• Home
  • Issues
  • Articles
    • Alan Day
    • Alan Stewart
    • Ed Litton
    • Gary Miller
    • Keith Drury
    • Michael Catt
    • Stephanie Bennett
    • Vance Havner
    • Warren Wiersbe
  • Quotes
  • Sermon Outlines
  • Podcasts
  • More
    • Book Reviews
    • Calendar
    • Odds n Ends
    • Web Resources

Calendar

May 2023
S M T W T F S
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
28293031  
« Jul    

Archives

  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019

Categories

  • Alan Day
  • Alan Stewart
  • Articles
  • Book Reviews
  • Calendar
  • Ed Litton
  • Gary Miller
  • Issues
  • Keith Drury
  • Michael Catt
  • Odds-n-Ends
  • Podcasts
  • Quotes
  • Sermon Outlines
  • Stephanie Bennett
  • Uncategorized
  • Vance Havner
  • Volume 01 | Issue 01
  • Volume 01 | Issue 02
  • Volume 01 | Issue 03
  • Volume 01 | Issue 04
  • Volume 01 | Issue 05
  • Volume 01 | Issue 06
  • Volume 01 | Issue 07
  • Volume 01 | Issue 08
  • Volume 01 | Issue 09
  • Volume 01 | Issue 10
  • Volume 01 | Issue 11
  • Volume 01 | Issue 12
  • Volume 01 | Issue 13
  • Volume 01 | Issue 14
  • Volume 02 | Issue 01
  • Volume 02 | Issue 02
  • Volume 02 | Issue 03
  • Volume 02 | Issue 04
  • Volume 02 | Issue 05
  • Volume 02 | Issue 06
  • Volume 02 | Issue 07
  • Volume 02 | Issue 08
  • Volume 02 | Issue 09
  • Volume 02 | Issue 10
  • Volume 02 | Issue 11
  • Volume 02 | Issue 12
  • Volume 02 | Issue 13
  • Volume 02 | Issue 14
  • Volume 02 | Issue 15
  • Volume 02 | Issue 16
  • Volume 02 | Issue 17
  • Volume 02 | Issue 18
  • Volume 02 | Issue 19
  • Volume 02 | Issue 20
  • Volume 02 | Issue 21
  • Volume 02 | Issue 22
  • Volume 02 | Issue 23
  • Volume 02 | Issue 24
  • Volume 02 | Issue 25
  • Volume 03 | Issue 01
  • Volume 03 | Issue 02
  • Volume 03 | Issue 03
  • Volume 03 | Issue 04
  • Volume 03 | Issue 05
  • Volume 03 | Issue 06
  • Volume 03 | Issue 07
  • Volume 03 | Issue 08
  • Volume 03 | Issue 09
  • Volume 03 | Issue 10
  • Volume 03 | Issue 11
  • Volume 03 | Issue 12
  • Volume 03 | Issue 13
  • Volume 03 | Issue 14
  • Volume 03 | Issue 15
  • Volume 03 | Issue 16
  • Volume 03 | Issue 17
  • Volume 03 | Issue 18
  • Volume 03 | Issue 19
  • Volume 03 | Issue 20
  • Volume 03 | Issue 21
  • Volume 03 | Issue 22
  • Volume 03 | Issue 23
  • Volume 03 | Issue 24
  • Volume 04 | Issue 01
  • Volume 04 | Issue 02
  • Volume 04 | Issue 03
  • Volume 04 | Issue 04
  • Volume 04 | Issue 05
  • Volume 04 | Issue 06
  • Volume 04 | Issue 07
  • Volume 04 | Issue 08
  • Volume 04 | Issue 09
  • Volume 04 | Issue 10
  • Volume 04 | Issue 11
  • Volume 04 | Issue 12
  • Volume 04 | Issue 13
  • Volume 05 | Issue 01
  • Volume 05 | Issue 02
  • Volume 05 | Issue 03
  • Volume 05 | Issue 04
  • Volume 05 | Issue 05
  • Volume 05 | Issue 06
  • Volume 05 | Issue 07
  • Volume 05 | Issue 08
  • Volume 05 | Issue 09
  • Volume 05 | Issue 10
  • Volume 05 | Issue 11
  • Volume 05 | Issue 12
  • Volume 05 | Issue 13
  • Volume 05 | Issue 14
  • Volume 06 | Issue 01
  • Volume 06 | Issue 02
  • Volume 06 | Issue 03
  • Volume 06 | Issue 04
  • Volume 06 | Issue 05
  • Volume 06 | Issue 06
  • Volume 06 | Issue 07
  • Volume 06 | Issue 08
