AP Technology writer Brian Bergstein just released an article that starts off as follows:
Could blogging be near the peak of its popularity? The technology gurus at Gartner Inc. believe so.
It's over? No - it's just that blogging has been adopted by so many, so fast, that there is increasingly little room to grow. I suggest that the author should have asked, "Could blogging GROWTH be near its peak?". Most everyone, it seems, is already in the pool - but few are getting out.
Blogging isn't going to die. And it isn't going to become less important. I feel that blogging will continue growing in pervasiveness (more and more people will be involved with, and accustomed to, it). I also feel that blogging is incredibly immature - and that it will evolve dramatically over the next several years. In many ways, tomorrow's blogging won't resemble what most bloggers are doing today. Like so many other interesting technologies and tools, we will take from it what we like, enjoy, and appreciate, mix it with other tools with similar characteristics, and invent something else - something more "evolved".
So, what does this mean for B2B Marcom people? Well, it could mean that:
*this form of communication has already caught on with your target market. Are you using it effectively?
*you should be adding a few questions on blogging during your next interview session - so you hire an appropriately-skilled person for the job. Are you building your staff skills quickly enough - and in the proper direction?
Finally, does anyone have any figures on the saturation point of related technologies? It would be very interesting to compare blogging saturation to other applications/practices.