Michelle Malkin writes about a subject I’ve been thinking about for a while: blog envy. She cites this Los Angeles Times article by blogger Billmon. He thinks the big bloggers are selling out to mainstream media:
For almost two years, I blogged the political scene, first as a guest writer on the popular Daily Kos site, and then on my own blog, Whiskey Bar. During that time, I was able to indulge my passion for long-form writing — a relative rarity in the blogging world, which leans toward snippy one-liners and news nuggets — and to mix satirical humor with serious analysis, all without the worries of deadlines, editors and advertisers.
It was intoxicating while it lasted, as was the sense of community I found with my readers. At the peak of Whiskey Bar’s popularity, I could count on receiving 100 or more comments about each post — articulate, querulous and sometimes profane voices from the Internet hinterland.
Recently, however, I’ve watched the commercialization of this culture of dissent with growing unease. When I recently decided to take a long break from blogging, it was for a mix of personal and philosophical reasons. But the direction the blogosphere is going makes me wonder whether I’ll ever go back.
Even as it collectively achieves celebrity status for its anti-establishment views, blogging is already being domesticated by its success. What began as a spontaneous eruption of populist creativity is on the verge of being absorbed by the media-industrial complex it claims to despise.
On the one hand, I understand how he feels. The “big boys” — Instapundit, Power Line, Little Green Footballs, Allahpundit and a few others — have been mentioned in newspapers and magazines during the Dan Rather fiasco. But I don’t think they’ve sold out. A blogger’s blog can be whatever he wants it to be.
On the other hand, Billmon’s complaints sound like sour grapes. I can see through the nonchalant veneer as he writes about the big bloggers, of which he is no longer a part.
I’ve read entries on new blogs (less that 6 month old, in my opinion) where the writer expressed frustration because of low readership. Are you kidding? As I’ve said on this blog many times, the primary reason you write must be your interest in or passion for writing. For me it is the very act of writing itself that compels me to post everyday.
It’s wonderful having readers and commenters, but that is secondary, believe it or not. New bloggers must be patient and willing to create a niche for themselves. There is plenty of room for all of us, but Insta-Status, most will never reach.
Even as I write this, I’m using the energy of that negative emotion (envy) to create opportunities for myself behind the scenes. I’ll keep you posted, so to speak. 
****
This is the blogosphere ecosystem. It’s undergoing maintenance, so it may not be accessible now. Although I’m at #54, that’s a false number (server issues). My true ranking fluctuates between #72 and #80. Keep this in mind: rankings are based on links, not traffic. Theoretically, you can have only a few hundred hits a day and rise in the ecosystem if other sites link to your blog or individual posts.
See Right Wing News’ top 125 sites. Baldilocks notes that the New York Times gave scant coverage to conservative bloggers.
For the record, this is the first Power Line post to document the CBS forged memos scandal, dated September 9, 2004, the morning after the “60 Minutes” show aired. It generated 605 trackbacks. Wow.
Envy much? Just goes to show you that a little complaining can reap an Instalanche.
Update: Michelle Malkin likes the insights.
Big brother Dean offers his insights on Instapundit-envy: Get over it!
Update II (9/30): I’m not implying that Shape of Days has blog envy, but I wanted to link to this post and had no better place to put it. He dissects Glenn “Instapundit” Reynolds’s latest column. Enjoy!
Update III: Just think: Jim Treacher said his blog stunk; now he’s in the middle of an Instalanche!
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Sounds totally like sour grapes to me. It also sounds to me like a case where a left-leaning blogger is complaining about conservative blogs becoming more popular than liberal ones (mind you, I could be wrong; I’ve never read Whisky Bar. But seeing as he was a guest writer on the Daily Kos…). Anytime I hear someone bemoan the “commercialization” of something (other than Christmas), I tend to see it as that person saying “I (or someone with whom I sympathize) can’t compete! It’s just not fair!“. Mind you, that’s probably just my cynicism creeping in.
