This is sort of a response to a recent post over at A Modern Mother called The Sate of British Mummy Blogging 2009 and predictions for 2010. It shouldn’t be interpreted as an attack however. Just an alternative point of view. And I promise I’m not sulking just because she said “Mummy and not “Parent”. This also isn’t a judgment about how anyone else chooses to write their blog.
Despite that caveat however I suspect that I’m still going to get jumped on and shouted at, but here goes:
There is currently a lot of hype in the UK parent blogger scene surrounding the growing influence and power of bloggers. People are pointing to the vultures circling print media and citing it as evidence that blogging will lead the way in the new world order. That blogs will become as widely read as newspapers and will be the new source of information in the internet age.
Which lets face it, is bollocks.
Ultimately blog audiences are very small. I, for example, am currently placed at number ten on the Tots 100 index, so theoretically I am the tenth most read and influential UK parent blogger. Last month I was even at number 4. Yet according to my statcounter the average number of unique hits I get a day is 88. Feedburner says that I have just over 200 subscribers. These aren’t statistics that are going to have The Sunday Times quivering in its boots.
Blogging is dying if anything. Maybe not the UK parenting blogs, but certainly in general. Twitter has killed, or at least seriously injured, a number of great blogs, from Raging Dad to Mere Bagatell, and I’m sure it will kill many more. And when people get bored of twitter, they will move onto the next thing – just like they have left blogging.
I may well be one of them. I may well abandon this blog and become a hardcore user of Flingding, or Beepaboop, or whatever social media trend is round the next corner. Don’t get me wrong, I love blogging and for the moment I’m happy enough pottering about in the blogosphere, blathering away about whatever happens to catch my fancy. The world of blogging is still very exciting to me, and still has a multitude of wonderful possibilities (take my brand new blog Lee and Dan’s Midnight Movie Club for example. *plug plug*). But I’m not naive enough to think I’ll still be doing this thirty years from now – I’ll be far too busy playing on my hover-board and eating my dinner in tablet form for that sort of stuff.
I can’t help feeling that all this hype is just an enormous artificially inflated bubble. That the reality is that the only people reading blogs are the other bloggers. There may be over 800 members of the British Mummy Bloggers Network, and those bloggers may all have 200 subscribers each. But that does not translate into 160,000 readers because all of these people are simply reading each other. Lets face it, Bloggers aren’t going to be impressed by your positive review of the new clothing range at NEXT, because just last week they got offered the same £25 voucher to review it too.
Just as a way of an experiment, if you are reading this and don’t have a blog of your own raise your hand to be counted in the comments section. I will be very interested to see the ratio of non-bloggers reading this, but I suspect it will be under 20%.
As you may know, this spring Think Parents gave me a blu-ray player and a bunch of Disney disks to review. And every month or so they send a few more for me to take a look at. There is no way on earth that my reviews have made Disney back the money they have spent on me. No possible way. Even Dad Who Writes’ excellent UNISON metaphor post doesn’t convince me (as a quick aside: that UNISON post is also very relevant to an discussion Tysdaddy and I were having over on his blog. I’ve said it before, but I nominate Dad Who Writes for International President of the Internet)
So my prediction for 2009 is that this whole PR explosion and blogging hype is going to die a death, and the medium will return to the grass roots sub-culture from which it emerged (albeit with significantly increased numbers). Companies will realize that they could reach an equivalently sized audience if they set up a small stall outside the Packhorse shopping centre in Huddersfield, and then begin to wonder why they are bothering. I’m not saying that it’s a good thing, and I’m not saying that it’s a bad thing. And I know I’m certainly going to take advantage of it while it’s still here. I’ve abused my position on the Tot’s 100 to pries £190 out of PRs in aid of The Joseph Salmon Trust this month alone, and what’s more have managed to maintain a feeling of integrity – hurrah!
But this blogging is bigger than jesus thing is a bubble; and bubbles tend to burst.
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Interesting, Dan. I think the bubble will inflate a lot more before the bubble bursts, so I don’t think it will be dying a death in 2010 although possibly later. I agree the majority of people reading our blogs (yes I have one don’t you know!) are other bloggers but my ‘most powerful’ and I’d like to think ‘supportive’ posts are read by non-bloggers, so there are other readers too although they are in the minority as you say. I enjoy blogging and connecting with other bloggers so will continue to do so while I gain something from it. I am enjoying the other benefits that have been presented to me, which have come as a pleasant surprise. Yes I got a £30 voucher for writing about the Next clothing range, but if I’d hated it I would have said so and still received the voucher. Will companies realise that they are in fact reaching a much smaller audience than they realised or hoped? Yes I expect so, but it may take them longer than a year, and in that time who knows what will happen. When I first started blogging two years ago I could not have predicted how the blogosphere would look today and the BMB network was unheard it. Thought-provoking post. Those ones are certainly the best!
Rosie Scribble´s last blog ..Wish you were here?
@Rosie Scribble, I wasn’t refering to you alone about the NEXT thing obviously, and only mentioned it because it was the first hing that came to mind. I know you maintained your integrity throughout (although you recently said you admired Singleparentdad, so while you may have integrity, your judgment is impared)
I too blog for the community of it, and would certainly carry on without the freebies (as you knw, I’m still not sure I even WANT the freebies). But I’m interested that you agree that there is a bubble
Will you Shmeng me on Flingding?
Twitter surprised me with how great it was as a conference call, but it’s very different from blogging. Time spent on Twitter means less time to write or to read favorite blogs, but what attracts people to good blogs can only be found on good blogs.
When it comes to blogs replacing “real media,” I have to say I get to watch the news during the day, but most of my news comes from The Huffington Post.
And for now, everything is mixed.
A couple of months ago, a poll appeared on Facebook, asking people if they thought President Obama should be shot because he was trying to reform health care.
A blogger wrote a post about it and added screen shots on her blog. She then wrote about it on Twitter. It got so much buzz on Twitter, that all TV stations mentioned it and the blogger was interviewed on CNN, where her blog was mentioned. Now everyone knew about the story. And no one would have known about it without one of these: a blog, Twitter, CNN.
