I don't buy it.
Interesting article by Jeremiah Owyang on the future of Tech Blogs. We are not at the end of an era. We are at the beginning.
Tech bloggers are the veterans that sparked the transformation of digital media. Digital media continues to evolve and innovate rapidly.
Here are five reasons that we are at the dawn of Tech blogging (or any strong vertical that attracts advertising dollars.)
1. Publishing platform is immature - Can your CMS provide incredible authoring tools, monetization, analytics, reputation management, mobile/tablet formatting, A/B testing for top articles? I didn't think so. Today's publishing tools are not designed for the blogger that wants to earn a living.
2. Advertisers are coming - more dollars are shifting towards passion-based authors that create amazing content, can attract an audience and engage them in a two-way discussion.
3. PR is maturing - there is still lots of room to grow from skanky PR firms that are trying to do pay-per-post advertorial to boost their clients websites SEO rankings, but PR firms are starting to become experts in listening tools, social community managment and "influencer marketing." Look for savvy PR firms leveraging a platform built for managing blogger relationships at scale (in a way that won't piss them off by their ignorance!)
4. Who is next? Just like any medium that can attract an audience, there will always be someone that is next. A fresh point of view, a boy-wonder or another rock-star from the print/tv/radio that has waited for the right time to be digital.
5. Social publishing is in early stages. Best practices around Blog + Youtube + Facebook + Twitter are still evolving. When #1 takes shape and creates efficiencies (like breaking down content elements for each medium and auto publishing in a relevant manner with a click of the button) OR there is a unified comments system to pull together discussions - a new breed of publisher will take shape.
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