Shel Israel makes the point that blogging is normalizing, and I think he’s right on the mark here.  The discussion among several bloggers is that blogging is “cooling off”, or becoming less popular.  It may be true, but Shell posits the idea that there are additional social media tools and services that people are migrating to.

The social media webscape has changed in the last two years, not so much because people are becoming less enamored of blogging, but because of additional outlets.  Micro-blogging services like Twitter (and Jaiku, Pownce, and Hictu) are making huge changes in the conversation.  Social networking sites like the now-booming Facebook, or LinkedIn are bringing new ways to connect, network, and share in the conversation.

He points out that we all enjoy talking about the latest thing, whether its blogging, Facebook, iPhone or Harry Potter.  Its what’s new that takes up a large part of the popular conversation and media attention.  Many of us still use landline telephones even though we also have mobile phones.  The analog clock is still popular even though digital clocks are abundant and easier to read at a glance.  We still read newspapers despite radio, television, and the Internet.

Blogging is another medium that, at this point, is maturing.  It’s entering that next stage, past fad, where it grows up a bit.  Starts getting more respected, more widespread.  The determined professional bloggers are what will emerge in the next months and years – many have been with it since the beginning, a decade ago.

As new technologies and ideas of new ways to communicate are developed, the conversation is naturally going to jump onto these platforms.  Some will thrive, others will bust, but one thing is for sure.  The conversation will continue.

Via: Global Neighbourhoods – Blogging. Not passe, just normalizing