I don’t see how newspapers can survive unless they move online, though.
And I bet that even with 88 daily readers, Disney sees it as worthwhile, you know?
People in the Sun´s last blog ..Speaking of Bottom-Loading Water Coolers,
@People in the Sun, Twitter replaces blogging for those who do it for the social contact rather than the joy of writing. Maybe. It certainly is a lot less effort.
I take your point about getting news from the Huffington Post, but in my oppinion that stopped being a true “blog” a long time ago. Certainly my own deffinition of a blog anyhow. Sure, it’s not a traditional print media type of thing, but it’s closer to that than it is to my blog.
And i take your point about the facebook story. But it was a non story really, a bit of filler rahter thna hard news. Although I’m sure hard news has been broken via blogs too.
What you say is absolutely spot on, for 99% of blogs & bloggers. Absolutely correct.
There is 1% though, and I’m probably rounding up, that break through the circular blogging thing and get read by a reasonable proportion of the surfing public.
These tend to be in the social commentary or a specialty genre, which ‘parenting’ or ‘mummying’ is not.
Martin´s last blog ..The kraampakket
@Martin, often though that 1% that gets a really big audience morphs out of being a blog and into being an online column/magazine, just due to the hugeness of the audience and so the impracticalities of engaging with them,.
The exception of course is Boin boing, which manages to still feel like a community (although not one i feel part of)
@Dan, I don’t understand your answer, at all.
Martin´s last blog ..The kraampakket
@Martin, my point was basically that that 1% you were talking about generally ceases becoming a blog as soon as it’s readership gets too unmanageable to intereact with. lets call it at 100-150 comments a post.
I would argue that once the writer stops knowing who 75% of their audience are then the blog morphs into an online magazine rather than a blog.
Dan´s last blog ..Sunday Morning Uketube
@Dan, I get you.
I think one plus point of blogs for advertisers is it’s cheap. Throw in the one in a hundred possibility that they jump on one of the blogs that breaks through to the serious numbers, then they have a real return on a small outlay.
But it’s hit and miss, playing with numbers and taking a chance that one will pay off.
Martin´s last blog ..The kraampakket
(I wish he’d stop saying that – readers of my previous blog know I’m just as likely to throw bricks as deliver ‘balanced’ judgements.)
I suppose my response would be that blogs may very well be a dead end for marketers – but if they colonize people’s creativity in the name of brands on blogs, whatever media follows will go the same way. Blogs aren’t threatened – independent, thoughtful, unmediated expression is – or the consumption of same. Think about the imminent arrival of product placement as a means of funding TV and the influence that gives advertisers, for example.
And I agree that it seems to be the same people talking to each other and trying to build an audience. At some point, that really is going to cause a massive Weimar style inflation cycle and then everything will go back to normal…
dadwhowrites´s last blog ..A night with little elf and her ear infection
@dadwhowrites, I understood about three words in that.
DAD WHO WRITES FOR PRESIDENT!!
@dadwhowrites, I have googled Weimar cycles and the best it could come up with is this bike repair shop in Texas.
http://www.weimarbicyclerepair.com/
You are officially cleverer than google.
DAD WHO WRITES FOR PRESIDENT!!
@Dan, Oh I give up. I’ll be president if you’ll be Dick Cheyney and actually run things. And like, totally own the Dark Side…
dadwhowrites´s last blog ..A night with little elf and her ear infection
But the Tots100 doesn’t measure number of readers – it considers who’s linking to content, it considers Postrank.com which considers how many comments and how much content is spread across social bookmarking and it considers how much the bloggers are engaging with their audience – stats aren’t publicly available so they aren’t included. So blogs like AOL’s Parentdish which gets massive traffic or LivingwithKids which has a loyal readership and is excellently and professionally promoted doesn’t register as well as a blog where a parent is involved with a community and has, say submitted posts for carnivals, diligenctly replied to comments and the like. I was under the impression that most blogs got around 200-300 individual visitors most days, that’s what I get, with lost more on a day when I post something that gathers a bit of pace. I have 625 readers by Feedburner. In the three years I have been blogging I’ve had around 16,000 returning readers.
When we posted at http://www.havealovelytime.com about the Frankfurt Motor Show, we were able, through Facebook and Twitter and other means to drive the traffic to that post up to around 10,000 hits. So the numbers are there – they aren’t being measured by a table though.
While these figures won’t ever rival the massive readership of a national newspaper’s website, what they offer is a selected audience that have already bought into the ethos of your blog and likely to be interested in the sorts of products or services that PRs are aiming to target at their chosen group, in this case parents. The ripple effect of a chain of conversation – the much sought after ‘word of mouth’ is what the PRs are after and they know bloggers are more likely to have the trust of their readers than a newspaper, because they have worked harder to build up a following and so on. I don’t think this will die out at all and as advertising budgets are shrunk, I think such strategies will increase.
Personally I’d love to see more diverse voices in blogging and in parent blogging – take a step back and it can all seem pretty self-indulgent, and very, very middle class as mums find time to blog while other people clean their houses. I don’t suppose the lady holding down three jobs has time to do it somehow.
Linda´s last blog ..Please help me raise money for children with cancer
@Linda, It’s true that my blog is pretty small fry, and i’ll be the first to admit I really don’t merit a place in any “top 10″. However I don’t classify Parentdish as a blog – it may use a blogging platform, but it’s an online magazine. The same is true to a lesser extent of many of the more “professionaly” produced review blogs, and even “personal” blogs like Alphamummy.
And while others may get more readers than me, I would still argue that they are still from that same pool of people. Those 800 bloggers in a huge circle jerk (pardon my french).
I certainly don’t “trust” many reviews and promotions featured on blogs. Especially as I’ve often also received the bribing PR pitch offering vouchers, which strangely don’t seem to get mentioned on the post (despite a “blogging with integrity” badge). Take that Robinson’s panto promotion for example. I wonder why it is that various people are so frantic that people join in.
You’re right that blogging is a very self indulgent middle class (or at least lower middle class) platform. Much like twitter is. Facebook is the social media of choice for the working class (wow! huge sweeping generalisations here).
to be honest you may well be right about it all, you certainly are a lot more media savy than me. But then again it is in your interest for this not to be a bubble, so my opinion on your opinion is tempered by that :).
