Mashable - The Social Media Guide - Latest Comments in Comment Contest: Win “Full Access” Tickets to Blog World Expo

Re: Comment Contest: Win “Full Access” Tickets to Blog World Expo

Jeff Swanson — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 14:31:21 -0000

Thanks, nhangen.

At some point, everything will have to be more organized and in one place. Seems to be where it's going.

Re: Comment Contest: Win “Full Access” Tickets to Blog World Expo

SavingDonaldTrump — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 20:28:42 -0000

Now I want to go read the story so I can see how the blog world will end...or start...or continue :)

Re: Comment Contest: Win “Full Access” Tickets to Blog World Expo

maksym — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 20:13:47 -0000

the future of blogging is the past of television

Re: Comment Contest: Win “Full Access” Tickets to Blog World Expo

Lareen Strong — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 18:26:28 -0000

The future of blogging has already begun. One might liken it to the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde…without the evil part.

Blogs will fall into two categories. Dr. Jekyll blogs will be aggregates of news, articles, visual and audio media, and other streams of digital information compiled and presented under one name or title, but presented from a variety of individuals and sources. This blog model will make money, or at least pay for itself, and be well respected by what one would formerly call the “main stream media.”

The Mr. Hyde blogs will not be looked upon as highly as their daytime counterparts. These blogs will be online journals, obligatory corporate blogs that exist only to add content to web pages for SEO purposes, blogs that are updated infrequently and get-rich-quick blogs.

Both types of blogs will continue to exist, but the Dr. Jekyll blogs will thrive and grow, where the Mr. Hyde blogs will come and go as marketing and media tides change, and individuals become disillusioned by not becoming megastars overnight.

Re: Comment Contest: Win “Full Access” Tickets to Blog World Expo

Nathan Hangen — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 17:48:05 -0000

We are already seeing glimpses of this future, but we are waiting for someone or some thing to put it all together for us.

For example, Chris Brogan uses a combination of Twitter, video blogging, WordPress blogging, and audio (via posterous) to create a full "Brogan" platform. From those feeds, you can use a service, such as Twitterfeed, to send them to a single output. Yahoo pipes, which I believe is going to assist in the future of blogging, can hep do this as well.

A single blog just doesn't capture enough of our thoughts and as Twitter continues to create this mindset of "must lifestream this instant" within many of us, we're finding new ways to blog on the go. I can use my iPhone to record voice memos and email them to posterous on my way to work. My Yahoo pipe then combines all of my RSS feeds and distributes them to Facebook, Google, Twitter, and FriendFeed. We haven't even talked about YouTube yet.

The question isn't, what is the future of blogging, instead it is "where" is the future of blogging. I'm thinking tags, cloud computing, and streaming feeds integrated into a single source. I'd venture to say that it is going to be very cool :)

Re: Comment Contest: Win “Full Access” Tickets to Blog World Expo

Nathan Hangen — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 17:41:44 -0000

I think you've nailed it. A combination of audio, video, photo, text, and messaging all rolled in to one.

Re: Comment Contest: Win “Full Access” Tickets to Blog World Expo

codygee — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 15:31:12 -0000

This is a trick question and I will tell you why. 12pm cannot be the due date because is not a specified point in time. The reason is that there is zero time between ANTE MERIDIAN (before the sun is above your head) and POST MERIDIAN (after the sun is above your head), and even if there were we could not properly label that period of time AM or PM without being incorrect or confusing.

And, if bloggers continue to insist on running contests and building their content around such fictitious and nonsensical time periods, this corresponding "future" you speak of cannot exist. In fact, in will create a lapse in time and space where the gravitational pull (see also: need for attention) every blogger inherently creates will collapse in itself, forming a interdependent ring (see also: ning, sphere) of starving purple cows...oh, and something about social media, crowd sourcing, and let's throw a 3.0 in there somewhere. Vegas baby.