Well, if you get enough traffic to need to pay for bandwith, adverts look very good. If LaShawn had a paypal donation box, I’d give. Lord knows I’ve eaten up my share of the pipe lately.
Maybe Whiskey just doesn’t see it sitting in his lonely little cul de sac of Blogopolis
I blog to “download my brain”. To “get it out” per se. There are always folks talking about commercialization. So what? Big deal! Whateva.
You’re right La Shawn. It is the very act of writing itself. Plain and simple. Comments are cool. But I feel a sense of accomplishment with every post. Like I successfully took a piece of me and turned it into words. That’s a wonderful thing, ya know.
And Billmon. That man HATES and I mean REALLY HATES Bush/Cheney. Check out the graphic on his site now at http://www.billmon.org. You’re going to flip La Shawn. My reaction, just looked at and moved on. Politics is getting nastier and nastier.
That’s cool, S-Train. Blogging is not a money-making enterprise for the majority. It’s a hobby. When people get to the point they don’t want to blog because they don’t have enough readers, in their estimation, it’s time to pull the bandwidth plug.
And you’re right. The graphic stinks. It’s sort of silly, actually.
I’m sure that Billmon is a nasty Bush/Cheney hater. He said he used to write on Daily Kos. That is one of the nastiest piece of liberal trash on the internet, right up there with democrats underground and indymedia. There is a lot of hate on those websites.
I really don’t understand what he’s saying anyway. Blogs becoming… mundane? I don’t see it that way. Maybe he’s just mad because more people are now aware of it and using it and he and his cronies don’t have a stronghold on it anymore.
Since I’m not a blogger, and since I don’t even read blogs—except this one (thanks, La Shawn)—can I consider myself immune to “sour grapes” with regard to the blogosphere (if not with regard to other “spheres”)? If so, then let me say this: even if this guy’s psychological motivations are suspect, he may have a point (perhaps in spite of himself). Dissent and success don’t mix easily. I’m not sure what “selling out” would mean blogospherically thinking, but . . . if it can be done, it will be, and so is a danger to be watched out for.
Adrian
La Shawn,
You know, I just HAD to check out the link S-Train provided. It just goes to show the type of mentality posses by a lot of the Bush-haters. But then, what can you expect from someone who was a guest writer on “The Daily KOS”. That particular site is one of the more hateful leftist sites out there that ascribes to be “mainstream” (at least in the blogging world). Some liberal sites I can tolerate, and do check out from time to time, but KOS isn’t one of them.
La Shawn
Billmon really doesn’t understand. If we had to spend our time looking at site meters to determine why we’re doing this, then we really have missed it.
Time will tell. I intend to keep blogging regardless of the audience size. I’m doing it because I love doing it and believe I have something to say.
What I’m doing is very biblical - it’s like “casting my bread upon the waters.” I trust that what I cast will find the audience it’s intended to reach.
Thanks for reading one blog, Adrian!
That’s the right attitude, Phil.
I’m not too familiar with Daily Kos. I’ll have to check it out.
True, LaShawn. I write for no one else’s enjoyment but my own. I don’t have very many readers right now, and I really don’t care. I’m not trying to make myself famous, and most bloggers aren’t either. We simply want an outlet to express our views, right or wrong, angry or otherwise.
Yes, the wish for human applause is never a good reason to do anything at all. Not only does it vitiate the moral quality of one’s acts, it also vitiates the craftsmanly quality of one’s work (but perhaps the two things aren’t that far apart, after all).
As one twentieth-century Catholic theologian once put it “success is not a name of God.”
Adrian
La Shawn,
The free market prinicple applies to ideas too - Sounds to me like Billmons audience lost interest. As I read between the lines, I couldn’t help thinking it sounded like the old “sell out” cliche unknown musicians level on those that become famous.
