Follow-up on "the problems of maturity"

I like this idea of putting out a synopsis and getting feedback, I think it will really help the writing the process.

Today, Neville Hobson and Shel Holtz spent a few minutes discussing my outline on their excellent PR / new media podcast - For Immediate Release - basically I think they were of the view that revolution is an early stage and the fervour dies away naturally but so what? Shel says people can still do 'revolutionary' stuff with their blogs. I'll have to think about that! I kinda assumed that if the passion goes out of it then that means blogs just become websites.

One point that did occur to me today is about audience size. If it doesn't matter about audience size, as one of the reviewers of my proposal commented, then what is the advantage of blogs over chat groups, email lists etc. Its easier, granted, but are blogs a big deal if they don't get audience sizes that allow them to make an impact.

Also Simon Jackson has posted a long response at transmIT. Some excerpts:

Every technology goes through this maturing process; it is not usually a bad thing. For example, it's arguable that blogs represent the maturing of the internet - remember when we were all learning HTML and starting web sites? As they mature, technologies move from fad, to acceptance, to institution. This process creates myriad opportunities, many more than the initial breakthrough. Nothing stays a revolution forever; what will blogging be when the revolution has finished?

Participation may also suffer when audiences get very large - something the scale of a newspaper, for example. Instead of the online discussions that occasionally break out now, comments may become the equivalent of the mainstream media's letters to the editor.

coming up with novel, fresh content is difficult. The rate of churn may be high in blogging, especially ego blogs, where the blogger is the blog. Editorial type blogs, where news on a small range of topics is gathered and analysed, will be longer lasting.

Thanks guys, keep the ideas and comments coming!