Re: Comment Contest: Win “Full Access” Tickets to Blog World Expo

Michael Miranda — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 15:00:34 -0000

I think its future will be something similar to a voice command blogging similar to Star Trek with the Captain's logs.

Re: Comment Contest: Win “Full Access” Tickets to Blog World Expo

David Billson — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 14:37:05 -0000

I don't think there is any way to define where blogging is heading. Certainly with all the content that's being generated worldwide, I think part of the answer will involve aggregation and segmentation of the content. Sources like Mashable will continue to grow in importance. I believe premium content authors will continue to gain solid reputations while the newer start-ups or those that do not spend the appropriate amount of time/effort on their content will filter to the background.

However, I think trying to quantify blogging trends is much like quantum physics - by the very definition of trying to define it, you can't.

Re: Comment Contest: Win “Full Access” Tickets to Blog World Expo

kristacantrell — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 13:53:46 -0000

In the beginning blogs were “single” statements. (Most blogs are still isolated commentaries.)
Now “cluster sites” are creating social platforms.
A few insightful companies and individuals are involved in the development of “gateways and partnerships.” (It takes mashups to the next level.)
But the next cycle is really exciting for blogs, vlogging, podcasts... it’s creating “archways of information.” More than just content, it will combine a virtual environment to create “a simulated, three-dimensional world that a user can manipulate and explore while feeling as if he were in that world,” with the blogger as “personal assistant.”
Now the web becomes a “digital landscape that incorporates the illusion of depth.” (Credit to Paul Otellini for the two quotes.)
Bloggers are not a dying breed. Instead everyone will want their “personal assistant avatar” because it now gives an emotional content with a twist.

As for me, I want to go to the conference to:
• listen for the “space between the words/worlds”
• participate in the discussion of the next level of user-generated content, and
• report back what I discovered.

Re: Comment Contest: Win “Full Access” Tickets to Blog World Expo

Marlo Mckenzie — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 13:29:19 -0000

Blogging is democracy and positive change in action. It's a reminder that everyone is special and no one is special. It's a mirror on ourselves and right now we're just staring in that mirror like monkeys and slowly coming to the realization that as a human race we've been very destructive and now we have to start acting to change that.

I see the future of blogging as the heart of reclaiming community, and reclaiming that essence that makes us feel alive -- bloggers will lead the way in pointing to the change happening at the grassroots level and connect those with skills to those in need. Bloggers will be the storytellers, the griots that preserve the sacred, and preserve snapshots of history. Bloggers will push technology, yet shine a light on it where it has crossed a line. Bloggers en masse will remind us we are all connected, we are all one family and life is very very good, if that is what you choose it to be.

Re: Comment Contest: Win “Full Access” Tickets to Blog World Expo

Liz Philips — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 12:27:45 -0000

The future of blogs?? A lifestream of social media activity aggregated into "channels" on a blogging platform - you can direct relevant activities into the channel (work, personal, kids, hobby) that makes most sense so people can tune into the stuff that's relevant. Also these specific feeds can be syndicated to other networks and hubs where people congregate (think: a channel just for people who like to worm compost -- all of my feed about worm composting would be fed there). Mobile multimedia device will enable live feeds of video/audio content to one's blog. Very exciting possibilities ahead!!

Re: Comment Contest: Win “Full Access” Tickets to Blog World Expo

Sara Jantsch — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 11:37:38 -0000

The Future of Blogging:

Blogging is one of the initial and longest standing forms of internet communication. That is why it is so great – it is stable and dependable. It is not going to disappear any time soon.

In the future, I only see blogging as continuing to grow and expand. It will carry on to be a major form of communication. For example, my parents called me today to tell me all about their travels they were currently living through. The funny thing was, I knew all about their travels because of blog posts before I even talked to them. I already knew every story they were telling me. Strange that I find out more about my parents from the internet than I do from them picking up and calling me these days.

