A rabbit trail today led me to a blog that hit on a subject that I have written and re-written and never posted several times. The author of this blog post makes a good argument for why many bloggers have decided to either take a break or quit altogether. As many of you will remember, I took a break AND called it quits a few months ago. I then made a return here lately but have been fascinated by the amount of blogging friends I follow that are no longer blogging regularly or at all. Just last night I hit a friends blog to find that there had not been a post since February.

I am wondering what has happened to blogging. I wonder if it isn’t a combination of several things. Sites like facebook and twitter have absolutely exploded recently. Even new comers like Tumblr are growing in popularity when it comes to micro-blogging. Quick posts throughout the day are replacing a long post that took all day to put together. In talking with other bloggers, I have found that many have also seen a drop in their number of “hits” and comments per day. To a blogger, that is the scorecard. It lets you know that you are not just putting things on the web that you could have just kept to yourself. I’m curious if many people are not getting their information from facebook and twitter and no longer feel the need to visit a blog to find out “what you are doing”.

I also wonder if there are not so many blogs now that all say the same things. There are mom blogs, dad blogs, faith blogs, tech blogs and combination’s of all four. As an author of one of the many blogs out there, I can admit to a pressure to bring something creative, different or relative each time you post. There is also a constant reminder that the longer you go without posting the more people will go elsewhere to read or find posts. I would guess that some of the blogs in my sidebar are no longer active or have moved on to something else. Recently, two of the blogging giants I follow announced their departure from the web. One eventually returned, the other did not. Just this morning, another blog I follow announced that he was pulling the plug and going to devote his time to his wife and family.

I don’t know this for a fact, but I also think that many blogs are not what they started off with. Over time, the blog found a groove in a certain group and became a blog all about that particular area, topic or group of people. The authors now feel that each post must fit into that category so they start blogging about one thing only. I have spoken with more than one blogger that said “it’s not even about me anymore”. In other words, it wasn’t their blog rather it was a blog about things that they thought the people that read and comment wanted to read and comment about. Over time, a blog that strays away from it’s original launch and only focuses on one thing can take the steam out of the desire to continue that blog.

It all makes you wounder if blogs are slowly coming to an end. I would guess that personal blogs are trending towards that. The big blogs that do this for money and other reasons will remain. My guess is that many will move to twitter, tumblr and facebook. It also makes you wonder what is “next” on the blogging scene. Reading that yet another blogger was calling it quits this morning prompted me to post this. Each time I read that I guess I ask why I do this or what I do this for. If nothing else it makes you evaluate where and what you spend your time on. Maybe I’m just interested to see if anyone is reading or if those that stop by here have a thought or two on this topic as well.

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