Ev BogueI forget sometimes that it's been over a decade since the world started blogging. Evan Williams launched Blogger in 1999.
It kind of shocks me when I consider that I've been blogging personally and professionally for more than a decade.
Many of the earlier discussions about what blogging is, what it will be, and how it can used are now over. The medium has settled into itself in form.
For example: it's pretty much assumed that a blog post will have headlines, permalinks, and (if it wants to be taken seriously) well edited text.
I'd like to suggest that we're at the end of the novelty age of blogging.
What does this mean? It means that the simple act of having a blog is no longer the fundamental decider in whether or not people read your blog.
What matters now is the practice of your presence on your blog.
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The post-novelty age of blogging assumes that everyone knows what a blog is. If they want one, they have one by now. It also assumes that very few people are under the mistaken impression anymore that blogging is a career choice. Blogging is a tool, not a job. It might be part of your goal to use the tool, and then set it down when you're done with it.
What matters now is refinement -- just because we have a blog doesn't mean anyone wants to read it.
The age of making money introducing people to the tool is over, and the age of teaching people how to refine their use of the tool has begun.
This means we're the craftsman of the blogosphere now. We're the architects and curators of a medium that's where the initial map has already been built.
What is our project now?
To work on our craft.