED – predicting the next 5000 days of the web….
Or, is it a cunning move by Wired to troll? Blogs irrelevant – of course a million bloggers will link to and talk about Wired this week. It’ll get DIGGed for sure. Very cunning… :)
So I really don’t get Wired’s view of the Web. It’s far from the
oops that last line “So really… from the” shouldn’t have been in there. Sorry Jeffrey.
[...] Magazine suggest that you should stop blogging because it’s so 2004. While Jeffrey Zeldman points out that Wired is so 1999. Just another web WTF [...]
Wired? Haven’t thought about them in years.
Wired sucks.
It even sucked back in 1999.
I’d rather read a Bill Gates speech transcript or listen to a John McCain speech handwritten on a Dead Sea scroll, rolled, and shoved up my a–. They would both be more relevant. Really. Their printed magazine is even worse—a mix of ads, ads, glossy crapola who-who fluff, ads, ad-driven content, ads, ads, ads, ads and some more ads, with those dumb subscription cards falling out between the pages.
For what it’s worth, Twitter is pretty lame also—other than playing around with it for a few weeks like any new toy (like that flame burning game thing you can put on your iPhone). Twitter, like the hula hoop, Bob, and the Apple Newton, will go the way of the Dodo bird by 2010. And so will John McCain by the way.
If I need content length restrictions, I’ll take up Haiku. Or perhaps send a postcard. Now there’s an idea.
Facebook and MySpace? Just one big High School Musical XXI popularity contest (10,324 friends pokes? please…) data mining operation for the few senior executives that run those companies to eventually transaction keywords from your content to G$/Yahoo advertisers. You’d have to be an idiot not to see that. Lots of misinformed writers unfortunately continue to whore out their ideas, creativity, and content to them free of charge.
Take “Web 2.0″…please.
Zeldman.com, and blogs in general, are much more expansive and have matured to the point of providing a real service (in this case to web developers). More in connection with the audience and can expand on ideas and topics.
Sure, occasionally you get some a-hole double-digit IQ here requesting to verify the weather in NY. But, the comments here and community driven from Zeldman’s writing is what it’s all about.
This site, and blogs in general, rock!
Twitter Twat Whatever that.
Saying you should use Flickr and Twitter instead of blogging is like saying you shouldn’t drive a car but use a screwdriver instead.
Though I must say, apart from this weird article I usually like Wired, I’d buy the magazine just for the design actually.
When did money become the prime reason someone starts a blog?
[...] Zeldman: Um, don’t blog, or something [...]
http://blog.wired.com/
Need I say more?
I love this bit. I’ve never, ever searched on Twitter — if Google hasn’t indexed it, I’m probably not interested in it. It’s just sad to see Wired in the state it’s in these days. This is as bad as the “open source will die with the economic downturn” article. They are such a joke to the people who are supposed to be their target audience. Who is their new audience, anyway?
Young businesspeople, I believe, are their target market.
[...] Zeldman: Um, don’t blog, or something Imprimir este post Ver otras entradas sobre: [...]
[...] Digging around later I discover Jeffrey Zeldman’s hilarious response to a Wired article quoted liberally in Carr’s post. Filed under Commentary talking about [...]
[...] hachazo al artículo de Wired de Zeldman vía [...]
[...] – Zeldman [...]
I blog because I like to examine and express my opinions, inform my friends and readers, keep a record of my life, become a better writer, and because I enjoy it. I think this is why I’ve been able to create fresh posts an average of once a day for 2.5 years.
I don’t earn a penny for my thoughts. If I did, I’d feel the pressure to conform to a certain topic or viewpoint, and I wouldn’t enjoy blogging as much. Instead, I look at the world through fresh eyes, trying to find the wonder or the madness within.
http://www.kchblog.com
Was that the year it stopped being a creepy futurist libertarian rag? Or did something else happen in ninety-nine that we should be aware of?
[...] Zeldman, web standards guru, has a few scathing comments regarding Boutin’s article. After pointing out the ridiculous nature of Boutin’s [...]
I took this chance to start a blog. So what if I’m not cool. I wasn’t cool in 2004 either. This post was funny.
[...] whether twitter and other micro-blogging services have killed blogs. while i tend to agree this is very much exaggerated, my own online publishing behaviors have suggested otherwise. (allow me to now disclaim the [...]
[...] crack en los temas de internet y desarrollo) ya ha hecho un comentario sobre el artículo de Wired. Aqui el [...]
Heheheh. Brilliantly written and great fun. Sometimes Wired is trying too hard to be hip – likef women’s magazines that constanly make hot/not, in/out lists. Tired/wired/whatever. I’d be really sad if all those clever blogs out there should be replaced by the often depressing shallowness of the Twitter “sound bite”.
[...] Zeldman, Jeffrey: Um, don’t blog, or something [...]
[...] en Wired ha tenido contundentes respuestas a ambos lados del charco, entre las que destaco las de Jeffrey Zeldman, Enrique Dans, Mariano Amartino, Andrew Sullivan y recientemente Manuel [...]
[...] Um, don’t blog, or something: I’m not sure how this whole “blogging is dead” meme started, but Zeldman says it best when he asks, “when do we stop reducing the web to a vulgar and trivial competition between head boys, and start appreciating it as a maturing medium for real thought and expression?” [...]
“Rich, what’s a twitter?” — Paul Boutin
[...] – Zeldman [...]
[...] more current. But as people have pointed out in the blogs vs twitter debate, long forms of writing have their merits, and will continue to do so, even as our methods of communication become faster and ever more [...]