I agree with that statement. YouTube used to be fun for me. Until I heard that a lot of content is martketed material.

There used to be a time when people commented on blogs because they wanted to be a part of that community. Now it’s all about getting seen and getting a link (for Do Follow blogs). I miss knowing that when people commented on my post they were doing it because they’d read the post and had something useful to add.

I really miss not seeing keywords as comment names.

I do have one personal blog, though, where I’m familiar with all the commenters and with whom I’ve developed good relationships. These are “older” (blogging more than three years) bloggers, though, so they were there before the marketing wave hit. That’s a nice little oasis.

I miss the days when bloggers blogged for the sheer joy of getting their message/voice out there. These days there are a lot of shady business going on designed just to make cash with as little personal investment into topics as possible.

I miss pre-pay-per-post. While I’ll withstand such entries ocassionally I always feel like I’m watching Free TV. You know, interruptions to perfectly good viewing to advertise this episode/series/channel sponsers. ICK! I don’t watch Free TV these days because of the ads. Too many infiltrating blogs and I’ll tune out of them too.

I miss knowing everyone I read or who read me. These days it grows so fast that I lose track of even my regulars or don’t have the opportunity to get to know them as well as I used to. Growth and popularity is a double-edged sword.

There are a few things to miss but ultimately I think there are also a great many positives. Blogging has become easier, more instantaneous and the reach of blogs and the blogging phenominon is enormous. More people are reading or writing blogs and the wealth of information available thanks to all this individual experts and amateurs is amazing. With RSS readers and comment subscription it has become so much easier to keep up with our favorites. The real question is: Where is blogging heading in 2008?

I guess the thing I miss most is how innocent it was. I know that sounds odd, but it was all so new and fresh and people just putting their thoughts online. It wasn’t so calculated and competitive and all of that. Of course, there wasn’t much money involved.

What I regret most, though, is not just sticking with it despite the revenue possibilities not being clear. If I had blogged all of my creative ideas and articles for the last 6 years instead of wishing I could get a book deal, I’d have a huge asset now.

It’s okay, though–I’m working on it now, and that’s what’s important.

~Angela :-)

In particular this is the case with political blogging. I am see more blogs on political topics not run by pundits or even campaigns, but rather by marketeers trying to make a buck off of a name or topic that is hot.

Seriously though, I kinda miss the excitement of seeing new things. Not just with blogs, but just about everything on the web. That’s what I liked about blogs in the very early days – they were mostly just link dumps of new and interesting sites. Bloggers were indexing them faster than the search engines. It seemed like a pretty exciting time, but then again, this was a long time ago, pre-2000 bubble stuff.

As an “old timer” who shapeshifted more than a year ago, I can’t say I miss all of that. Everything gets stale after a while and the world moves on. Let’s not cry into our drinks.

Always look to the future. :-)