I think blogging has come a long way.
In a very short time.
But what’s next?
There are numerous “old media” personalities blogging…because they don’t have much of a choice. But I think that, while it’s a very accepted form of communication, especially when compared to podcasting, I don’t think it’s hit its peak yet.
Far from it.
I know of many, many people who don’t even really know what a blog is, let alone read any. Probably more people than not (at least that I know) don’t read any blogs. RSS is a foreign concept to them.
So, what is going to be the “Tipping Point?” What is going to propel RSS and blogs into the mainstream? I, as a marketer, understand the excitement about blogs. They quickly and efficiently solve the permission issue and remove the likelihood of spam. But, even the best tool is only marginally successful if it’s not adopted.
What is going to make blogging, RSS, feed aggregators, podcasts, etc easy enough to understand and use that the numbers of users jumps? When and how will the full potential of these social media tools be realized?
Fly-Over Marketing 
I wrote about the exact same thing, only not quite as eloquently.
When will this all come together? When can I tell my family and friends that I got hired to be the expert on social media? It’s been a full year of the blogosphere exploding, and we’re still just talking to a small group of the same people.
Chris:
Thanks for the comment! It’s an honor that you even read this. I’ve heard you on Inside PR and you certainly know what you’re talking about. I think that we’re pretty similar in the fact that we’re both young (both in age and in our careers) and trying to fit these exciting new marketing and PR elements into what we learned in school.
I wonder when some of this stuff will make it into the textbooks?
I will say that when I was in Marketing 101 in 1997, we did read “Permission Marketing” by Seth Godin. I didn’t appreciate it at the time, but it shows that I think it comes down to the professor.
Thanks again!
Hey no problem, Kevin. My class used to use a book Shel Holtz wrote, but it was long outdated by the time I was in the class…as a matter of fact, the book wasn’t the only thing outdated: the class was too!
Keep writin’ and we’ll all keep readin’.