  • Volume 06 | Issue 09
  • Volume 06 | Issue 10
  • Volume 06 | Issue 11
  • Volume 06 | Issue 12
  • Volume 06 | Issue 13
  • Volume 06 | Issue 14
  • Volume 06 | Issue 15
  • Volume 07 | Issue 01
  • Volume 07 | Issue 02
  • Volume 07 | Issue 03
  • Volume 07 | Issue 04
  • Volume 07 | Issue 05
  • Volume 07 | Issue 06
  • Volume 07 | Issue 07
  • Volume 07 | Issue 08
  • Volume 07 | Issue 09
  • Volume 07 | Issue 10
  • Volume 07 | Issue 11
  • Volume 07 | Issue 12
  • Volume 07 | Issue 13
  • Volume 07 | Issue 14
  • Volume 07 | Issue 15
  • Volume 07 | Issue 16
  • Volume 07 | Issue 17
  • Volume 07 | Issue 18
  • Volume 07 | Issue 19
  • Volume 07 | Issue 20
  • Volume 07 | Issue 21
  • Volume 07 | Issue 22
  • Volume 07 | Issue 23
  • Volume 08 | Issue 01
  • Volume 08 | Issue 02
  • Volume 08 | Issue 03
  • Volume 08 | Issue 04
  • Volume 08 | Issue 05
  • Volume 08 | Issue 06
  • Volume 08 | Issue 07
  • Volume 08 | Issue 08
  • Volume 08 | Issue 09
  • Volume 08 | Issue 10
  • Volume 08 | Issue 11
  • Volume 08 | Issue 12
  • Volume 08 | Issue 13
  • Volume 08 | Issue 14
  • Volume 08 | Issue 15
  • Volume 08 | Issue 16
  • Volume 08 | Issue 17
  • Volume 08 | Issue 18
  • Volume 09 | Issue 01
  • Volume 09 | Issue 02
  • Volume 09 | Issue 03
  • Volume 09 | Issue 04
  • Volume 09 | Issue 05
  • Volume 09 | Issue 06
  • Volume 09 | Issue 07
  • Volume 10 | Issue 01
  • Volume 10 | Issue 02
  • Volume 10 | Issue 03
  • Volume 10 | Issue 04
  • Volume 10 | Issue 05
  • Volume 11 | Issue 01
  • Volume 11 | Issue 02
  • Volume 11 | Issue 03
  • Volume 11 | Issue 04
  • Volume 11 | Issue 05
  • Volume 11 | Issue 06
  • Volume 11 | Issue 07
  • Volume 11 | Issue 08
  • Volume 11 | Issue 09
  • Volume 11 | Issue 10
  • Volume 11 | Issue 11
  • Volume 11 | Issue 12
  • Volume 11 | Issue 13
  • Volume 11 | Issue 14
  • Volume 11 | Issue 15
  • Volume 11 | Issue 16
  • Volume 12 | Issue 01
  • Volume 12 | Issue 02
  • Volume 12 | Issue 03
  • Volume 12 | Issue 04
  • Volume 12 | Issue 05
  • Volume 12 | Issue 06
  • Volume 12 | Issue 07
  • Volume 12 | Issue 08
  • Volume 12 | Issue 09
  • Volume 12 | Issue 10
  • Volume 12 | Issue 11
  • Volume 12 | Issue 12
  • Volume 13 | Issue 01
  • Volume 13 | Issue 02
  • Volume 13 | Issue 03
  • Volume 13 | Issue 04
  • Volume 13 | Issue 05
  • Volume 13 | Issue 06
  • Volume 13 | Issue 07
  • Volume 13 | Issue 08
  • Volume 13 | Issue 09
  • Volume 13 | Issue 10
  • Volume 13 | Issue 11
  • Volume 13 | Issue 12
  • Volume 13 | Issue 13
  • Volume 13 | Issue 14
  • Volume 13 | Issue 15
  • Volume 13 | Issue 16
  • Volume 14 | Issue 01
  • Volume 14 | Issue 02
  • Volume 14 | Issue 03
  • Volume 14 | Issue 04
  • Volume 14 | Issue 05
  • Volume 14 | Issue 06
  • Volume 14 | Issue 07
  • Volume 14 | Issue 08
  • Warren Wiersbe
  • Web Resources
2ProphetU
  • Home
  • Issues
  • Articles
    • Alan Day
    • Alan Stewart
    • Ed Litton
    • Gary Miller
    • Keith Drury
    • Michael Catt
    • Stephanie Bennett
    • Vance Havner
    • Warren Wiersbe
  • Quotes
  • Sermon Outlines
  • Podcasts
  • More
    • Book Reviews
    • Calendar
    • Odds n Ends
    • Web Resources
Articles . Keith Drury . Volume 07 | Issue 20