Lets all meet up in the year 2011 and find out.
@Dan, You see? A bona fide Weimar bicycle if I ever heard one…
dadwhowrites´s last blog ..A night with little elf and her ear infection
I couldn’t agree with you more. Blogging will remain nothing but a niche news source for a very small number of people. I don’t see even the most popular blog (Dooce, for example) approaching the readership and influence of the so-called dying old media.
The problem is not what people are reading, but that they are even reading at all. A blog just can’t compete with TV and radio for all the lazy people out there who want their Entertainment-Sports-Weather (in that order) laid out for their eyeballs at the end of the day.
Blogging has to remain a personal creative outlet, and a way to join the global conversation among like-minded parents (and homeschoolers, in my case). Any other expectation will lead to a slow burnout.
@Idaho Dad, I looked at Dooce’s google reader stats the other day (which is part of what inspired me to write this). she only has 5,000 readers. And this is the most popular mummy blogger in the world.
Blogging and twittering has become big news because the people who actually produce the news are doing it. All these media types are hyping up the medium to an extent far greater than it’s reality. Facebook is a phenomenon I grant you – but bloging and twitter – maybe it’s all pervasive for the cultural hipsters, but the majority of society the internet is for porn, facebook, and breaking copyright laws.
@Dan, Wow, I didn’t realize I was so close to Dooce’s Google readership. Only 4,870 more subscribers to go!
I absolutely agree with you on all counts. Although I’m still getting promotional offers (all of which I refuse) even though I post about once a month and have only 20 or so readers left. As soon as PR firms catch up with statistics like that, bloggers won’t be so attractive.
@Darren, yeas. It’s just a matter of “when” rather than “if” they will come to their senses.
Dan´s last blog ..An Alternative State of British Parent Blogging 2009
But you still trust the blogs you trust if you see what I mean so that’s why they are a prize worth having for PRs/marketers exploring ways to ‘connect’ with parents. Disney even has a panel of mum bloggers in the US who go in and tell them what they think about park safety, accessibility, that sort of thing. They’ve chosen mums to become ‘ambassadors’ for their brand – something that has many wanting to run screaming for the hills. When I blogged so enthusiastically about going to Disney I was beside myself – I think I may even have wanted to not like the Disney experience, I worked myself into a right stress about loving it! It was a risky strategy for Disney when I went with a group of mum bloggers – most wrote before that they were dreading it, their readers also took great pleasure in telling it straight that wild horses couldn’t drag them there. When I post that I had a great time, I also posted that this was a PR trip, hosted and free – I don’t think any of the travel articles I wrote for newspapers included this footnote.
Yeah it’s definitely in my interest to see blogging as important and influential and don’t forget it’s also something that helps me earn a living – one of the reasons audiences have been said to move to blogs over ‘old media’ is because papers don’t listen and don’t repsond etc – and bloggers do. As a reader I prefer genuine heartfelt voices and discovering beautiful writing and a sense of community through blogging has been a revelation. Blogs are also filling gaps not filled by mainstream media in terms of support for specific groups – that’s why my blog was set up in the first place and that’s why communities and sections of society can find a new voice in blogging – which is brilliant. I really hope that this doesn’t die out and can’t see why it would.
But yes the ‘parent blogging community as a circle jerk’ – I can entirely see what you mean.
For me a blog is any site produced through blogging software and I wouldn’t know where to draw the line and think about what was and what wasn’t a blog!
Hey don’t forget LinkedIn :) I once interviewed a businessman in Europe and he said that when he looked me up on LinkedIn and couldn’t see me, he wondered whether I existed or not!
I think having read what you’ve written and what I’ve written in the comments there is plenty you say here that I agree with – there are plenty of people in the parenting blogging ‘community’ who have never read my blog and have no intention of doing so. I’m a nosey old so and so and look at plenty. Good day to you and all the best. x
Linda´s last blog ..Please help me raise money for children with cancer
@Linda, I haven’t looked at linkedIn. but then again I’ve not got the level of ambition in my profession that means networking is important (thank god, as I’m dreadful at it).
Kerry has an account there though.
As for the agreeing thing – no we dont!! (oh ok, we do).
Good day to you too madam.
Dan´s last blog ..An Alternative State of British Parent Blogging 2009
I find this debate all very interesting, but inconsequential for me as a blogger. Much like you I really don’t think my blog would every be influential (I have half the numbers of readers compared to you) and to be honest, I actually don’t care. It’s fun, for me it’s an opportunity to write which I wouldn’t otherwise get, end of story. I actually don’t care which way blogging is going or even if it’s not going anywhere. Am I alone in this?
cartside´s last blog ..Winter in Pollok Country Park
@cartside, you’re not alone in that I’ll keep on doing this until I get bored, no matter what happens. but it is an interesting cultural phenomenon, and i find this sort of stuff facinating to navel gaze about.
Dan´s last blog ..An Alternative State of British Parent Blogging 2009
I’m a non-blogging non-mommy (rather, step mother) blog reader from Seattle. I really have no desire to start my own blog either (am not patient enough and am too private of a person, but love to snoop in on other’s lives). I DETEST Twitter – it’s incredibly boring. I don’t really want to know what everyone is doing every second of the day. I enjoy reading thougtful retellings of stories with personal insights included, which is what draws me to read blogs.
@Holly, in Twitter’s defence, the people who use it best do so as a massive chat room rather than a way to document life’s minutia. You can find a lot of very funny one liners on there if you follow the right people.
However, you’re right – it doesn’t allow for the depth and involvement of blogging, and will never replace it for me.
Thanks for raising your hand :)
Dan´s last blog ..An Alternative State of British Parent Blogging 2009
I shall raise my hand and be counted as not having a blog of my own, per se, however, I am one of these odd archaic people who refuses to give up myspace and do, on rare occasion, use its blog feature.
@frank, myspace? Is that still going?
