Remember when MTV started? Yes I will date myself. I do. It was a big deal. I don’t rightly remember the hoopla except that there were many networks that tried to copy music videos. TBS, the Superstation, had videos in the overnight hours every Friday and Saturday. It never quite competed with MTV.
“Video Killed the Radio Star” was dead on target, except that the Internet really killed radio. Anyone can get music online for practically nothing now. The viral nature of text messaging, combined with iTunes and file sharing ensure radio won’t be the trendsetters they used to be. They too are in danger of going the way of the newspaper.
I’ve been blogging now for 3 years. Yep that long. Not to say I am a “blogger”. Professionally I have not gotten in a groove with writing. I have found it more natural to tell funny stories or stay in touch with family and friends through LAN, although 2009 hasn’t been very productive.
Twitter and Facebook have replaced the urge to write. It’s much more convenient to share a picture in the moment, or a status as events are unfolding than to write 250 words or so. Mobile devices make it easier to participate in conversation. Anyone can be anywhere and stay in touch. And most of this type of communication has replaced blogging, at least on my end.
Micro-blogging has even cut into some of the network’s time. Most news from the Queen City now flows through Facebook. One colleague from Adelphia went on “hiatus”. I get more day-to-day professional news and tip-offs from Twitter than WSJ. Of course, knowing who to follow and having the right tool to group friends is the challenge there.
Then there’s the whole design thing. If you haven’t noticed, LAN has been tinkered with more than tots this year. With very little updates and content being added, I reverted to a straight up blog template, then into a magazine look that was taking way too long to customize, before coming back to the look you see now. Should’ve just left it alone. The other blogs we have have been taken over by spiders. I’ll need riot gas to fend them off those sites once we can find time to return some attention.
Seems like blogging which has been used to share passions in a timely fashion, now takes too much time. But then we control what we spend on time on don’t we? Hmm…
Don’t give up on us yet, we may have more on the way…