The Big Blog Bust

Since Christianity Today announced the death of the blog in their October 2007 issue I’ve been thinking about blogging. Of the 300 million people who took up blogging, a full 200 million have given it up and let their pages go inactive. There are today only about 100 million active blogs. Actually I guess I don’t “blog” technically, since I started posting a “Tuesday Column” for ministers in 1995 long before the notion of blogging existed. But I use a blog for comments so I guess I’m still listed among the remaining 100 million active bloggers. I’ve been wondering why so many blogs go belly up and I’ve also been thinking about the future of blogging. Here’s what I think.

Six Reasons Why Many Blogs Go Belly Up

1. It’s hard work.
As someone doing it weekly for 13 years I can testify that it consumes 3-4 hours a week, hours I could be using for other things.

2. Bloggers get little appreciation. 
Getting gratitude for blogging is rare. If we bloggers quit blogging and used the saved time to visit folks at the hospital, mentor young people or cut our neighbor’s grass we’d get far more appreciation.

3. Blogging makes no money.
Except for some rare exceptions, there’s not much money in blogging. If we spent the three hours a week we write blogs in working at Taco bell we’d at least have $25 to show for it. A solid professional writer could use 3 hours to write an assignment that would bring a few hundred bucks in the same amount of time. No wonder many professional writers have quit blogging.

4. People can be mean.
When we put our ideas in the public domain, it opens us up for public abuse and some folks feel free to torch our ideas (and us personally) publicly. This discourages some, especially women, from continued blogging.

5. Running out of ideas.
Writing a dozen blogs is not difficult, but after writing 100 blogs ideas are harder to come by.

6. Little feedback. 
Blogging is like preaching a sermon to which nobody responds with a single word. On the DruryWriting.com site we get about a thousand visitors every day—but often a whole day goes by without a single comment. It can make you think you are talking into the wind and ministers used to reinforcement can get discouraged. I meet people face to face every week who say they read my column but have never responded.

These and many other reasons you can probably think of may have caused many to abandon their blogging discipline. So what about the future? I have several predictions.

Eight Predictions on the Future of Blogging

1. The growth of blogging will end.
The number of blogs in the future will stabilize at around 100 million, or even less. A shake-out is coming and many more bloggers will abandon blogging. The number going inactive will start matching (or beating) the number of new blogs. Many will move on to other things. The blogging fad is ending.

2. Video blogging will rise dramatically.
Anyone with a fast Internet connection will soon figure out they can watch the Internet on their TV (once they discover a simple S-Video cord turns their laptop into a CATV source and they can watch their favorite programs directly onto their TV screens whenever they want to). Americans will seldom read when they can watch.

