Image via CrunchBaseMy short answer is no, not at all. But there is a minor storm on the topic going on. It was, I believe, started by Jeremiah Owyang.
End of an Era: The Golden Age of Tech Blogging is Over
Many people have pitched in with their own reply blog posts. Notables like Pete Cashmore, Fred Wilson, and Loic Le Meur - founder of Le Web conference in Paris - have participated in Jeremiah's comments sections. Pete Cashmore's comment is particularly interesting.
Sarah Lacy: Golden Age of Tech Blogging Done? I Couldn't Disagree More
Brian Solis: Is the Golden Age of tech blogging over?
Marshall Kirkpatrick: The Next Era of Tech Blogging: 3 Things That Could Make it Better
Hugh MacLeod: Oh No! Blogging is REALLY, REALLY dead this time!!!!!! :D
I don't think blogs were at the top of the heap ever. But now blogs do compete with many other forms of expression, many of them short form. But those short form expression people were not blogging in the first place. And reading their blogs is still the best way to get into the minds of some of the heavyweights in the industry. You wish more of them blogged.
It is like television going from a few channels to many channels. I think that was a good thing. And I am so glad for the rise of all sorts of non blogging platforms. More people are talking.
Tech blogging is not dying. Tech blogging just is not the primary thing humanity does, if it ever did. But there are things you get in the tech blogosphere that you just don't get anywhere else. For the right audience - specific, small - tech blogging is more relevant than ever before.
Personally for me tech blogging is more like working out. I don't sweat over traffic numbers like I used to. I have a daily floor of a thousand hits. And I am fine with that. I blog for me first and foremost. It is also like renewing your resume every day. It helps my tech consulting business. The money in blogging is not in traffic and ads, unless you have huge traffic. It is in establishing your reputation and credentials among a small set of people who really matter, like your clients for example.
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