Thanks for raising your hand:)
Dan´s last blog ..An Alternative State of British Parent Blogging 2009
@Dan, I did say archaic, did I not? I meant it. So, yes, it still exists, and is still used, just not to the extent of many others.
Well I do have a blog and have been arriving at the same conclusions as you, Dan: I can no longer get excited about PR requests because when I decide to write a post about whatever it is that has grabbed my interest, I then read the same post over and over again by all the other parent bloggers. Boring! Like you, I am amazed that PR companies are so keen to engage with me/my blog. Perhaps it’s just so cheap (free!) for them to try that it’s worth trying. If I write a post mentioning them, it’s free publicity. I’m now only offering free publicity to companies I feel strongly about and otherwise, I’ll be accepting bribes to put ads in my sidebar!
rachel pattisson´s last blog ..Lyrics As You’d Never Imagined Them
@rachel pattisson, Yes, it is slightly comical when you see the same PR post spread around the blogosphere.
Dan´s last blog ..An Alternative State of British Parent Blogging 2009
I suppose it depends on why you write a blog in the first place. I write mine for two reasons – first so I’ve got a record of what we did as my daughter grew up, and second so family and friends who live far away can keep up with how she’s getting on. So it’s not about trying to make money. But there are undoubtedly bloggers who are more interested in trying to make a career out of their writing, and I don’t blame them for banging the drum in an attempt to earn some proper cash for their efforts.
However, I’ve been a journalist for many years, and I’m not exactly expressing a surprising opinion when I say that times have never been worse for the traditional media (except the BBC). Whichever way you slice it, there’s just a lot less money in it than there used to be. I suppose it’s possible some individual bloggers may grab a slice of that diminishing advertising pie, especially if they are former media workers who bring skills and contacts with them into the blogosphere. But they will be few and far between. And they won’t be able to retire on what they make.
@Richard, and ultimately, the reasons you blog (and also the connecting with a community of like minded people) are the reasons that are going to survive the bubble explosion. It’s those that feel that they are somehow involved in powering forward the cultural zeitgeist that are going to burnout and become disappointed.
Dan´s last blog ..An Alternative State of British Parent Blogging 2009
One thing about the influence of promotions on blogs. I don’t think any PR person believes that my review of a cookbook is going to sell more than 1 or 2 copies.
But, reading “the same post over and over again” by other parent bloggers creates a buzz, or at least puts the product into enough heads, and that’s exactly what the PR people are looking for.
@Idaho Dad, yeah, that’s the UNISON argument. But I’m still not convinced, mainly because many of the people affected by the buzz are getting the free review copies too.
Dan´s last blog ..An Alternative State of British Parent Blogging 2009
I was about to raise my hand too, then remembered this: http://sleepstarvedandsemisane.blogspot.com/
but I don’t think two posts (and two comments) in two years counts… does it? :)
But please, DO continue! You may have less readers than the Tasmanian Mercury, but you’re a far more interesting and entertaining read!
@essgeethree, strangely enough there is a very real possibility we may end up living in Tasmania within the next 5 years. it’s one of my dreams and I have Australian citizenship (I want Tasmania because I think I could cope with the weather better than somewhere hotter)
And thanks for raising your hand :)
Dan´s last blog ..An Alternative State of British Parent Blogging 2009
@Dan, Just a warning: Australia is entirely populated with criminals! Tasmania doubly so! :) (Would you also believe that the last person I know who moved here from the UK is a mental health nurse by profession?!?)
Hope it all works out for you; I love the place!
Great post dan. One of the things that first struck me about parent blogs was absolutely the circle jerkiness (not really a term, but oh well) it all was and is. Obviously I am in that circle and I enjoy the community, but I have to wonder if there isn’t something skewing our perceptions. Those of us who blog or use social
media in general are of course more likely to comment on blogs as well. We are more comfortable with entering a conversation. I would guess that most of my readers don’t blog. But the ones that comment do (or they are related to me). However some of that may be that I straddle the crafty world as well with a lot of readers coming through the ultimate in social media… Ravelry (facebook for knitters).
@Slugs, it’s good to have a number of different circles in which to jerk (this metaphor is starting to make me a little queezy), and your links to the Ravelry community certainly makes you a more unique case.
You think those guys would read my blog? I wear woolen jumpers occasionally, so that’s relevant right?
Dan´s last blog ..An Alternative State of British Parent Blogging 2009
Nice post Dan. Agree it’s a bubble – but much bigger than what you indicate. People other than bloggers are reading, it’s just that bloggers are more likely to comment. Just looked at my stats for last year and I had 20,328 absolute unique visitors. Sorry about the use of mummy bloggers – just tired of being PC. And I argue that the Disney posts are read — just typed “disney blu ray review” into the googs and SPDs post came up fourth!
A Modern Mother´s last blog ..The state of British Mummy Blogging 2009 and predictions for 2010
How did that loser get so far up the google page! I wonder if he’d be willing to share his stats about how many hits he gets from that search (Ian, are you reading this?)
Just out of interest, how are you getting that absolute unique visitor stat? With my stat counter it counts you as unique if you haven’t visited my blog within the last hour.
And as for the “Mummy” vs “Parent” thing; that’s another post all in itself. I’m a strong believer that the word “PC” is completely interchangeable with the word “polite”. I give you that there aren’t many situations in this world where men are marginalized, but parenting is certainly one of them. How would it be if I set up a British Senior Management Network saying – “Don’t let the name fool you, some of our members have boobies!!”. I’m sure that the marginalization of fathers is not what you intended, but language is a powerful tool.
Dan´s last blog ..An Alternative State of British Parent Blogging 2009
@Dan, Well, you know what I think about the importance of language and how it structures people’s attitudes! I also think that the use of the word ‘mummy’ – mumpretreneurs, mummy bloggers etc etc – is potentially quite marginalising to those involved as well – it’s putting them in a subordinate, supplicatory position to the PR and marketing crew ostensibly courting them.
On A Modern Mummy’s assertions – well, she would say that, wouldn’t she?
