My good buddy Kevin O’Keefe makes a prediction for 2008:
For the 1600 blogs the ABA is indexing at the ABA online journal to double. That’s about 4 new law blogs a day.
Is it just me, or does that seem like a lot of blogs? Is there anyone with the time to read 1600 blogs, no less 3200?
For those engaged in the business of creating blogs for others, this will be a short term boon, but what does it mean for the long haul? And what are these 1600 new blogs, that Kevin predicts will emerge, going to be about?
I hate to be the wet blanket of the blawgosphere (well, not really), but the idea that there can be an ever-expanding universe of blogs strikes me as insane. I recently figured out how to use RSS feeds to monitor the blawgs that interest me on a regular basis, and it has definitely helped to keep track of new blog posts. But even so, it’s a bit overwhelming. And I limit my interests to blogs that offer substantive content. None of these pretend blogs that are only there to scream “hire me!” make the cut. And still there’s just too much.
I believe that this type of overpromotion will end up smothering the blogosphere by its own (dead) weight. Most of these new blogs will bring nothing to the blawgosphere. They will sporadically post primarily self-hype of no interest to anyone, under the mistaken understanding that everyone who gets a blog gets business from it. My notion is that too much garbage in the blawgosphere will drive away anyone who comes by for a look, only to find junk, crap and garbage (or what I would call “marketing”).
Since I have a blawg myself, and would prefer that people read it rather than not, this doesn’t seem like a good thing to me. If I was selling blogs, I might feel differently, at least for the short period of time that the blogosphere seems like a reasonable investment to lawyers needing blogs of their very own, until the inevitable collapse. But then I could move on to selling weight-loss supplements or “male enhancement” products.
Kevin recently asked on his blog if anyone wanted to be a guest blogger. I responded enthusiastically (I’m a very enthusiastic type of guy) that I wanted to do it. I sent Kevin an email with my guest-blogging post, but never heard back about it, and it never saw the light of day on Real Lawyers Have Blogs. Hey, I’m a real lawyer. I have a blog. It seemed liked a perfect fit, right?
I suspect Kevin didn’t care for my topic. It was that Real Lawyer have Real Blogs. This notion is echoed in almost every interview on Kevin’s blog, where everyone stresses that if you want to gain any level of interest, it takes work to produce meaningful content that somebody will want to read.
If 1600 people want to create real blogs that contain real content over the next year, then I will welcome them with open arms. I won’t read them all because it just isn’t possible, not even if I dedicated every waking moment to read blog after blog after blog. But I support their right to blawg 110%.
Somehow, I expect that not all the 1600 blogs are going to offer substantive content, or “join in the conversation” as we like to say. I suspect most will say nothing, do nothing and go nowhere except clog up the works for people who might otherwise find something worth reading in the blawgosphere. And once people get the idea in their head that the blawgosphere is just a morass of self-promoting marketing hucksters with nothing to offer, then there will be no one left to visit the other blawgs. And then the blawgosphere quietly fades into the oblivious of passé fads.
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Never saw the email Scott, and that’s the truth. I’ll dig in my spam and you should send it again.
Saying it’s unlikely that there can’t be 3,200 lawyers writing about niche topics on blogs is like saying we ought to cap lawyers with opinions and lawyers doing conference presentations at 3,200. Unlikely to happen.
If there is a lawyer who blogs on the defense of civil rights for municipalities in one state, should we not have at least one for every other state? There are of course multiple lawyer experts in each of those states. What about the defense of government agencies on workers comp claims? Same thing.
And if there is one expert on those why not a panel of experts just as you would have a panel of experts on a conference panel at a conference of municipal/government agencies. Panels are about 4 in size. Right there, 2 very niche topics, 4 bloggers each, and 50 states.
That’s 400 lawyers blogging to exchange ideas, insight, and advance the law on the topic. (I believe there are 2 right now) If they get some legal work because they are viewed as thought leaders, that’s great. Far better way of marketing than saying ‘I’m a great lawyer, hire me,’ the implication of websites and brochures.
Will I read any of these blogs? No. Will you read any of them? No. Will some alderman, mayor, or corporate counsel for a municipality read them. Probably.
So we agree, good substantive blogs? Fabulous. Garbage self-promotional blogs? Forget it.
400 more blogs? Possibly, though unlikely to survive. 1600 more blogs? Death by 1600 knives. But the good news is that there will never be 1600 new substantive blogs in the next year. The vast majority will be pure marketing and will die an untimely death. Will alderman, mayor or corp counsel read them? Maybe once, and then they’ll either find a real blog or just turn their computer off and never look again.
