The humble blog, at nine years old, is a true outlier. Most bloggers sprint from the gun only to hit the wall quite quickly and bag their plans of blogosphere glory altogether.
So, props to me for the longevity. Correction, props to you for inspiring me to keep on keepin’ on. Whether you “like” a post, leave a comment, tell me about a post that made you think, or just keep silently returning, it’s all motivating.
I get inquiries from tech firms all the time that say they could help me grow the humble blog through their search engine optimization (SEO) expertise. I haven’t hired any of them because I’m an outlier in another way, I’ve never cared about monetizing the blog. Even to the point where I actually pay for it to remain ad free.
Being content with a small, internationally inclined readership doesn’t mean I don’t think about mixing things up on occasion. I suppose, that could mean enlisting the services of an SEO team, although I have no idea how to evaluate their relative merits. It could mean changing formats too. I could vlog (video blog); however, many people say I have the perfect face for radio, which brings us to the coolest kid on the “personal journalism/communication” block—podcasting.
When I think about podcasting, which I really learned to appreciate in 2020, I assume we’re just approaching or just past “Peak Podcasting”. There’s no danger in it fading away, but there’s definitely going to be a shakeout with 15% of the best ones getting 85% of the audience. And I have no illusions about what it would take to be in that 15%, largely a dedicated team outworking the 85%.
I suppose though, I could have a humble podcast, since I wouldn’t be depending upon it to feed my family.
I’ve been contemplating what’s next when it comes to personal journalism/communication. Many would say the future is Substack. Substack is definitely a part of what’s next, but I anticipate some unknown format evolving to compliment subscription-based blogging, vlogging, and podcasting.
In the last twenty years, a significant swath of phone-less Sub-Saharan Africans skipped landline telephones in favor of inexpensive, cellular ones. Similarly, I could leapfrog podcasting and make a real go of the next format if I had a better, more concrete feel, for the future.
Is your crystal ball any clearer than mine? What do you think is around the corner? Five years from now, how might you “consume” news, hear stories about other people and places, and educate yourself about things you care about?
What is lurking on the personal journalism/communication horizon? Put differently, what should PressingPause become?
Pressing Pause 
If you figure out what the next iteration of media is, LET ME KNOW! I can’t figure it out either.
My best guess is multimedia storytelling. The NYT is doing this and ESPN too. Narrative story + photographs + some vid, all unraveling seamlessly. Sometimes more traditional non-fiction features include amazing graphics that bring Big Data alive. Of course, it takes a lot of resources. Books are relatively “flat” and one dimensional, but they seem to be holding up pretty well. Mostly thanks to you.
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I think you ought to try podcasting on fitness, injury recovery, and nutrition.
And supplements? First guest?
Interesting thoughts. I agree with you about not going hell-for-leather with monetization and, to be honest, avoid blogs that look slick. Blogging seemed like a great way to read what real people were thinking about real issues in their lives when I first started following blogs a few years ago. A professional blog seemed a bit pointless.
As for the future, I’d like to see blogging evolve into real communities of interest. Some manage to get close to that- I’m thinking of Jerry Coyne, for example. But I’m a dinosaur and have a tendency to revert to print on paper for long stretches at a time.
Thanks Jason. I’m not familiar with Jerry Coyne, but do know there will always be a place for dinosaurs. :)