Blogs themselves seem to be on the way out. I hate that this is the case, but it's true.
The first problem is the asymmetry between downside (substantial) and upside (very little). We don't live in the world we had in 2004. Authoritarian governments and employers (which are basically authoritarian private governments) will find what you say and it will only be used against you. Text's strength and downfall is that it's so easy to index. Any two-bit Spreadsheet Eichmann looking to fire you can do a Google search on you and find something you said 10 years ago.
Podcasts and video essays are taking over. Now, for someone to find something to use against you, he at least has to listen to content--that doesn't scale. (This may change due to widespread adoption of more advanced "AI" algorithms. I'm sure they're already being deployed by authoritarian states.) Of course, these have much higher barriers to entry, which means there's less diversity of voice and more of an emphasis on marketability... but there's still a lot of great content being produced (e.g. breadtube).
Blogs were fun, but their time is over due to the increasing necessity of paranoia to survive. People used to write under their real names. That's unthinkable now, because it's so easy these days for employers and ill-intended governments to find causes to harm people.
I would not say they are on the way out, but definitely out of the mainstream and growth is limited in this space. I would say the same is true of podcasts to a certain degree, with quick videos taking over this space.
The first problem is the asymmetry between downside (substantial) and upside (very little). We don't live in the world we had in 2004. Authoritarian governments and employers (which are basically authoritarian private governments) will find what you say and it will only be used against you. Text's strength and downfall is that it's so easy to index. Any two-bit Spreadsheet Eichmann looking to fire you can do a Google search on you and find something you said 10 years ago.
Podcasts and video essays are taking over. Now, for someone to find something to use against you, he at least has to listen to content--that doesn't scale. (This may change due to widespread adoption of more advanced "AI" algorithms. I'm sure they're already being deployed by authoritarian states.) Of course, these have much higher barriers to entry, which means there's less diversity of voice and more of an emphasis on marketability... but there's still a lot of great content being produced (e.g. breadtube).
Blogs were fun, but their time is over due to the increasing necessity of paranoia to survive. People used to write under their real names. That's unthinkable now, because it's so easy these days for employers and ill-intended governments to find causes to harm people.