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been said that blogging and the social web contributed to the popularity and
influence of the US President Barak Obama during his campaign. The ques-
tion today is no longer linked to whether blogs are widely adopted but rather
their relevance to different parties, including luxury companies.
Everyone who blogs believes they have something to say until they are
put on the blog pedestal where they have to say it. Then it becomes clear
that perhaps not many people are interested in what they have to say or the
way that they say it. This reality has led to the disappearance of more than
200 million blogs according to Technorati. It has also led to the diminish-
ing of activities on several blogs as today as much as 45 percent of blogs
are updated every three months on average, which is very low in comparison
with the average weekly updates of blogs in general.
This filtering process will continue as the credible professionals with
expert knowledge in different domains emerge as the leaders in the blogo-
sphere. The non-expert bloggers who are passionate enough to be involved in
key issues in their domains will also prevail even if they are not necessarily
literary experts. These are the people that will obtain the most visibility and
authority in their domains. Blog readers will also become experts in scanning
blogs and deciphering the core value of every blog. What will happen for sure
is that the category of blogs that are self-promotional stunts or plain jokes
will disappear as their irresponsibility becomes unacceptable to readers.
Although blogs are unlikely to replace traditional media, they will be
strong contenders for the attention and influence of the wider public. The
blogosphere will propel the strongest blogs towards brand status and on
this pedestal they will be able to compete with the
New York Time
s, the
Herald Tribune
s, the
BusinessWeek
s, the
Le Monde
s, the
Vogue
s and the
Harper's Baazar
s of the media world. Several blogs like Beauty Addict,
Café Mode and Who What Wear are well on their way to attaining this
status. These blogs have their readers also as their editors and fact veri-
fiers and they will remain accountable to them, making their roles dual and
dependent. This is a unique and positive relationship dynamic which the
traditional media will not be able to attain. However, the traditional media
will be forced to recognize and quote the credible blogs in their editorial
features. Blogs will also challenge the distribution of print media such as
newspapers and magazines as they draw millions to their websites while
print media readers decline. Already, people first check fashion news on
blogs instead of magazines and this will be even further adopted in the
future in other categories.
By now, you will likely agree that the idea of blogging will never dis-
appear. What will continue to evolve is its process and structure. Blogs
will undergo fundamental changes as more interactive media elements like
videos, animations and widgets are incorporated in them to drive home the
messages that the text and images are doing today. There will also likely
be the evolution of microblogging, which will be seen more in mainstream
