You have arrived at the web home of Noah Brier. This is mostly an archive of over a decade of blogging and other writing. You can read more about me or get in touch. If you want more recent writing of mine, most of that is at my BrXnd marketing x AI newsletter and Why Is This Interesting?, a daily email for the intellectually omnivorous.
When asked about some predictions for next year, I suggested that 2006 is the year that will mark the end of blogging. Obviously I don't mean an end to the millions of people writing on the web daily, but rather the end of the differentiation. Blogging is a meaningless term. The only thing different about a blog and a regular website is the software it runs on. Blogging is a software revolution, and as that software becomes more widespread and people get more comfortable with it, the idea of 'blogging' will fall by the wayside. Think about it. If you visit the Movable Type homepage, is that a blog? Well it's built on the same software that makes this site work. I've spoken about this before and I know it's kind of kicking a dead horse and harping on a semantic issue, but I really can't resist.
I think as more people jump on board the blogging bandwagon, blogging will be exposed like the wizard behind the curtain. You know what? This is a great thing. Because once we move past the terms and the aura, we can really begin to explore the medium. All 'blogs' don't have to look the same, sound the same or dress the same. Just the other day, Kottke pointed to tumblelogs, a kind of retro blog where people stop the absurdly long posts so many of us are guilty of and return to a short, linklog style. For the last year so many people have been too caught up in what a blog should be that they've missed opportunities to do new and different things.
This is everyone's big chance.