Fast Company has posted on Six Jobs That Won’t Exist In 2016 and included on the list is ‘Bloggers’.
While it’s not really one of FC’s hardest hitting pieces a few scattered thoughts sprung to mind on seeing it (via Blog Herald):
- I always chuckle a little when I see a magazine or newspaper declaring the death of a form of new media
- At least we’re on the list as ‘jobs’ (however quickly we might be off it).
- 2016 is a long way away. I know quite a few bloggers who would be very happy for their blogs to continue to earn what they now do for another 10 years – if they do there will be a retired bloggers village somewhere in the Bahamas.
On a semi serious note – I’ve no doubt that things will be a lot different in 2016 – if blogs do still exist they will have probably changed quite a lot (if the last few years of rapid change is anything to go by). Whether blogs (or blogging as a job) exists or don’t exist is not that important to me in some respects because whether they do or don’t people will be always be looking for content, entertainment, information, ideas, community, dialogue and the ability to have their say.
I guess the challenge is for those of us who want to be a part of the process of providing these sorts of things is to ride the wave and be willing to know where to invest our time, energy and resources along the way.
That’s like saying the Internet won’t exist in 2016. It’s exceedingly stupid.
You can count on bloggers being around, along with the rest of the Internet, at that time. But as A.H pointed out, blogging might be something else by then.
So, too, might the Internet.
Uhm……
I hope that didn’t happen because I’m a psychic, but rather because of some strange Summer Time issue.
I would really hate to be a psychic.
In 2016 there might not be bloggs any more. Or, at least, not the way that we know them now. But there will be something else to the same spirit. If blogging for money will still exist by that time…well, good writing and quality always brought money, so…my guess is that those guys are wrong! So wrong!
I don’t think the act of blogging could ever change, it’s more than just blogging, it’s journalism, it’s diaries, it’s more than just owning a blog. I think that we might see blogs changing to something else according to the technology, but the action of blogging will always be there cause you can be so many things when you’re a blogger.
A.H
What a load of crap, lol, rather worrying title, but I don’t believe it.
I agree with what you say Darren, the internet will of course exist, and people (even more people by then) will be looking for information, entertainment etc, that will never end…… blogs will evolve, maybe more wiki style or something, but the internet and “web sites” no matter how they are run / powered will still be there. We are bloggers yes, but that bloggers fall under the “webmaster” or “webdeveloper” categroy, and that will for sure still be around.
bloggers village somewhere in the Bahamas sounds great though lol.
Having looking at that webpage, what a joke,… Humz, it is April 1st (Fools Day), I think they are the fools, lol.
Every few months an idiot has to spout off something like this. Man will never be able to fly. He will never reach the moon. Cable TV is just a fad. Need we say any more.
Blogs will continue to evolve as will the internet. Whether or not they are still called blogs in 2016 is up for debate. They probably won’t be. But hopefully the internet will still be a place where anybody can speak there mind. As long as it is, there will be money flowing and people making a living off of it.
I was kind of surprised at how shallow and badly written the little article was. They bust on bloggers for making snarky comments, but the article is little more than an example of a bad, snarky blog post.
Things evolve. They don’t die or disappear.
I will say this, however. Blogs existed 10 years ago, and they weren’t nearly as different from today’s blogs as some people think. Sure, there was no AJAX and WordPress, but the basic idea was the same, and the format was quite similar. I expect the same sort of evolution over the next 10 years as well.
Do these people really think people will just forget about a news source like Engadget? Of course not. Will the Internet die off? LOL! So how exactly will blogs die out?
That’s because this ‘industry’ isn’t really ‘blogging’, as such.. that’s just a term for the current phase of… content publishing. There’s going to be money in content publishing forever (or pretty close to it) whatever moniker it takes on as the years go by. Writing your blogs is, at an industrial level, no different to publishing a newspaper in the 1800s. The technology changes, the revenue model changes, but at the end of the day you’re still making money from producing words that people read.
While I don’t even earn a living now as a blogger, I think this statement from Fast Company is way off base. I think of blogging as being similar in nature to listening to your favorite radio personality or watching your favorite newscaster on television.
There will always be opportunities to make money from your content if you have a large enough audience. That will never change.
Blogs will exist as long as there is a Web that is accessible for anyone to publish to.
Even though it’s not my job right now, I wouldn’t mind the prospect of 10 more years of good income from writing my thoughts a couple times a day. Yes I know blogging is more than that.
Even a few good years of income could lead to a lot more. Who knows what will be the next “blogging.” The internet will still be around and bloggers will have a huge advantage jumping into the next big thing, so don’t be discouraged. Just think of it as a career change in the future leading to more money.
I think it is better if it remains a personal hobby thing instead of a job anyways
As bandwidth and podcasting increase, text blogging will decrease. Text blogging, like bookstores and libraries, will continue to have a place. But why read when you can listen? And there are plenty of people who will not take the time to write who can talk your ear off on the telephone. Problogging may be the job of the present, but propodcasting is the job of the future. Text ads can be replaced with audio ads placed at intervals the podcaster determines. Google may release a heatmap for the ear. Placing at the beginning and in the middle of a podcast might be the hot regions, while at the end would be the coldest region.
Michael: I’d disagree. It certainly hasn’t panned that way with radio vs. books. Very few people listen to spoken word radio compared to the amount who read books. I can’t see a time when audio distribution online becomes any more popular than text distribution. Reading is significantly better than listening, in the main. You don’t have to put up with odd accents, slow delivery, and the inability to ‘scan’. Podcasting works for certain types of content, but it’s definitely not going to be a replacement for the majority of online textual content.
If blogging is to end then it must be ‘something’ that is killing blogging. That ‘something’ must be something that earns more money. It is likely that bloggers will migrate to that new ‘something’. Online money making will never die as long as there is internet.
My friend owns http://www.death2blogs.com and the point being that many commercial blogs are hurting some the blogging and also there are now so many blogs that do not get comments on them due to the sheer number of blogs out there it has hurt the blogging community.
There are also a lot of blogs getting a huge amount of comments, but the numbers do not look good.
Peter: If you friend hates blogs so much why did he decide to express it by opening a blog? and why didn’t he even bother to write a shot paragraph about his intentions and causes?.
“proud to be a wordpress 2.0.1 site”
hilarious…
A.H
I hope not since my husband just got me interested in this! He also recommened your site as basically a textbook of information in learning how to effectively do this blogging thing. You certainly have great tips! Thank you!
Podcasting will get bigger. Wait until cell phones get more sophisticated (maybe when Google goes into cell phones). They will download podcasts that you can listen to in your car or while riding the bus. Maybe even your car stereo will be online. Always connected… Always bombarded with advertising… Someone will be making money from it. The Internet will get even bigger. This is just the beginning.
Blogs have been around forever, just in the form of “editorials” in newspapers and magazines. They will be here forever.
Two years have gone by and we bloggers are still alive.
FastCompany.com, by the way, only has an Alexa ranking of around 2.5 million. I bet some of the people who commented above make more than that magazine grosses in a year! :)