He may be right that some of the bloggers are more interested in popularity than in exchanging ideas, but why does he care? If the content of a bloggers page changes fundamentally and attracts a new audience, the original readers will just lose interest find a new site. Maybe some of them will be motivated to start one of their own, which I presume would restore balance to the Billmon’s universe of intellectually superior blogging.
Mark, I agree. It is the basic refutation of this guy’s argument, which is something of a strw man to begin with. Blogs are a decentralized and fluid medium: If they suck, they sink. And new blogs arise to take their place. Simple as that. If “selling out” means a loss in quality, then the above axiom applies.
But what hasn’t been mentioned is the infrastrcuture that supports blogs is commercial: Blogger being the biggest and owned by Google, with smaller and related services competing in the same marketplace. The market neither helps nor harms ideas. It merely responds to the tastes of consumers. And the consumers seem to be speaking: Blogs are being read and giving Big Media a run for its money.
LaShawn: Kos infamously said “screw them” about the Americans killed and hung from the bridge in Fallujah. In spite of that he has high-level DNC insider access and other Democratic Party perks. To me, that represents most of what’s wrong with the Democrats.
Isn’t Billmon creating a pot and kettle scenario here?
I’ve heard the same thing about punk music. Those who pertetuate the griping secretly want to live lavishly through blog advertising. When they can’t, don’t, or won’t, they cry. If the blogs get commercialized, people are free to travel to less known blogs to clense themselves. This is blog-olution.
I’m on the “blog for the love of it” bandwagon. If people read my blog and can laugh along with me, great. If not, it still fills my time and is better than drinking alone or programming email viruses. {wink} I think when you start taking yourself too seriously is when you lose yourself…but that’s the same in life, as in blogging.
Well, LaShawn, I actually started blogging (last week - REAL newbie!) because I spent so much time reading your site, and others. I did some heavy thinking before I began, because I knew I would be “new”. Before I wrote the first post, I decided what I wanted to do - and not do - with my blog. I chose to make it a site where MY thoughts were highlighted, rather than scatter them all over the blogosphere (although, as you see here, I still post to other sites!). I’m not trying to compete against Instapundit, or Power Line, or even Sgt. Stryker - I’m doing MY thing, using MY words, to get MY point across. That’s the true beauty - and strength - of the blogosphere - there’s room for everyone.
I got your e-mail the other day, OP. Welcome to the blogosphere!
Thanks for the comments, everybody. To new readers, I hope you enjoy my site. New bloggers, relax and have fun and blog about whatever you want. It’s your space; don’t let anyone tell what to blog about or how to write. It is your space to do with as you desire. If anyone offers you advice you don’t like, tell them to start their own blog. It can even be all about you if they have no life!
Sour Grapes–maybe a little of that
Fear of Change–probably some of that, too
However, it is easy to get caught up in the numbers game. I don’t have a blog, I have a website for improving reading and spelling that uses the book of Romans in the lessons. The purpose for the website is to share the knowledge I’ve gained through my years as a tutor while sharing the Love of Jesus Christ. But it is easy to get caught up in watching the numbers of the website. I try to keep my focus on the original purpose of my website and making it a good testimony for Christ.
I know that my pitiful little blogging effort will never achieve superstardom..nor probably not even a large audience which is OK by me. I prefer to try and generate original thought and content whereas the “giants” of the genre tend to pull stories and links from other media sources and discuss, dissect and decontruct them. Which, in my opinion does need some small measure of criticism….they are getting many of their stories from the very people that they are now glad to see faltering…the MSM©. Consequently I like to read other Blogs with original thought, such as LaShawn [plug] and http://www.bunkermulligan.net
Greetings from Outer Blogostan.
I have been blogging for a little over three months now, and I get about ten hits a day.
Would I like to be the new Instapundit? That would be terrific. Would I like to be Instalaunched? Of course. I’d give a lung, in fact, to get a two hundred hits a week.
But I won’t, not for a few months anyway. All I can do is write the best stuff I can possibly come up with, and maybe someone, somewere will like it enough to show up agin.
