Facebook Killed the Blog Star

So whatever happened to blogging these days? Or the lack of it? 125 Columbia was initially supposed to be a group blog, one in which everyone contributes and we're all exposed to different viewpoints, thereby making it a more enriching experience for all. And in the early months, circa Feb/March/April/May 2005, the concept actually worked very well. It was clever and creative. Then we hit our 20s and Waterloo sapped all that creativity.

It all started with 4 goofy guys writing about their time in Waterloo. Then it expanded to 5, then 6, and at one point reached a high of 7. You wouldn't know it now though because now it seems as if this alleged group blog is merely a front for Sen's personal soapbox - Smiley's been cowed from posting ever since that infamous "Toronto sucks" debacle resulted in death threats, the girl who shall remain nameless left the blog in a storm deleting all her posts, Eddie lost his password, and "Brock Campbell" is allegedly too busy distilling wine at some vineyard in New Zealand!

But I'm not just talking about the boys of 125 Columbia either. Blogging in general has lost popularity big-time. Of all the friendly neighbourhood blogs linked to on the left, virtually all haven't been updated in months. And the one that's actually NOT defunct - is in German!

So what happened? I think blogging hit its zenith in 2004 and around early 2005, when this blog came to fruition. Back then anybody who was somebody had a blog - all the more so among those people with last names of 3-4 letters. But the blogging craze slowly started to recede ever since, with blogging frequency diminishing and blogs eventually retiring altogether.

I'm not sure how blogging reached such mass popularity, then sizzled and died so quickly. Perhaps the novelty wore off - like ICQ and Geocities and AsianAvenue and Friendster before it. Maybe people suddenly got lazy. Maybe it's reflective of shrinking attention spans. Or maybe people learned "... uhh crap, this stuff I write could actually be used against me." I also think Facebook killed the blog star, though even Facebook is getting tired and trite now.

I think all of this is symptomatic of our endemic fad culture, where everyone hops en masse on board the bandwagon of the latest trendiest craze, then quickly hops off when that craze loses steam and it's no longer cool. Like when the Raptors make an improbable playoff run, and suddenly everyone's CB4's #1 fan. Or tamagotchis. And I've also noticed that the half-life of each progressive fad is shrinking so much so that fads catch fire and die quicker than ever. Fad mortality rates are on the rise.

But unlike most fads, blogging is one that I hope will make a resurgence. Perhaps it's just the voyeur in me, but I actually take a genuine interest in people's lives, their thoughts and experiences. It's all the more illuminating when you read a blog by a person you're intrigued by or care for. Blogs give an interesting window into the insights of that person; people will say stuff on blogs they won't say in person, or reveal interesting tidbits about themselves that you would not have learned otherwise. It makes for a great learning experience.

Which is why I hope blogs come back. But I don’t think they will and that's a shame.