Micro Fame, Refrigerator Doors, and Blogstones

Gordon Gould has some very interesting discussion about the nature and future of blogging. Specifically, he opens up a topic that I have discussed here in various ways, the management of expectations for new bloggers.

Gordon points out that the current system of evaluation, highly traffic/popularity based in nature is problematic for the yet to arrive wave of consumer blogging. Though my definition of this "consumer" tilts in the direction of the entrepreneur and business professional, I couldn't concur more that things need to change.

He introduces a wonderful metaphor for the blogosphere of the future, that of the refrigerator door. This micro-fame, the motivator for all things big and small, is a powerful force that needs to be harnessed to move blogging out of the closet and into the living rooms of the masses.

As Gordon comments:

So the question becomes, how does blogosphere success get redefined to make sure blogs become a permanent part of the mainstream and are not some digital equivalent of an algae bloom where the population explodes, chokes off the resources it needs to survive, and then dies.

For blogs to really change the world, everyone needs one, but the current infrastructure in which success is defined by global rankings is not sustainable for the vast majority in a blog-saturated world.

For the average blogger, fame-as-success model needs to become pride in publishing on what is effectively the new refrigerator door. It needs to move away from being stack-ranked against bOING bOING and become much, much more socially localized. We need to encourage the concept of micro-fame among one’s peers, friends, and families. This is both a technical infrastructure change and a social redefinition.

Source: Social Software Weblog, "Micro-famous: Defining and redefining success in the blogosphere"

As the saying goes, "Life is what you make it". This seems to ring particularly loud for the future of blogging. Newcomers and the entrenched alike need to learn to create and squeeze micro-value, i.e. everyone can't be a rockstar. Once we get past the assumption that stardom is the main reason to blog and move on to the true benefits and value created for the user and their audience (even if it's an audience of one), we're making progress.

As this happens, I am predicting the face of the blog will change dramatically and what we know today as a blog will be significantly different from the journal of tomorrow. I'd also expect that blogs will come to be far more time-sensitive and socially contextual. That or they'll all go the way of Geocities.