That is how the blogosphere works. If you aren’t excellent, every single day, you won’t get hits. If yopu write well, and comment on other people’s blogs, you will eventually be noticed, and your hits will grow expotentially (sp?). That’s how this thing works.
I blog because I enjoy blogging. That’s all. Fie on Billmon. If I can make a few pennies doing so, I will, but I have a day job.
or one could REALLY sell out like this blogger:
http://www.ensight.org/archives/2004/09/22/im-now-a-millionnaire/
I love (= totally agree with) S-Train’s comment:
Amen.
Sounds to me like Billmon is experiencing what many liberals are, i.e., you cannot win the hearts and minds of Americans with vitriol. Since the looney left insists on finding that all the things that go wrong/are wrong in America, are good for their cause, and that everything that goes right/is right with America makes the President look good, is essentially their game plan…but it’s not a winning strategy! boo hoo, and sour grapes, lefties!
I started blogging as a way to write every day. It never even occurred to me that I would get visitors.
Very nice post, LaShawn. I know that I began blogging to write and to be read. Writing is fairly easy for me although like everyone the juices stop flowing every so often. Developing a readership is harder work but it’s just marketing.
Fortunately my ambitions are quite small. I have no interest in being a Large Mammal, for example. I want to express and hone my ideas, be exposed to other similar or contrasting ideas, develop a small coterie of readers and correspondents. Then I’ll be happy as a clam. Well, maybe not a clam. Where I am now (Flappy Bird) or Marauding Marsupial is my target.
But to envy I’d have to want to be something other than what I am. Then why blog?
I feel the same as Wallace, which is why we read each others’ blogs. I blog to write. I hope to provide some original thought. My blogfathers are SDB and Wretchard, and I hope to some day be as good as they. But I don’t want the headaches that go with notoriety.
My wish is to see one of my original analyses scattered about the blogosphere–with or without attribution. Celebrity is not my goal, nor is making money off what I do. I’m too old for all that excitement!
I think as more bloggers start making serious money and getting serious attention, we’re just going to see more and more pieces like this. When some bloggers see it, they turn green. When bloggers like me see it, we’re reminded we stink anyway and to be happy for whatever we get.
No, Jim. You don’t stink! There’s no such thing as luck, but for lack of a better word, I think that plays a large part in the success: being at the right place at the right time and having the right person discover you.
Well. I stink at marketing, let’s put it that way. Anyway, blog envy has always been there, and it’s just going to get worse. I keep having to remind myself, “It doesn’t matter. Just keep going…”
The blogosphere has become commercialized and sold out? How did I miss that? I’ve been taking part in online mouth-running for around 18 years, now, and blogging off and on for around a dozen years. I never saw it as a way to do anything except put my thoughts down in written form, and possibly attract a dozen or so people that might be interested in what I have to say. The explosion of blogging has done one major thing for me, and that is to open up a variety of new blogs for me to read, such as Marginal Revolution, The Volokh Conspiracy and Instapundit.
I’m just happy to be here.
La Shawn, you make some good points, but I’m not so sure it’s always about popularity but in many cases instead people wanting to get their message out to as many people as possible, in order to attempt to influence others to their viewpoint or at the very least, help them to see the ‘other side’s’ argument expressed logically. It’s also a great way of spreading info out there to the masses who don’t always get the full story in the mainstream press.
I think back recently to the hits Powerline recieved over Rathergate — a lot of people visited Powerline that normally would not have in order to see what the major media was refusing to cover. That’s what I love about the blogosphere. The spread of info to as many as possible. Of course, I’m a small timer myself, really just getting my feet wet in the whole thing, and I will freely admit that would love to get hits galore but not because I want to be bigger than anyone else, but because of a desire to ‘get the word’ out and to attempt to help influence as many as possible. It’s also been cool to meet other bloggers in cyberspace
I do love to write and blogs are great for that (obviously LOL). Flexing those writing muscles is a wonderful thing. If I enjoyed writing but didn’t care whether or not other people saw it, I’d hand write a diary, or make my blog private. Magazine writers don’t write just to be writing, and political bloggers don’t just blog to be blogging. If I don’t get many hits, so be it, but it’s nice to know others out there are assessing your work, thinking about what you said, and maybe want to add a comment or two. It’s also cool to garner respect from other bloggers - especially those whom you respect a great deal - who link back to your blog. I guess I’m just looking at the ‘hit’ thing from a slightly different perspective, even though I can appreciate the many points brought out on this topic here.