I have a couple friends traveling abroad currently and the only form of communication I have is through blogging. Also, recently we went on a family vacation with my extended family and we set up a blog for the people that could not attend. We posted pictures, funny moments and entertaining stories from the vacation for the viewers at home. Finally, my Grandparents of all people have subscribed to my RSS feed and enjoy reading my blog a few times a week. My Grandpa even clicked on a link to Twitter and now enjoys reading tweets throughout the day.

Blogging is the Future. At least in my family it is.

Re: Comment Contest: Win “Full Access” Tickets to Blog World Expo

David Cyphers — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 11:12:31 -0000

The future of blogging, you ask? No offense, but I would have thought it would be a more difficult question for such a valuable reward. I see the answer as very simple.

Blogging will be the exact same forever. It hasn't changed yet, and it won't change in the future. If it changes, it becomes something else completely (i.e. twitter). That is why blogging will always be "a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video." (wikipedia.org - about as empirical as you can get)

Now don't get me wrong - I'm not saying everything is going to stay the same. And blogging is definitely going to wane in terms of popularity, because everything has a product life cycle. (Even the internet will go out of use when we can all just communicate via telekinesis) But blogging will always be blogging. Blogs become popular for the same reasons today that they did in 1999 (yes, blogs were around back then). People value valuable information (groundbreaking insight, I know). We might have more options for the "share" button, and there will always be new ways to package our information, but blogs have value because of their content. For blogs to change in any meaningful way, the content itself would need to change. And when blogs have been used for personal journals, business insight, event updates, and just plain randomness, how ELSE could the content change? For blogs to change, we'd need something new to write about. When we've been writing almost as long as we as humans have been around (Beowulf, The Bible), that's a pretty tall order.

But if you told me that blogs would definitely change, and I had to guess how? I'd say writers would use more parentheses (because that's obviously what the popular, contest-winning blog commenters are doing).

Re: Comment Contest: Win “Full Access” Tickets to Blog World Expo

Jorge Martinez — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 10:57:52 -0000

Blogging is not going away anytime soon. The way we log and consume content will evolve and introduce new formats like RSS and tweets. Blogging as a verb may be replaced by another word coined by every-day folk but that shouldn't be a surprise. Our parents never used the term when they were younger but they definitely blogged. Back then it was called scrap booking and writing a diary.

I agree with the general consensus that as we become more mobile our logs will be much shorter. Twitter is already getting us warmed up. These personal streams will come from many sources and nit all if it will be from a traditional computer. We may be at an event some technology may allow us to share with others that we are here (foursquare) as well as allow us to contribute to what we may learn at this location. Think mobile wiki. Wiki anywhere.

What I believe will make all this work are tools like disqus and facebook connect. These tools allow us to aggregate data coming from many sources into one self contained, streamlined manner.

Re: Comment Contest: Win “Full Access” Tickets to Blog World Expo

skipfredricks — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 10:38:25 -0000

There is no future to blogging. Blogging by its archaic definition was "Web Logging" the practice of putting up a diary type long form journal on the web. Well Twitter, pretty much killed the 'blog' concept as people begin to provide minute by minute information and users began consuming minute by minute information, at one location in an easy to find app, that they could get both on-line and on a mobile device. Now add in Facebook "status Up-dates, MySpace adding Status Up Dates and even the new Yahoo mail adding a "What are You Doing Now' Button, And we have all become "bloggers" by posting our most boring minute by minute details of of lives... and non of us our bloggers.. because we are consuming that information from one destination social networks, and not receiving that information from a bloggers website blog. Who clicks on a "blog" for one individual on a mobile device, when I can follow dozens on my Twitter app. and get the information I need in a short one sentence bite, instead of in the long winded ramblings of a blogger. I'll go you one better, You Tube better re-design as more of a social network before they become irrelevant as more users continue to watch and get there videos on Face Book. Or How about RSS Feeds, Podcasting, There days are numbered as Social Networking is going to make all of those content aggregation platforms obsolete as people get their content from Social Networks both online, mobile and thru mobile apps.