3. More people will read fewer blogs.
In the coming shake-out, some blogs will gain thousands of readers at the expense of other blogs. Fewer blogs will have greater audiences.

4. Blogs will get longer and shorter.
Blogs that capture a following will either be (a)short single-screen entries that can be read in 2 minutes, or (b)exhaustive well-researched articles dealing with a single subject in detail.

5. More blogs will become daily.
The blogs with the biggest following publish daily. People will quit reading 20 blogs and start following three or four as they become more selective. My associate Ken Schenck has already moved this way.

6. Community sites will displace many traditional blogs. 
Many of my students already have exchanged bloging for Facebook and its up-to-the minute contact of a single community. The Facebook community approach is already being copied by mychurch.org and Twitter and dozens of other sites.

7. Blogs will increasingly specialize. 
Pressed for time, future readers will select a few blogs in their area of interest area for their reading. Both my sons have already moved that way–John specializes in theology and David in leadership.

8. There will be more team blogs.   
Technically a blog is the commentary of one person. But who says it has to be that way? Of the top 100 blogs online only 12 are by individuals. The other 88 are team blogs written by a whole group of writers. Many of the best weekly blogs by individuals will merge and become SuperBlogs by like minded (or perhaps unlike minded?) people providing an alternative community type blogging.

As for me and this site, I’m still thinking about all this. I write this column for ministers every Tuesday because I’m a writer. I practice writing here. Would I write if 90% of my readers quit coming? Sure! What if only ten people a day read my column? Yep, I’d still write. Why? Because half of those who visit this site do so through a search engine. They Googled something like Pastoral Prayers or they typed in “what to do when you’ve married a jerk” or even “democrat Christian.” (whoops!). They have no idea who I am—I just came up on their Google search. That’s what I like about “writing for inventory.” By writing every week I put stuff in inventory that people will find years later when they’re interested in that particular thing. They sought and they found. For instance in the current month (October 2007) 13,676 people have read the four Tuesday columns posted. However, during that same period another 11,896 visitors found something else on this site through search engines. So even if nobody at all read my weekly columns I’d still write for the people who will find it in the future when they’re seeking.   So I guess I’ll keep at it even as it declines in popularity. It’s worth the 3-4 hours I give to it.

Then again, maybe I ought to use my time to visit people in the hospital.

copyright 2007, Keith Drury
www.drurywriting.com

Keith Drury

Keith Drury served The Wesleyan Church headquarters in Christian Education and Youth leadership for 24 years before becoming a professor of religion at Indiana Wesleyan University. He is the author of more than a dozen books of practical spirituality, including Holiness for Ordinary People, Common Ground and Ageless Faith. Keith Drury wrote the Tuesday Column for 17 years (1995-2012), and many articles can be found on his blog “Drury Writing.”

Keith Drury retired from full time teaching in 2012. Keith is married to Sharon and has two adult sons and several grandchildren. He is retired in Florida with Sharon and enjoys cycling.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Print

Read An Article

  • A Step at a Time
  • Hard Words to Swallow Lead to Revival (Part 1)
  • Day and Night

RSS Warren Wiersbe Podcast

  • Christ in the Old Testament - Too Good to be True (Isaiah 53)
  • The Master's Mandates: Taking His Place (John 20:19-23)
  • The Master's Mandates: An Effective Witness (Luke 24:36-53, Acts 1:4-8)
  • The Master's Mandates: He Works With Us (Mark 16:14-20)

RSS Sherwood Baptist Podcast

  • Mentoring and Womanhood
  • The Beauty of Motherhood
  • Discernment and God's Will
  • Redemption and Spiritual Life

MICHAEL CATT MESSAGES

Verse

Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret.
Ephesians 5:11-12

Quotes On

  • Hypocrisy

Search

Links

Michael Catt

Vance Havner

Ron Dunn

Sherwood Church

Copyright 2ProphetU 2021. All righrts reserved.