BUT
(Sorry, running on here) I wonder how much it has to do with work status? I can afford to be sniffy because my blog is entirely about me and my concerns – I have a fultime day job and have limited attention to pay to blogging. I’d rather be writing than marketing it. Whereas the act of blogging for a lot of SAHMs or SAHDs seems to be as much about the building of an audience as a potential commercial base as the writing and conversing. I’d say audience building/writing concerns are about 20%/80% with me.
How about you?
dadwhowrites´s last blog ..A night with little elf and her ear infection
@dadwhowrites, I have often said that I’d rather have a relatively small readership of people I connect with than 40+ comments per post from people I don’t know (it may look like I get 40+ comments now, but 20 of those are from me).
However, I am actively pursuing new readers – mainly because the more readers I get the more coverage the walk next year may possibly get. This is cold, and cynical I know, and to be honest it doesn’t sit well with me, but I justify it by the fact that it’s for a good cause rather than personal gain. And also I still am only connecting with people I find interesting and pleasant – I’m just trying to find more of them than i may have done otherwise.
I would say that my audience building/writing concerns are probably at around 30%/70%.
Dan´s last blog ..An Alternative State of British Parent Blogging 2009
@Dan, In the last month, I have had no hits using that search. Even Sue didn’t click through – that rhymes, gangster.
And I think this may be my favourite of your bashings, how I love to be thrashed by you, more, harder.
SingleParentDad´s last blog ..Sorting out the Christmas tool kit
@SingleParentDad, Thanks man. I was a little concerned you were going to sat 30,000 and completely invalidate my argument :)
Dan´s last blog ..Sunday Morning Uketube
Interesting speculation, but obviously nobody knows. Working close to media I’d say
Media companies are watching and waiting – experimenting too – blogs are still quite trendy hence the interest is exaggerated
The general view is that blogs and social media won’t work alone, but they will be part of an ‘integrated audience strategy.’
Media companies don’t really care about readership – it is only a means to an end – what they really care about is RESPONSE – and the open question is ‘ can blogs lead to more economic sales and product awareness.’ Sometimes the strategy is a reach a large audience, but not always – targeting your advertising is the most effective way to spend your budget – and it is this possibility that is behind a lot of the interest from agencies.
A big limiter to the potential of blogs is the poor content on most of them.
We also need more effective ways to download – be interesting to see what happens when tablet readers become more popular.
So in short – we need to wait and see – my money is on a limited role for blogs in popular media, but perhaps a greater role in specialist interest groups, academics and hobbyists.
Mark´s last blog ..Winter reflections
@Mark, surely if it’s all about building up word of mouth the quality of blogs doesn’t really matter when compared to the trust in them?
Oh, I could kiss you for writing this [don't worry; I won't]. I agree with pretty much everything you say, especially about the dubiousness of just how powerful blogging is or will become in regards to money-making opportunties and media exposure. I’m reminded of John Lennon and his “The Beatles are bigger than Jesus” remark. Maybe blogginess is next to godliness? ;-)
I mean absolutely no offense to those who have decided to take up PR offers, for whatever reason, but I too get pretty disallusioned and bored of seeing nine posts about putting on a panto or buying a pack of Pampers or enrolling my child in a beauty pageant, err, ‘modelling competition’ for Next. It industrialises blogging in such a way that I no longer feel it’s a grassroots community but a free-for-all goodie bag grab, with stats and page rankings and number of comments mattering more than the quality of writing and unique content. That makes me sad.
And while I agree with what you (or was it Dad Who Writes?) to a certain extent when you talk about the intersectionality of class and work status as it relates to the time dedicated to blogging (i.e. the typical PR-totin’ mummy blogger is a middle class SAHM) and how that effects one’s expectations or hopes of what a blog can become or what kind of revenue it can generate, I think we have to be careful not to denigrate parents who are “hiring cleaners so they can blog more” or suggesting that their aims are more materialistic or simplistic because they are trying to make an income from it (though I am still unconvinced that more than a handful are actually making any real money from it, comparable to time spent producing and marketing it).
As for the term “mummy blogging” being exclusive and potentially marginalising, I fully agree. It is, in my opinion, harmful to make ‘parenting’ synonymous with mothers. Just as we wouldn’t like it if a business network assumed that all or nearly all of those interested or getting involved would be men (as per your example), it perpetuates unhelpful stereotypes to pigeonhole writing about parenting as the exlusive realm of mothers. That said, the fact is that, at present, women DO perform the majority of childcare and domestic duties so it’s sort of understandable that it feels like mainly a mothers’ thing and a way for them to bond together in what is an onerous and often unthankful task.
Personally, I’ve never liked being called a ‘mummy blogger’ because I didn’t start my blog to write about being a ‘mummy’, but a person who happens to have children and likes to write about them or the act of raising them sometimes, but who also likes and writes about many other things. But I don’t mind one jot if that’s what other people want to call themselves, or me, I suppose. All that matters is what I call myself and that’s a Writer.
Noble Savage´s last blog ..Letter to self, age 11
@Noble Savage, “It industrialises blogging in such a way that I no longer feel it’s a grassroots community but a free-for-all goodie bag grab, with stats and page rankings and number of comments mattering more than the quality of writing and unique content.”
Yup. That’s what really saddens me about how many blogs are going. And to a certain extent how my own blog is going, much as I keep fighting it I keep getting sucked back in.
As for gender stereotypes: I spend half my week being primary carer for my children, and the other half as a nurse – so can get a little sensitive around those issues :)
Dan, I am raising my hand about being a non-blogging reader of your blog. Well, I say reader. I didn’t actually read all of this post. Had too many words in it for me. I read every third word to save time.
@Craig, I’m surprised you could even manage every third word to be honest.
@Dan, I didn’t, I just didn’t want you to feel bad doing all that typing
Dan,
another non-blogging and totally childless reader here, I am neither on Facebook nor do I twitter. I have a life of my own and read good blogs like I read books or magazines, though there are few that manage to keep me interested past the second post – whether it’s about parenting, fighting depression, or weight-loss. (The Top Three in blogging? And I am not a mummy or depressed or overweight. Boring.)
And I think it’s true that bloggers read other bloggers, I don’t know anybody else who doesn’t blog and reads about other peoples lives on blogs the way I do. The Blogosphere is a world apart, and it’s not that huge.