BTW, I agree with your assessment of “Billmon” - he sounds like a bitter soul. Life is too short for that.
Thanks ST! I’ll concede that ideally, bloggers want people to read their stuff. My point was they shouldn’t be discourage by low readership. That seems to be the tone of a few posts I read.
When I started blogging, I was fortunate enough to not know anything about it. I’d heard of Instapundit, but I still didn’t get it. I didn’t know what “hits” were, and I certaintly didn’t foresee building an audience.
My expectations were pretty low, but I’m afraid the Rathergate newbies and those blogging for only a few months are setting themselves up for disappointment if they hit the ground running, only to find out they’re running in place. I was trying to emphasize the pure joy of writing over wondering how many readers or hits you have.
Don’t get me wrong: I’d love to be a female version of Instapundit. What would I do with that kind of power…
Can’t disagree with anything you said there, La Shawn
You are sooo right on the power, too. I call it “Girl Powah”! Ain’t nothin’ else like it … oh the pen (or in this case - they keyboard) can be so much mightier than the manly sword!*
*Disclaimer: not meant as male bashing
I am a brand-new blogger (since August) and I am finding the blogosphere an incredibly hospitable and welcoming place. There are so many ways and opportunities to introduce yourself and invite people to your blog — from posting comments to the Carnival of the Vanities — and when you compliment and blogroll someone’s blog they will often return the favor. I find it very egalitarian, and meritocratic: anyblogger can e-mail e.g. instapundit, and if anyblogger has unique information or a cogent comment, it may merit a link and ricochet all over the blogosphere. It is a frontier land of opportunity and a conductive sea of minds in which one’s lonely whalesongs may be answered from a thousand miles away. I’m thrilled whenever anybody reads me or links to me, and happy prattling away in a corner when they don’t.
Dissenting opinion here. [Has to be one, right? ;)] I used to read Whiskey Bar before Billmon shut it down. Can’t speak for what’s going on in his head, natch, but he was a pretty talented writer who didn’t have to take a backseat to anyone in that area - not sure I’d concur that envy had a lot to do with his souring on blogdom.
He is spot on on part of his observations: a combination of commercialism and popularity is a danger to any predominately hobbyist community. And it’s a danger to be watched for viligantly - I’ve seen it corrupt and destroy other community mediums that I’ve been involved in.
I disagree with him that “it’s already happened here”, as he intimates. It hasn’t yet - but between Wonkette, co-opting of some popular blogers by media/partisan concerns, increase in advertising interests and revenues, and commercial blogs… the seeds and potential is there.
Blogdom as it exists now is relatively new, even in Internet Time. Ask me again what I think about Billmon’s analysis 5 years from now - if we’re all still here. ;]
Dear Amba,
Maybe the key to a succssful blog is writing as well as you do.
Adrian
Amba—that came out funny, but was meant as a compliment. That was a nice bit of prose, was all wanted to say.
Adrian
Thanks, Adrian. I was just waxing lyrical in my beatific bloggitude.
- amba
P.S. I loved and saved this quote –
As one twentieth-century Catholic theologian once put it “success is not a name of God.”
Who said that?
thanks.
Dear Amba,
Well, it’s good to wax lyrical now and then—especially when you’ve got a talent for writing.
The theologian was Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905-1988). Unfortunately, I don’t remember where he said that—it may have been in his book of aphorisms “The Grain of Wheat” (Ignatius Press).
All the best,
A.
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