Re: Comment Contest: Win “Full Access” Tickets to Blog World Expo

Phil — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 10:08:45 -0000

There is no future of blogging, it will die.

Re: Comment Contest: Win “Full Access” Tickets to Blog World Expo

George Angerbauer — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 09:56:31 -0000

Blogging is a one-to-many medium and, like its print media progenitors, will be (and already is, in part) subsumed within the larger digital sphere. It will not die, however, but will evolve in its own right -- as in mobile, geo-spacial, and voice dictation integration -- and become part of the granular texture of increasingly personal, relevant, and monetizable networks that harvest content to support the many-to-many entities and relationships that are the future of the web.

Re: Comment Contest: Win “Full Access” Tickets to Blog World Expo

Kyle Hansen — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 09:54:27 -0000

The future of blogging is making things more simple, more organized by topic and area of interest. Also, the mainstream needs to have a more simple way to access blogs. There needs to be a way for the mainstream to believe in the credibility of blogs.

Re: Comment Contest: Win “Full Access” Tickets to Blog World Expo

samwallace — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 09:40:20 -0000

Woodstock era activist/entrepreneur ready to move into 21st century. Looking for a future beyond tie-dye. The journey is the future.

Re: Comment Contest: Win “Full Access” Tickets to Blog World Expo

CharitySaysSo — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 09:01:53 -0000

“What is the future of blogging? I think blogging will evolve.Blogs will become Facebook 'Notes' and Flicker image descriptions and anything else that can be read online. In my opinion, all of the status updates on social networking sites are merely simple blog entries.

Blogging is a fundamental aspect of our social web today, providing freedom of expression to so many who blog or comment on blogs; it will continue to be a concept used by our future social web; just an evolved concept.

Re: Comment Contest: Win “Full Access” Tickets to Blog World Expo

Jenna — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 08:38:17 -0000

The future of blogging is much like the future of the world: uncertain. The ins and outs of what will happen, what will become and how we will get there in one piece aren't easily determined. There are, however, some tried and true facts that will follow the blogging world wherever we go:

1) Trolls will always troll. Those that find comfort and power in the anonymity of sitting in a dark room with their fingers on a keyboard will continue to harass others. Technical changes in our blogging future might make it more difficult but, in fact, it could also become easier.

2) Bad writers will still write. Blogging has opened the writing world to people who have no concern for grammar, spelling or coherence. Technological advances won't magically remove them from the blogosphere. In fact, if blogging becomes even more accessible, the number of bad writers will continue to rise.

3) Thankfully, good writers will still exist. Gems of blogs will still pop up, drawing in readers like moths to flames. Their existence will make up for point number two, causing us to forget about the existence of their lesser counterparts for the length of time it takes to read their well-crafted post. We will aspire to be like them and we will fail. We will talk about them over dinner as if they are our real life friends. These writers and their artistic counterparts (photographers, physical artists and so on) will justify the blogosphere.

I don't know much about the future of blogging other than those three points. I do hope, however, that the changes awaiting us will provide me with a wealth of knowledge and laughs over my lifetime.

Re: Comment Contest: Win “Full Access” Tickets to Blog World Expo

gally82 — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 07:18:51 -0000

Well the future of blogging isn't a simple description. We will never take over the news media. The news media will eventually incorporate us. Twitter has shown what a valuable tool it is. If twitter had never become the go to access point of public/media then ESPN would never have banned it's employees from using it to relate news. I thoroughly believe that at some point all the major outlets will buy out the smaller blogs. This is by no means a reflection of the quality of smaller blogs, but rather the need for the large news operations to stay on top.

This doesn't mean we will be diluted by any means at all. Instead, it more likely means that there will be more competition to be one of the blogs bought by the larger sites. This increased competition will improve the quality of reporting. Instead of a few jerk offs writing news, or specifically sports news, there will be millions. That means, that we will all know everything once it happens.

