Richard Nacht recently wrote his response to the Gartner and WSJ predictions of the demise of the blog.
I must admit that this post caught my eye. It rang true for me in a way that I do not believe the authors intended. I must say that I do believe that blog death, just like traditional website death is a certainty for many agents across the country.
From the Wall Street Journal about blogs:
"written by fools to be read by imbeciles"
Its About the Big Bucks
The blogs that are most usually referenced by the big media are your traditional Sports or Political blog. These types of weblogs have brought down careers of politicians and even journalists.So who is the imbecile?
But I do believe there will be a drop off in blogging as I believe the reason for the demise will be more along the reason that Gartner posits:
The reason: Most people who would ever dabble with Web journals already have. Those who love it are committed to keeping it up, while others have gotten bored and moved on, said Daryl Plummer, chief Gartner fellow.
"A lot of people have been in and out of this thing," Plummer said. "Everyone thinks they have something to say, until they're put on stage and asked to say it."
In the end it is always about the mighty dollar. A blogger who does not make money, will blog as a hobby, until they get a real job.
So I would agree that many blogs will eventually die of non posting. But the disease is more symptomatic of the model that is employed than it is a growing trend of disinterested readers or disinterested posters.
The fact is when you get broke from using a non profitable medium you tend to move on from that losing project.
A friend of my programmer recently scrapped one of the most popular liberal blogs on the net. How popular? Enough to get him a personal audience with John Kerry and his posse one on one. I was so sad for him that he dropped it. But he could not turn a profit.
The blogger may or may not be an idiot, but the journalist can afford to be an idiot because of his or her subsidy called a job.
A Different Color
But when chatting about real estate, we are talking about a unique beast all together.
First of all a Real Estate "blog" reader is typically not of the so called blogoshpere. Mr. Buyer or Mrs. seller is typically a transient reader during his or her short trip down buying and selling lane. Unlike those of us in the business, most people could care less about the ins and outs of real estate on a day to day basis. (Why Name Capture is so important).
However, most of the stuff I read on many of the most heralded Realtor blogs, seem to speak more to them self (other agents) than the guy or gal that will fatten their bank account.
Two Types of Bloggers
I call this the watercooler blogger vs the top producer blogger.
The Watercooler blogger is like the salesman that hangs out at the coffee room. Always chatty, always nice and conversational. Always broke.
The Top Producer blogger hangs out with his prospect in his cross hairs. It is always prospect focused. How often do you see the top producers in the coffee room or copy room?
The reason I think the Gartner and WSJ pieces are right, is that most of the bloggers in real estate are hanging out at the digital watercooler. And at some point if the hobby does not make money, it will be scrapped.
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