I simply cannot see the point of Facebook, which probably isn’t helped by the fact that I find it more difficult to navigate through it than I do to do most things in my blog. The concept of writing in 140 characters or less is anathema to me and I don’t link enough for a tumbleblog to work. So I suppose I’ll stick to blogging (and being on Ning – but only for the NaBloPoMo, not because I’m using it as the social networking tool it was designed to be).

You rightly point out that the mainstream media is moving more into the blogging arena. I think that was part of the thesis of Paul Boutin’s article though. The original buzz about blogging was that it was normal people who had an amazingly easy way to reach a large audience. Now, supposedly, the little people are being crowded out by the big players like the media, corporate blogs and so on. I don’t agree with that though — I think little people can coexist peacefully with the big players.

As for whether British / Scottish blogging can reach the dizzy heights that American bloggers have, I am more pessimistic. I think every country in the world gazes longingly at the American blogosphere. I was listening to a Canadian podcast a couple of weeks ago that lamented the poor state of the Canadian blogosphere compared to the USA’s. There is obviously something special about the USA that makes its blogosphere so vibrant. Hopefully we’ll grow in our own way though.

Stuart W — I think you’re right. Certainly, the ephemeral nature of diary-style posts means that it’s easier for people to become tired of it, while if you’re writing about politics or some other fast-moving topic you’re more likely to have new stuff to talk about all the time.

Blogging software does evolve over time. I think, though, that with the advent of tumblelogging, blogging per se has been forced into a corner where it is more about the in-depth article, while the snappier stuff gets counted as a tumblelog. In the end, though, it’s the very flexibility of blogging that means that it will ultimately endure.

Of course, these rules aren’t hard and fast, and two of the commenters above perhaps illustrate this point; Jeff’s SNP Tactical Voting seems to comprise a mix of diary-type entries together with longer, more in-depth articles, while Ideas of Civilisation concentrates almost exclusively on the latter, as he himself states.

From my perspective the diary-style stuff seems only of ephemaral interest, and perhaps that’s why those writing it also get fed up and change their style and/or move onto other mediums.

Blogging software is quite flexible, and it’s probably truer to say that its utilisation is evolving rather than in terminal decline. The software itself will probably change to reflect this, as indeed I think has already happened. but I’m sure Doc Vee knows a lot more about that than me.

I don’t really get Twitter, it seems a bit shiny and skin-deep. Like a text relative to an email. Or a french fancy relative to a chocolate gateaux. We are seeing the Guardian and the Times build and build on their blog pages; I don’t see that trend reversing any time soon.

For me, despite many temptations, I did decide to not stop over this lean period so I guess I have taken a rather Keynesian approach that in this blogging downturn, more output is required, not less.

Burn out is perhaps around the corner, who knows.

Any thoughts on if/when British blogging will make the leap up to American levels? Could Scottish blogging even reach those heady heights where some sites actually have significance and real pulling power?

I wonder…

Rather like Facebook, etc these things always have a greater impact at the start. The longer they’re about though the harder they get to maintain.

I certainly don’t write as much as even a couple of months ago and think that’s the general scenario across the Scottish blogging scene. I think SNP Tactical Voting’s the one possible exception.

I suppose a downturn might become self-perpetuating. Whilst ultimately I write for myself (helps clarify thoughts as much as anything else) it’s good if other people, albeit a very small group, read and engage with it. If that’s not happening it becomes less easy to motivate yourself to do it.