The state of the blog in a world where Facebook has become the most popular website real estate in the world, raises the question “Is the humble blog on a path to a quiet extinction at the hands of the social media juggernaut?”
Facebook has certainly motivated some casual hobbyist bloggers to desert the blog and they have leapt onto Facebook and started publishing their information and updates there due to its ease of use, wide range of features and tools that allow them to easily publish and share. 
Technorati (the internet search engine for searching blogs and has indexed over 100 million blogs) has just released its annual “State of The Blogosphere 2010 Report” that highlights the latest trends in the blogging landscape that shows that the blog is not dying but instead evolving and changing to reflect our contemporary habits online.
So what did the report reveal and what are the top line trends that are emerging?
- Blogs are in transition and are no longer considered an upstart but are being taken seriously as an alternative to mainstream media with a 40% of people trusting a blog as a source of information and news.
- Bloggers use and engagement with social media tools is expanding with increased use of Twitter and Facebook.
- Sharing of blog posts is increasingly being done via social networks
- Mobile blogging on smart phones and iPads is quickly evolving with 25% of all bloggers already engaged in mobile blogging and has changed the way they blog to shorter and more spontaneous posts.
- Women and mom bloggers are very connected with their communities and making their voice heard online with their influence and impact on brands being taken very seriously with over 50% of them being approached by brands
The report also revealed the fastest rising blogs in 2010 which reflects the dynamic and evolving blog universe.
1. BuzzFeed.com (change in blog rank from 14,205 to be ranked 73rd)
Buzzfeed is a website that attempts to detect and list “viral content”, or videos that are bound to spread like wildfire around the internet. The site aims to serve as a central location for users to find and share the hottest new trends that are emerging on the web. BuzzFeed provides an RSS feed, email updates and a widget that users can embed on their own sites. The site is intended to provide an aggregation of all of the latest trends and memes developing on the internet in order to capture the latest fads that are emerging on the internet.
2. The Onion (moved from a rank of 14,204 to now rank at position 108)
This blog is a satirical news blog and reflects strong elements of what blogging is about.
3. UberGizmo (now ranked 156th but was previously at position 1,925)
A blog about the latest gizmos and gadgets.
4. RedState (ranked currently 56th, a year ago was ranked 1,404)
5. Towleroad (ranked 184 after being in position 770 before)
These blogs epitomize what good blogging practice is all about, focused, opinionated and utilizing the best technology that they can afford and implement.
Blogs are here to stay but they are very different to what they were 5 years ago and will continue to evolve.
Where do you think blogging is going?
Image by dsnowb