Stones Cry Out

I disagree -- my blog has morphed into something completely different over the last few months. I used to only blog on politics, but now I find myself blogging more on my screenwriting activities. I reserve the right to switch gears again at any time and climb on my soapbox if I deem it necessary. What is interesting is that I think political blogs have been the most impactful in the blogosphere, but that by no means make them the end all be all of blogs. As people become more familiar with reading blogs, I think they will branch out and look for blogs on topics besides politics. Political blogs were the entry point for people, the introduction. It will be the collective of other topics that keeps people coming back for more, I believe.

Your friend should really consider a blog. It is more efficient than an e-mail list (at least for the author) and will find her new fans as they google the web for what she has to offer. It is amazing what kind of google searches lead people to my blog. She'll be amazed too.

I agree with Shawna. Although my blog was mainly political when I started it has changed into more of a blog that covers all kinds of subjects. The wonderful thing about blogs is they can be whatever you want them to be. You can have a blog on any given subject.

I'm not denying any of this, folks. I'm talking about in terms of mass media perception. Will blogs be forever regarded as political? I'm not talking about their uses, I'm talking about their reputations.

As their usage changes, so will perceptions.

Maybe GodBlogCon I will help change some perceptions. There are MANY apolitical God Blogs out there.

Rick, I have my doubts. I still think the mainstream perception of blogs will be, in the short term, primarily one of politics.

Also, apolitical doesn't fully grasp where I'm going with this. An apolitical blog could still involve itself in vigorous debate on theological matters. It seems that blogs, on the whole, are developing into two functions; issue-oriented matters (politics, theology, etc.) or personal stuff (livejournal, etc.).

To expand on what Matt just said about the two directions blogs can take... I think it's more like 3 and a half.

Blogs are a wonderful medium for:

1) Personal updates for friends and family, or for fans and groupies

2) Topic-specific news and discussion (like LGF on Israel/Palestine) -- creating a concentration of information and/or expertise on a specific topic

3) High-level intellectual discussion (like href="http://www.chicagoboyz.net/">Chicago Boyz, a highly recommended read) -- creating a concentration of generally honest, intelligent, reasonable people who can discuss a wide range of topics

4) General news aggregation (like Drudge) -- acting as a faster version of the news

I guess I'd call both (2) and (3) "issue-oriented", but in different ways (and there's a spectrum between them; SCO is probably in between but leaning toward (3).) In terms of perceptions, I think a lot of people only know of blogs from their media exposure, meaning they only know of blogs in category (2) where the specific topic is politics-related, and blogs in category (4) where a blog is credited as the source for breaking news. But as readership increases, both types (1) and (3) will become more familiar to individuals, as will type (2) blogs on issues other than politics.

For completeness, let me also mention a couple of shorcomings of blogs, especially in comparison to discussion forums (another popular type of online media):

1) While topic-specific discussion is easy to start, it usually takes a few weeks of discussion to really hammer out certain issues, and topics typically disappear from the main page of blogs in a matter of days. In a place where active topics get bumped to the top of the list, it's easier to keep the discussion going long enough to make real progress.

2) On blogs, the blog owner(s) determine the topic for discussion, and readers have to either e-mail, post an off-topic comment, or just wait if they have something else they'd like to discuss. It's a nice way to assure only the best topics get discussed, but it also tends to lead to certain topics being missed because the blog owner just didn't think of them.

I think people's familiarity with forums makes them less likely to seek out or think of blogs of certain types, and that colors their perceptions. For example, I'd rather have a favorite band of mine have a discussion forum (where I and other fans can freely converse) than a blog (where the band sets the topic, and I have to wait for their posts). I think the ideal for a band is either: a discussion forum with an "announcements" section that functions like a blog, or a blog AND a forum. Either way, they can get news out and keep the hype up and give fans a way to interact with each other over general topics. Many bands, game companies, etc. already have forums with "announcements" sections, which makes them less likely to think of using a blog. Because they already have a mostly-functional tool, they're not likely to recognize that a blog might be a slightly better tool for them.

Apologies for my malformed link to Chicago Boyz... I must've accidentally backspaced over part of the tag.