Blogs Deader Than Bin Laden

May 2nd, 2011

Introducing a Fantastic New Blogger: Mr. N.Y. Times

Here’s an interesting fact. Real blogs have been driven out of Google News results.

I just Googled the bin Laden story, bringing up 100 “blog” results. My blog used to appear in these searches, as did the blogs of other people I knew. Guess what? Things have changed. In the current results, the closest things to blogs are Newsbusters and The American Thinker. I don’t even see Instapundit in there!

It’s so funny, being this right. Years ago, I complained that big businesses were going to take over blogging and drive the little guys out. Now look! ABC and NPR and The New York Times appear in “blog” searches, but we don’t! We are HISTORY! KAPUT! OVER!

I didn’t realize it had gotten this bad. There is really nothing left now.

It’s the craziest thing. For about seven years, a loophole opened up, and ordinary people were able to get their feet into it and hold it open and talk to the world. Then it snapped shut! What’s left? Is Youtube still doable? I don’t even know.

I underestimated the ruthlessness and selfishness of the big time press, which is saying a lot, given how much I talked about these things. I knew they resented us, and that they would try to kill us, but I didn’t know they would proactively push us out. They have to be using search engine experts and so on in order to do this, unless Google is doing it for them. This kind of thing doesn’t just happen. It has to be deliberate and premeditated.

I don’t know what to say, except for, “Thanks for all the fish!”

It doesn’t matter what I say. No one will read it!

16 Responses to “Blogs Deader Than Bin Laden”

  1. Aaron's cc: Says:

    “It doesn’t matter what I say. No one will read it!”
    .
    Nobody.

  2. Steve H. Says:

    Who said that?

  3. Heather Says:

    Well, I read what you say, and there’s quite a few others that come by too. Sent out a new update about my mom.

  4. Elisson Says:

    I think Facebook and Twitter (“blogging for people with ADHD”) killed blogs deader than the MSM ever could.

  5. Dale Says:

    I read you AT LEAST four times a week. Do I need to change my name?

    Dale

  6. Peg Says:

    People blog. It’s just tough to find out what they are saying if you search Google. Sigh.

  7. pbird Says:

    Oh, a few of us still read here. I also quote you a bit, spread it around.

  8. Justthisguy Says:

    I betcha they don’t mention Steve Sailer, and other HBD blogs, either.

  9. Justthisguy Says:

    I do miss some of the mean and nasty stuff you used to write (that Pemoline post was sheer genius), but on the whole, I like you better now that you have gotten all serious-like, with the theology and the tools.

  10. Big Hal Says:

    Call me nemo. I still read a lot of blogs, some of them corporate but most still people who have an opinion and post it. I never climbed on the bloggers will kill the traditional press bandwagon, mostly because I knew that e-bay and Craig’s list was what was really going to do it, but blogs did have an impact on the way news got reported. It doesn’t matter much what google pops up in a blog search since most folks don’t use google to find blogs, they already follow one or more and if they don’t their friends do and are posting links on twitter and facebook and for most people links from people you know and trust trump what some search engine pops up. Try as they might, the news companies will never again have the power to set and drive the agenda that they once did.

  11. Lee Says:

    A smart guy said something to the effect of “Blogs are just CB radio w/out Jerry Reed cackling over your shoulder.”

    Blogs mattered for a little while because they were the new fad and everyone wanted on the bandwagon. Some good writers got in early, like you, and were able to benefit from the fad. Dan Rather benefited rather less so, but that is his own fault for acting like a total and complete jackass in public. And getting caught.

    Yeah, you were right, of course. I still read you though.
    Best regards,
    Lee

  12. Ruth H Says:

    Sooo…. I’m still here, and I have a huge list of people I check everyday or have RSS feeds on google reader. I also have my small blog, mainly links, not much from my brain, just what I think my few readers should see.
    I was away for 2 weeks with not much internet coverage. I missed it. The few newspapers I saw were so small and inadequate I really wanted my internet news fix.
    I have never joined the twitter group because it absolutely does not matter to me what someone is thinking or doing every given minute. Now that is narcissism, thinking someone cares for your thoughts because they are so important that you MUST post them constantly. Ridiculous.

  13. Steve H. Says:

    I have a thought about that. I better Tweet it.

  14. GA Jim Says:

    Steve, I’ve been reading you since HOI back in those glory days and you are right to a certain point. The giant media companies have taken over much of the bandwith that used to be filled by HOI, RWG, IMAO, Instapundit, etc.

    An indie blogger will never again be able to achieve the page hits that they once could. There are only so many witty things that can be said about big stories like Bin Laden’s death and the established media can buy the traffic on those stories.

    So most indie bloggers have been driven into smaller and smaller niches and now Ariana is even trying to exploit those for AOL. But there is still plenty of opportunity for a blogger to make an impact even if it is on a much smaller scale.

    However I don’t think this evolution is a vast media conspiracy as much as a fight for their livelihood. Big media have to adapt to what consumers want or become extinct and if they fail to supply what consumers demand there is still plenty of opportunity for a pajama’ed blogger to succeed by filing the void.

  15. Steve H. Says:

    I don’t think they have meetings where they conspire to get rid of blogs (“get rid of” per se), and it’s perceptive of you to point out that market forces are at work here, but it’s obvious that they are hostile to us. The liberals see us as whistleblowers, and conservatives see us as threats to their tiny pieces of the media pie. Blogging produced a few writers, analysts, and investigators who proved that many of our conservative pundits were not the best people for their jobs.
    .
    When you say we can still make an impact, and then you say “on a much smaller scale,” it sounds like you’re conceding my point. I think you know what I mean. I can make an impact by texting my yard guy, but it’s “much smaller” than the impact I would make if this were 2000 and nobody was out there competing for my readers. Like a famous lady once told me, promoting something on my blog is like hollering down the toilet.
    .
    I don’t worry about blog traffic any more, but it’s still an interesting topic.

  16. GA Jim Says:

    I love the line about hollering down the toilet. I hope the famous lady won’t mind if I use it.