It doesn't just mean that there will be increased competition though. The expanded knowledge will help all interested parties. The increased competition will help all those involved become greater writers. I may not be the greatest writer, but I am getting better. If the blogging world didn't exist, than I wouldn't be participating. If I was not participating, then I wouldn't have the chance to become a great sports writer.

Where the future of blogging exist's is potential. Without the access and potential to contribute to the sports world, those of us that didn't realize that we could be great writers, would never do that. The chance to practice and receive ongoing commentary is what makes those of us that have never been to J school great. If I were to publish a book now, it would likely be very poorly received. Nobody would know who I am or what I do. Blogging allows us to practice our trade and receive valuable feedback from others. This feedback is what makes others great.

Sure Posnanski might have had the talent to be a great writer. But without the blogging world to practice upon and receive feedback, he might never have become great. Instead of having one editor, he has many editors. We read his columns, and those of us that do not, are recommended to by other bloggers.

Blogging has become an infinite chain of learning, developing and writing. We are all out here reading one another and helping each other out. We also recommend the best of us to all of our friends. That is what makes it special. There's an internal feedback loop, which if not followed means that we won't be promoted or followed.

The Future of blogging is instant access to information of all kinds. To take it a step further means that, we will have access to good information. The good/great authors/storytellers will get everything across. The rest of us, will have access to second rate information from those of us that were not able to blog interestingly/correctly/popularly.

Re: Comment Contest: Win “Full Access” Tickets to Blog World Expo

Laurent Rozenfeld — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 05:03:22 -0000

The future of blogging is Harry Potter!!!

Or should I rather say The Daily Prophet! I see a future where Kindle and the like will be replaced by wifi equipped electronic paper that will have mashups of texts, videos and sound sourcing from newspapers, magazines, TV, mobile phones and of course blogs and other social media streamlined in real time. Blogs will become mainstream and merge with the rest and the speed of reaction from “social media” users will increase drastically.

Your e-paper will be your connection to personalized information and the main communication tool will be the mobile phone (or an integrated camera and microphone for version 2.0). You will be able to create your own templates such as professional paper or tabloid style. You will also be able to select the content based on the time of the day or filter on interest. This means there is room for all kind of “blogs” whether personal or professional. The way we will gather our information, apprehend it, use it and share it will change.

Most blogs will become vlogs. People will use their mobile phones and e-paper to share their thoughts and experiences or comment other peoples’ threads. This of course will be updated real time.
e-Paper is actually the future of Microsoft Surface, pdas and smartphones; it’s portable and yet has a much larger screen, bendable and will not break if falling, it will recognize your movements and the way you fold it, etc. and blogging will play a great role in helping to adopt such a tool.

Of course it also means that there will be full integration between different platforms such as blogs, social network, etc.

Did someone say FB Connect???

And the beauty of this? Adverts will be interactive and totally personalized and you will be able to differentiate between free and paid content. It will actually help revive the dwindling business of paper press.

Only issue I see is energy consumption…
Well you know what you have to do, start investing in wireless energy transfer systems :)

Is this sci-fi? Well, maybe till 2019 July 29th…

Re: Comment Contest: Win “Full Access” Tickets to Blog World Expo

Doug Camplejohn — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 02:54:51 -0000

When television was first invented, people didn’t know what to do with the medium and were filmed reading radio scripts in front of a microphone.

This seems silly now, but early blogs have also borrowed from known media metaphors, and in a few years I think our early blogging efforts will look just as quaint.

I think blogs of the future will look less like a conference speaker or panel talking to an audience who ask questions and comment at the microphones.

I think blogs of the future will look more like a gathering place for individuals with shared interests, with conversations and updates about those interests streaming into the site from many places in real-time.

I think these sites will have simple but powerful tools that let you filter the signal from the noise based on your location, social graph, and other deeply personal filters.

I think these sites will have ways of letting this filtered conversation continue to follow you, even when you’re away from the site.

I think I’m excited for this future.