I don’t think I “know” the people whose blogs I read and don’t assume we’d hit it off right away, but there are some I can imagine having a beer with, if the opportunity arose. So look out, if I ever happen to be in the Huddersfield-area, I’ll totally stalk you.
And now I’m off to google maps, to check it out…
@Kath., Hurrah! A stalker!
Thanks for raising your hand.
I never considered there being a top three blog topics, but you are probably spot on with your list.
Dan
I almost, almost agree with you. But not quite.
Let’s say British blogs are a circle jerk. Let’s assume many of them are only read by members of the BMB network (and who other question, when did “Mummy blogger” and “BMB member” become synonymous by the way? That’s a slightly dodgy assumption). Let’s assume many of them get 100 readers a day.
So what? If you’re a new parent looking to connect with other parents, or you’re a stay-at-home Dad or a single parent or any other sort of parent – then who cares if the people commenting are bloggers or not? Does it invalidate the experience? Does it make the blog less worthy of being read? Of course not.
What you’re arguing really, I think, is that PR agencies are somehow going to ‘come to their senses’ and realise that parent blogs aren’t a cost-effective marketing medium. Sorry, I talk to PR agencies on a weekly basis and have been tracking this for several years now, and I just don’t think it’s going to happen.
One of the first lessons of PR is that you don’t make friends with editors. You make friends with junior reporters. They’ll be grateful for help from a friendly PR and in five years’ time when they’re editing a section at the FT, they’ll still be your friend.
To an extent, that’s what we’re seeing in parent blogging. The PR agencies know full well that blogs are getting 100 readers a day, and that many of the audience is shared across blogs. They’re not stupid! But they’re looking to what’s happened overseas and they’re taking a punt that the same sort of thing will happen here – and let’s face it, it’s much easier to make friends with the bloggers now, while they’re ‘junior reporters’.
Let’s also remember that blogs are cheap. Sending £1,000 of product to 50 bloggers is nothing to most companies, who might spend twice that on a single press release. Rather than spending £10k on an SEO agency, the PR agency can send out £500 of vouchers and get links on blogs, which have a natural advantage in search engine rankings.
The companies I talk to on a daily basis also tell me that an audience of 100+ a day is considered acceptable for PR purposes – because the audience is so very targeted and engaged (see Linda’s comments, which are pretty on the button). Working with bloggers to get feedback on your products or services is also about 5% of the cost of a focus panel, let’s not forget. Silver Cross became the stuff of PR legend with its £500 lunch for parent bloggers.
Ultimately, I think your view of PR is overly simplistic. Believe me, the PRs know the score. And they’re mercurial enough that they’re not going to spend money unless they think it’s worth it.
Yes, the market will evolve and mature and consolidate and I suspect we’ll see an emergence of ‘premium’ blogs that take a more professional approach to blogging while you’ll have many ‘hobby’ blogs that are more akin to the early, grass roots blogs. And PR will naturally gravitate over time to the premium blogs. But as we enter 2010, nobody quite knows which blogs are going to go which way – so the PRs are taking a pragmatic approach and backing as many horses as they can. And actually, so long as nobody is spending too much money, I think it’s the smartest approach.
@Sally, As you say, I’m not arguing that blogging being a circle jerk is a bad thing for blogging, in fact it’s probably a good thing as it spreads a sense of community. But I would argue that it makes blogging a as medium a lot less powerful than the hype suggests it is.
And you are right of course – Mummy blogger and BMB member are not the same thing, but it’s an easy source of stats for numbers.
I do take your point about the SEO though, in fact simple linkage is the way that I’ve got 50% of the donations to the charity (although I’m not sure if Google would approve of that).
I also recognise that my knowledge of PR is very limited – confined as it is to the ubiquitous Media Studies degree I half heartedly attended thirteen years ago. But I would also argue that you are one of the individuals who is financially benefiting from all this hype, and also one of the key players perpetuating it. So again, my opinion on your opinion is slightly tempered – just as it is with Linda and A Modern Mother’s.
As it’s been pointed out, we don’t now what the future brings. But I still think i’m right and you’re wrong :p
Dan´s last blog ..Sunday Morning Uketube
Nicely put, Dan. It’s nice to read a realistic appraisal of our ‘power’ as bloggers. I think a lot of people are a little bit self-delusional when it comes to that topic. I’ve long since given up thinking that I have the capacity to change minds and there’s a freedom in that. My blog is for me, for my entertainment, for me to practice my writing. Beyond that, if people read it and enjoy it, that’s great. But as you know, most of the commentators, most of the regular readers are other bloggers.
A Free Man´s last blog ..The ice is thick and my feet are clamped, I know how my cards are stacked
@A Free Man, there is power in blogging. last year i raised over £1000 for a small charity through it, and next year I’ve persuaded around 23 people that I didn’t know prior to starting the blog to join me on a 83 mile sponsored walk. There is power alright.
But the power comes from a tight community, not on the blog’s influence outside that community. which is why any pitch by PR companies is ultimately on pitching to a very small number of people who are certainly becoming cynical about such pitches.
As for political power in the short term in the UK there may be possibly some potential influence, as the blogosphere is very hyped here at the moment and it’s coming up to an election. But once the hype dies down that too will go – and it was only ever going to be manifesto promises anyhow rather than real change.
Dan´s last blog ..Sunday Morning Uketube
I’m standing up and being counted.
One.
(I don’t have a blog, but I read yours, and several others’)
@Oli, out of interest who else do you read. and you do too have a blog: hadrianswalk.org, you just choose not to write in it.
Dan´s last blog ..Sunday Morning Uketube
Dan, I’m with you on this one. I simply don’t understand the alure of blogs for PR people, beyond getting the links to boost their SEO. I’ve read Linda and Sally’s comments and I understand their points, but I just don’t see it. Bubble describes it well, I wonder if everyone is getting carried away forgetting some of the basics.
