Blogging: The Evolution

I am constantly amazed at how quickly social media changes and adapts. It seems as if each site changes by the week. Over the past ten years, there have been dramatic changes in the way people communicate over the internet. Although we now have multiple sites and tools to interact, this was not always the case.

Since people began using the internet for personal purposes, they have been searching for ways to connect with other users. 

It is thought by many that blogs were the first form of social media. 

According to The Economist, “The word ‘blog’ appears to date back to 1997, when one of the few practitioners at the time, Jorn Barger, called his site a “weblog”. In 1999, another user, Peter Merholz, playfully broke the word into “we blog”, and somehow the new term—blog—stuck as both a verb and a noun (http://www.economist.com/node/6794172?story_id=6794172).”

Studies by Technorati found that a new blog is created every second of every day with 50,000 new posts being created each hour. 

Since its extreme increase in popularity in the mid-2000’s, blogging has certainly evolved. 

Erin Flynn of The Huffington Post, wrote about how bloggers have changed immensely since 2005. “The blog economy that once consisted of hobbyists is now a mainstream phenomenon where hobby bloggers have turned into salary-earning and revenue-generating professionals,” Flynn said (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/erin-flynn/blogging-marketing-business_b_1577139.html).

According to Hattrick Associates, one out every six people in the world had a blog in 2012. What was once used mostly by tech-gurus is now being used by mothers, fashion designers, crafters and book clubs. 

Flynn also detailed the way that blogging has reshaped marketing practices. “Bloggers have become the trusted source for inspiration, new purchases, and industry trends,” Flynn said. “The difference, you ask? Bloggers don't report to their editors or publicists. They report directly to their readers (in other words, the consumers), and because of this, their influence and content is not only going to change the way we think of brands but also the way we interact with them.”

I think it will be a great challenge for those of us who plan on entering a career in the fields of PR and marketing to maintain and define relationships with bloggers. 

Ketchum, a global public relations and marketing firm, found that women are two times more likely to buy a product that is endorsed by a blogger than a celebrity. Consumers trust other consumers more than they do spokespersons. This only seems natural. The difference is that consumers now have easy access to those trusted opinions. 

But blog-content that is valuable to marketers as well as consumers won’t be produced for free. No one likes to work for free. It will be interesting to see how the marketer-blogger relationship evolves.