Kevin, success in promoting blogs will be the death of the blogosphere. The strongest argument against it is that the vast majority will open a blog, post a couple of times and then disappear into well-deserved obscurity. But they’ll leave all their blog garbage floating in orbit around the blawgosphere, and it will those who remain who will be dodging blog detritus and cursing those who told the hypsters that this was a bright idea.
Scott, I’ve never found that promoting others to take action so that they achieve greater heights, so that they are better equipped to serve others, and so that begin to feel incredibly good about themselves as something likely to bring the death of anything.
It’s called dreaming the big idea. We need more dreamers in our society. We need more people who don’t listen to those who say it’s not possible.
People told me 4 years ago that I could not be successful with the enterprise I was launching. What do you think you would have said if I had said I’ll have over 300 law blogs and over 700 lawyers, the vast majority of which writing some great blogs, in a few years?
Has my dream of thousands of lawyers blogging hurt the legal profession or the legal blogosphere? I don’t think so.
Thousand of lawyers blogging? Some would argue that it’s more of a nightmare than a dream. But we can’t tell yet, because thankfully it has not yet happened. When it happens, we shall see.
Remember, you make your living hyping blogs, so “dreaming the big idea” means $$$. But bear in mind that the last time we went through some of those “big idea” blogs, like the Kansas divorce lawyers, there had been no posts for months. They were dead as blogs, and brought nothing to the “conversation”.
It’s like real estate brokers, hyping that no one will ever lose money in the housing market, until it crashes. But that could never happen, could it?
Ah, the cynic. No good dead goes unpunished. Everyone has an ulterior motive. No one could be trying to make a difference. Couldn’t resist the jab Scott.;)
The Kansas family law blog worked so well for a small town guy with a small family that he is off starting his own business as a result, with blogs playing a large part of it. If I played a small part in that, that makes this guys day.
Kevin, you know that I think what you’re doing is worthwhile. My “issue” is twofold: First, I keep arguing that they need to actually blog, not just pretend to blog. As long as they add something, I’m behind them (and you). But eventually, the well is going to run dry.
The blawgosphere will become saturated. If that happens organically, then there’s nothing to be done or said about it. But if it collapses under the weight of garbage blogs, then it will be a shame and we will all be worse for it.
Actually, I’ve tried to get my blog removed from the ABA list since I don’t consider it a “law” blog and I am in no way anything close to being a lawyer.
The people who run it steadfastly refuse to remove it, even at my own request.
I do apologize to everyone that it’s listed there and contributing to the clutter, I assure everyone that I know it’s not a good blog, let alone a good law blog.
Agreed across the board Scott.
And that’s why we try, and there will be failures, to identify good lawyer candidates for blogging. Our client services director, worries more about keeping up the quality of blogging more than anything else.
Amen, brother Kevin.
No need to apologize. Yours is better than half the lawyer blawgs I’ve seen, and more importantly, has something important to say that most lawyers would do well to read.
How many law blogs are too many? Greenfield vs O’Keefe
That’s the question my friend Scott Greenfield asked this morning in response to my prediction that the number of law blogs presently in the ABA Journal’s law blog directory of 1,600 would double in the coming year. That’s right, 4…
Martindale-Hubbell Blog Makes Avvo Look Classy
No such thing as a bad blog, you say?
Martindale-Hubbell Blog Makes Avvo Look Classy
No such thing as a bad blog, you say?
I’ve been writing over a decade online, whether one wants to call it an e-zine (which is what many use to call what developed in to blogging) or blogging. The question of how much is too much has been out there for some time. Bottom line is this, if there is no money to be made on the writing side (there isn’t save for an exceptionally gifted few like David Lat & perhaps save to generate a very slight up tick in the number of new clients) then there may be a lot of supernova blogs (that is shining bright, then exploding in to never to be heard from again remnants) but few long last stars in the night sky.
Put another way, there are many blogs on my blogroll, but very, very few on my daily reads or favs list.
You’ve been on the favs & daily read list for some time, keep up the great work.
You’re killing me. Anon comments are blocks, so I’m begging you, put in an email so comments like this (which are obviously brilliant and crucial for all to see) don’t end up in the spam folder.
And how come Lat makes money and the rest of us suffer in poverty? I mean, the guys a former AUSA and digital drag queen, for crying out loud.
And thanks. I read yours every day too (except I have no idea who you are, but I’m sure I do. I swear.)
Of Feeds, Time and Courtesy to Fellow Blawgers
A while back, I switched over to RSS feeds in a losing effort to keep abreast of the ever-growing blawgosphere.