Richard Burger:

I have almost no interest in blogging anymore, as I now, like everyone else, use social media to offer my links and commentary. At the same time, I don’t want to shut the blog down (yet), as I still get occasional flashes of inspiration. So excuse me while The Peking Duck continues operating on life support.

Almost three years to the day since I noted him saying the exact same thing. That is one astoundingly long, drawn-out death rattle. Seriously, on the fashion catwalk that is the social web, three years of consistency in anything is mighty impressive. There’s life in the old bones yet!

True, though, I suppose; if you see blogs as a rudimentary format for facilitating the efficient transfer of information, then I guess it makes sense to favor social media for that purpose, at least until some tech giant finally figures out a way to implant those electrodes in our brains. Not everyone is a writer or foolosopher for the sake of it; some people have never used blogs for anything but to say, “Hey, look at this.” You can do that on any platform.

For those of us who prefer to add even a minimal amount of art and effort to our communication or self-expression, though, the fixation on microblogging platforms is all about fashion, with, yes, all the sneering disdain that word entails. Not in this particular case, but in general, when you read yet another piece claiming that blogging is sooo early aughts, sooo totally over, you know you’re in the presence of frivolous people whose greatest fear is being the one left standing when the music stops and all the cool kids have grabbed a seat.