Blogging will continue for those who enjoy the blogging aspect of it. Those looking to make a quick buck will leave. The PRs will move onto the next big thing. As a bit of a techno phobe, I don’t do the twitter thing (where do people find the time?), am not on face book (ditto) but see myself blogging in one way or another for a long time. That said, I do like the community aspect, so if that was to disappear then my enthusiasm may wane a little too.
Those who don’t blog are far less likely to comment too. They need to register, leave their names, email addresses blah blah. All too much hassle. I never commented before I had a blog. Ever.
Brit In Bosnia´s last blog ..A Dog’s Life
@Brit In Bosnia, I don’t think the community will disapear for a long while yet, although in my short experience faces fade in and fade out through the years.
Dan´s last blog ..Sunday Morning Uketube
Wow. This is like that time I posted something up on global warming.
I would have thought that the attraction for PR companies at present will be to develop further learning about how (and whether) blogs and blogging can be used for effective marketing in the future, not to gain immediate returns.
Anyway – what do I know, I dont have one of those fancy pants media studies degrees.
Sam´s last blog ..Seasons
@Sam, but it’s my view that blogging has reached it’s peak, and now the only way is down. Not a quick decent certainly, but decend it will. It takes a lot to maintain a blog and it’s community, and very little to do the same on things like twitter.
People are able to get that community kick a lot easier, and this is having an impact. Not in the UK parent blogger community true – that’s still growing. But ultimately it will tail off as well.
Dan´s last blog ..Sunday Morning Uketube
I just like having a place to ramble. And reading other people’s ramble. I think that’s about the long and short of it for me.
Holmes´s last blog ..Oh Right
@Holmes, yup, me too. Although, to play devils advocate here – isn’t dadcentric slightly more complex than that?
Dan´s last blog ..Sunday Morning Uketube
@Dan, Oh yeah, then there’s that. I try to actually keep a readership in mind over there.
Holmes´s last blog ..Oh Right
Umm, interesting post. As a blogger and reader of other blogs if I see a ‘sponsored post’ in my google reader I ignore it. I have no interest in reading advertisements and find them irritating. Far from making me believe it more because it comes from a blogger I trust it makes me think less of the blogger (harsh maybe but that’s the reality) and too many of them and I stop subscribing.
I am not sure who the PR people are trying to reach when they get bloggers to advertise for them as, like you said, most readers are other bloggers who have either been offered or have seen the same pitch over and over. Its dull and repetitive and does not make me want to buy stuff. Plus we are all aware that they have been paid to write it and so there goes your trust, regardless of how many ‘integrity’ buttons they put on their blogs. I wouldn’t trust anyone that was paid to review something.
As Linda pointed out, yes this is exactly what happens when they review hotels or ski resorts or some such in newspapers and they don’t have to add disclaimers but to me blogs are different. At least I want them to be different.
Is it a bubble? I believe so, it must be, the majority of readers are other bloggers who are no doubt growing jaded and pee’d off with the amount of advertisments spreading through it in a world that is already filled to the brim with them. There are very few none-bloggers that read and therefore the total reach of all the bmb bloggers put together can surely be only a couple of hundred over the 800 members (and i’ll bet most of those are other bloggers that just dont happen to be members). so that’s a thousand bloggers/readers in a giant circle of advertising to each other. where’s the reach? where’s the diversity of people? As for when it will burst, as bubble are wont to do, I guess we will just have to wait and see.
I for one am hoping it’s sooner rather than later and i can get back to reading good blogs without commercial intrusion.
Heather´s last blog ..Liar, liar, pants on fire!
@Heather, “but to me blogs are different. At least I want them to be different. ”
Bingo. That sums it up exactly for me, which is why i can come across as a bit of a crank on these issues. A hypocritical crank, as I’ve bent over and grabbed my ankles for the PR companies too.
But even if I wasn’t a crank i think I’d still believe the same. That this bubble will burst at some point.
Dan´s last blog ..Sunday Morning Uketube
When I started my current blog (I think it’s my 4th or 5th online incarnation) the only “packs” I hung with were Edubloggers and American hobby photographers who mostly happened to be parents. It took me over a year to find anyone in the UK who wasn’t an Edublogger. And I looked. I looked really hard as I needed some relief from the hordes of fundamental christians.
If I can’t find a network of “mommy” bloggers without looking really hard for them I have to question their influence.
I have joined left and rejoined BMB and have dipped into other Ning networks but they don’t seem to have much purpose other than driving traffic to their founders sites. With the exception of a Scottish photography Ning where members have no interest in linking to any external site, they are forced communities… with rictus grins.
I’ve always blogged for myself. I treat it the same as I treated that purple notebook I carried round with me for years until I was 18… except I let people read my blog. And it has photos.
MrsW´s last blog ..He made it!!!
@MrsW, to be fair, it’s only been in the last 6 months or so that the UK parent blogs have exploded.
I don’t blog for myself if I’m honest. I blog for Greg and Whit and Xbox and Singleparentdad and Erin and Jo and Lee and Arjan and every other person who I’ve got listed in my blogroll. but the key is that I blog fro my friends, not for an audience.
Dan´s last blog ..Sunday Morning Uketube
*Raises hand* I am reading your post. I have no blog of my own.
*goes back to read rest of post*
@Lenore, thanks for standing up and being counted :)
Dan´s last blog ..Sunday Morning Uketube
Oh enough with the navel gazing already.
I agree with Sally, Rosie Scribble, A Modern Mother, Linda and Single Parent Dad. Hell I agree with most of what’s written above me. But not all of it.
As far as my own interaction with PRs goes – well, I turn down requests all day, every day. And I see no sign of PR interest abating – not for the immediate future, anyway. People are talking to me about things for next summer.
If people don’t like my blogs (either of them – like many on here, I have more than one) move on, read something else. That’s the beauty of the web. You don’t have to read it, and I won’t be offended if you don’t.
@Liz (LivingwithKids),I would argue this isn’t navel gazing, it’s presenting an alternative viewpoint to that which has been accepted as conventional wisdom. But then one man’s interesting cultural phenomenon is another’s navel I suppose.
Again, the people who are agreeing that blogging is this a medium driving forward a new age in marketing are the people who have a vested interest in that being true.
