State of the blogsphere

Justin Taylor links to this article.

It's an interesting read. A few things rung true:

• "Today, millions of blog start-ups still exist on the web, but much of the blogosphere is beginning to look like a graveyard. "Sorry I haven't posted lately" is the first line of many a front-page post."
• " I told him I wanted to see the pictures. He said, "They're on FaceBook." My response: "I don't have FaceBook. Can you send me the pics on email?" His answer: "No. Get a FaceBook.".... Why keep up a blog for friends and family? FaceBook is much simpler.

I don't agree so much with the last three observations:

3. The Solidifying Reading Patterns of Blog Readers
4. The Difficulty of Beginning a Successful Blog without an Already-Existing Platform
5. The Building of Blog Congregations at the Expense of Blog Conversation

As for number 3 - I found that Google Reader, far from hindering me subscribing to new blogs, has made me feel more free to add new blogs, because I don't have to have another tab open in my browser! What about you?

And the final two, I don't think apply as much here in Australia. We can't really entertain the prospect of becoming a megablog here. So for us, 'successful blog' looks slightly different. As a result, more, 'smaller' blogs start and remain, I think.