The 5 Ages of Blog

Interesting post on Kent Newsome's blog about the 5 ages of blogging...essentially its (expurgated by us....):

Stage 1: Excitement

Excitement is high during this stage and expectations are intact and rising.....

Step 2: Expectation

One of two things will happen. Once in a blue moon, the blogger will catch lightning in a bottle, get swept up by the blogging elite, and become a recognized name in the blogosphere. Much more often, the blogger will hit a plateau and the growth of his still new blog will slow or flatline. He's not the new guy any longer, his album's worth of posts are getting a little stale, and the lizard-like blogosphere has been distracted by all the other flies buzzing around.

At this point the once hopeful blogger finds himself writing away to what seems like a diminishing rate of return.

Stage 3: Frustration

Once the honeymoon is over, the blogging work that seemed so new and interesting at first starts to feel hard and frustrating. And very, very inefficient. At this point, the blogger begins looking for a new angle to kick-start and accelerate the growth process.

This is the bit I liked.......

It is during this stage that pandering, agitating and extreme positions in search of a reaction begin to occur.

Of course, some of the Political blogs jumped straight to here

Like the preschooler who acts out for attention, however, this approach is not sustainable over the long term. Angry or effusive posts create a self-fulfilling prophesy, whereby the blog's growth is even more negatively affected as a result of posts, cynical or sycophantic, inspired by the blog's lack of growth.

Stage 4 Alienation

After the blogger's capacity for frustration is exceeded, he does an about face and, instead of seeking inclusion in the conversations, he rejects the entire process completely. At this point, the tailspin towards abandonment has begun. The blogger's mental image of the blogosphere as unicorns and butterflies in a field of wildflowers is replaced with an equally distorted image of a dark and wicked place, full of conspiracies and evil doers. The benefit of the doubt is cast aside in favor of broad condemnation.

Excellent imagery.....I tried to comment on this on Kent's own blog, but it wouldn't let me - even though others were getting through....how much were they paying him I wonder

This alienation manifests itself in one or more ways. Perhaps it takes the form of cynical posts about the unfairness of the system. Or long periods without posting anything, followed by a week or so of active posting. Rote behavior, in an effort to find the hidden key that will unlock the gate.

Some blogs exist in a near perpetual state of alienation. Eventually, the alienation gives way to abandonment.

Stage 5: Abandonment

Next comes the unsatisfying end game for the discouraged blogger. His once cherished blog is either cast into the abyss via the delete button or, more often, left to lie silent by the side of the road like a burned out jalopy. A testament to the inefficiency of the process.

Its actually possible to see stuff from levels 2 to 4 on a weekly basis - we're still in growth, but no doubt it will plateau at some point - though Technorati tries its hardest by freezing us for weeks at a time, knocking off links and refusing to add new ones - the bastards are out to get us clearly

Actually, this probably describes nearly all media projects in a microcosm, its clearly a Darwinian universe that obeys power laws. What is also interesting is the number of once keen bloggers I know of from who are now putting a lot of time into Facebook..makes one wonder if blogging is just another - albeit open - social network fad.

However, big thought of the day is "why do you blog" - if it is for pleasure, then the above cycle does not really apply....so, seems to us that if you are going to blog, do it for your own amusement and enjoyment - find a topic you enjoy, a style that fits, and if it stops being fun, stop.