I agree, the immediate future shows no sign of the onslaught stopping. The bubble will continue to inflate. But it’s going to pop at some time.
As for individual blogs, I wasn’t really passing comment on those. but you are right, people will read what they like and not read what they don’t.
Dan´s last blog ..Sunday Morning Uketube
I think that there will be many more blogs next year – there’s no way we’ve seen it peak. But at the moment it’s a v. insular world I agree – most of my readers are other bloggers and I myself read between 30-50 other blogs a week.
However, it will eventually settle out – as Sally says, into premium and hobby bloggers – but also probalby niche blogs too. The best bloggers will probalby also be paid more regularly to write blogs directly for some of the big brands – it’s such a useful tool for driving traffic.
As an ex-PR person myself, I do think some of this might be, as Sally says, investing in making friends in the early days. However, I also think a lot of PRs do it because it’s very easy to appear to get a client ‘coverage’ for low cost and it’s in their interests to play up the blogs influence for this reason. Clients were always whingey sods who were never happy so anything to keep them quiet must seem like heaven sent.
Then again, I’m probably just horribly cynical and scarred from years of putting up with needy clients and angry journos!
Dawn/LittleGreenFingers´s last blog ..Kirstie Allsopp, gilded pears and telly rage
@Dawn/LittleGreenFingers, oh yes, there will be a lot of blogs next year. There will also be a few burn out, but the net result will be a gain.
And there will be premium bloggers who start doing it professionally too – just like Whit over there in my own blog roll. But the premium blogs won’t be trusted as impartial, certainly not by me at any rate.
I’m very interested in the point you make about PR’s possibly hyping the influence of blogs in order to keep their clients happy.
Dan´s last blog ..Sunday Morning Uketube
Sorry Dan I didn’t mean you were navel gazing – I meant there was some serious navel gazing going on, without trying to name names. I should have just named names. Hole. Dug. Deep.
Liz (LivingwithKids)´s last blog ..Our magical Christmassy trip to Disneyland Paris
@Liz (LivingwithKids), I didn’t take offence. I’m a pretty avid navel gazer to be honest.
Dan´s last blog ..Sunday Morning Uketube
Nope. No blog here.
I spend enough time reading them without actually writing my own.
Besides, it would get incredibly stressy trying to be as funny/touching/angry/entertaining etc. as fellow bloggers – because it seems that although many people claim to be writing ‘for themselves’ there does seem to be a competitive edge out there.
Oh, and check out Bridgetown in Western Australia. Beautiful, not hot and on the mainland!
I kind of blog on Live Journal – which has gone very very quiet indeed as more of my chums are on Farcebook now, but Farcebook seems to provide short brief updates (though I do write notes sometimes) – I think it’s all symptomatic of an ever decreasing attention span.
Not all of my readers are other bloggers. My parents read my blog too. Oh, a this one woman in my office too. She works for me though…
Seattledad´s last blog ..Accelerated Depreciation
I read you.
I don’t blog.
I bake!
@Rachael, where’s my cake!?
Dan´s last blog ..Hey ho, lets go! Lee and Dan’s Midnight Movie Club
Hi Dan, as a journalist I wanted to say how interesting it has been to follow this discussion.
Especially as one who has turned her hand to some PR, social media, training and the dreaded “consultancy” to diversify and survive.
I think that overall as I said in my earlier comments, blogging is here to stay and so is the PR interest in it.
Perhaps what is needed on the part of PRs who are seeking to find ‘influencers’ is more diligent research as to whether their target blogger is going to be open to their suggestions/requests.
I also think that there’s some misunderstanding among bloggers as to what’s advertising, what’s PR and what’s sales! PR is not a direct sales tool and should fit in with a wider marketing strategy. Brands ‘engaging’ with bloggers are most interested in building communities around their products and the word of mouth that can generate.
Anyway, I’ve gone on a bit but I just read this and it reminded me of the discussion here:
I thought it was interesting:
http://tunedin.blogs.time.com/2009/12/16/doing-less-with-less-what-are-you-willing-to-give-up-from-journalism/#ixzz0Zy4kizQE
Especially this highlighted quote:
You want ethically impeccable writers? Then don’t expect them to have to hustle for a living. Don’t blame them for getting bought, let alone for the potential appearance of having previously been bought, when you’re too cheap to buy them yourself. … We are in tough Times. But stop pretending. The Times has lowered its standards. Lower standards are cheaper than high standards.
I suppose the point I’m making is that your assertion that the ‘media types’ have a vested interest’ in emphasising (or even possibly exaggerating?) the influence of blogs is an entirely reasonable one to make but if you think about it, it’s also a reason that blogging and its influence will continue to grow as more ‘media types’ as you call them turn their attention to blogging – through economic necessity.
Linda´s last blog ..Want a copy of The Greatest Freelance Writing Tips in the World?
@Linda, I don’t object to media types coming into the blogosphere. I read a lot of them (yourself included obviously).
I do object to the increasing industrialization of blogging, and yearn for the days that it was an armature sport. But I know those days are (temporarily) gone. And I can’t blame people for trying to diversify and find income elsewhere.
And anyway, as is often said – if I don’t like the PR pushing blogs I don’t read them. But as the commercialization of blogs becomes almost the focus of many of the wider communities (the BMB network for example), I feel increasingly disenfranchised from them.
I also think the scope of blogs to grow in influence is limited. I think their peak time was in 2008 and they have been tailing off ever since. This British mummy thing has been a bit of a revival, but it too will tail off eventually.
I know that this reply hasn’t really addressed <emany of your points. But it’s late so it will have to do :)
Dan´s last blog ..Hey ho, lets go! Lee and Dan’s Midnight Movie Club
I’m a non-blogging old mommy to old kids. I have no desire to have a blog of my own. But I do have a handful of blogs that I thoroughly enjoy reading. My favorites tend to be those who happen to be entertaining, talented writers. Some have it, some don’t. I started with dooce but have seen a definate decline in her blogging. Or maybe it’s just that I’ve found other bloggers who are simply more entertaining to me.
Anyway, I enjoy your blog. I stumbled upon it through Daddy Scratches, one of my favorites.