Is the writing on the wall for blogging here?

This work by Ernesto G. Sonido Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Philippines License.
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The Bible is an interesting book. It is full of stories both entertaining and educating. And they are also good stories that can well lead to a stories or to illuminate a point.

The story starts in Babylon, during a party between Belshazaar and his courtiers. During the middle of the dinner a hand appeared out of nowhere and began to write on the wall. This was literally a hand, no arm nor any body attached to it - disembodied hand. And it did not need any instrument pen or whatever tool they used in those days to write.

Then the hand disappeared. Leaving only what it had written on the wall.

The problem was no one could read or interpret what it meant. So the King summoned all the Wise men and not-so-Wise men in Babylon to interpret the Writing. It took some time till Daniel the Jew came and translated the writing. What is said was ” Mene, Mene, Tekel u-Pharsin“.

What the writing meant was Beware! MENE, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; TEKEL, you have been weighed on the scales and found wanting; PERES, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians. - ^ “Bible, Revised Standard Version”.

From this came the term the Writing is on the Wall: Take heed the signs point to imminent death or end.

Of course there is another phrase that is nearly similar to the Writing is on the Wall and that is There is no everlasting Banquet Under the Sun.

In the past number of year we have probably seen the rise of blogging as an on-line medium. It has become popular and a lot of people have started to use it beyond the personal and venturing towards marketing, money-making and image projection.

Then we have also seen the rise of micro-blogging and social media through Twitter and Facebook. And they too have become a success and slowly but surely have been embraced by a great number of people wired into the Net.

And as of late, more or less in the last two to three years, there has been a steady shift of interest from blogs to microblogs and social networks. Namely because it is easier to write, read and interact on. In the Net where speed and stickiness is important platforms and networks like Twitter and Facebook are the Emperors.

Has blogs lost it glamor? Did a number of blogs engaged in SEO over do it? Did too much marketing and pr work dull a number of blogs to the point it is the new source of press releases? OR are there just too many blogs?

Who knows. I believe whatever you do in your blog is your business and the ultimate judge over your blog is your reader and yourself. To each his own.

I am just wondering.

Then again there are two things that come to mind whenever the talk of this shift begins or for some progress.

One, blogging will not be extinct because there will always be a need for: the long conversation; the focused discussion or talk; the vast latitude and longitude of personal space - a place to expound and explain; and the place for special topics and subjects.

Blogging as a medium is still a practical way to publish one’s thoughts, ideas and opinions.

It may or may not be financially rewarding but it will be there. So I guess blogging will not die yet. It has to transform though and evolve.(Of course taking some tips from the Crocodile evolutionary-wise, there is no need to change a winning form or format)

Two, the shift is a good thing for blogging in that it will achieve two things - (i) It will make the fittest survive and (ii) It will temper the overweening and abusive pride that sometimes goes and sometimes worms its way into the heart of a blogger. Then we go about our business of blogging.

Anyway, that is what I think. What about you? What do you think?

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This work by Ernesto G. Sonido Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Philippines License.