3/28/05 - 3:10 PM - I continue to be amused that I started a blog reporting on how rarely most people update their blogs, only to find myself rarely updating. The problem with blogging for work is that it is . . . work. I've maintained a hobbyist blog consistently since March 2003 (failing to update only one month in that time); before that streak, I went 34 months with just one update, after having started the blog in July 1999 and maintaining it until May 2000. I will continue to update this blog, and the good news is that I won't be taking too much room out of your RSS feeds.
The reason for today's update is a story on BBC ("Podcasters look to net money", an article satirized by this cartoon), with a quote from Dave Winer, the patron saint of blogging:
He designed the format called RSS (Really Simple Syndication), which gives web users an easy way to keep updated automatically on sites they like. Podcasts rely on his technology because it is the way they are distributed.
He is also writer of the longest-running weblog on the net, Scripting News. He thinks its power lies in its democratising potential, not in its "over-hyped" business promise.
"We're the sources, the people doing stuff, and podcasting is a way to tell people who care what we're doing.
"No matter how you look at it, commercialising this medium isn't going to make very much money," he says. "Podcasting is going to be a medium of niches, with 'audiences' measured in the single digits, like e-mail or blogs."
I was glad to see Dave talk about blogs with single-digit audiences (most have double-digit audiences) because having the pioneering blogger say this makes it clear that single-digit audiences can be okay: it is not always about the quantity of the audience, but about the quality of the audience. I write a blog for family and a few friends, and it is a great way to keep them updated. Blogs can be useful no matter if their readership is single digits or six digits.