The Future of Blogging

Way back in July I open the doors up for people’s webmaster and blogging questions. August was just a bit of a blur between holidays and projects and I have not finished answering all of the questions. I thought kicking off September with the question from Rhett would be a good start to the fall.

Rhett asked:

I’ve been thinking about the shift going on in the web. I think some people are trying to call it web 3.0. I think Scoble is saying 2010. Since I like big questions, what do you think about where the web is going, real time or otherwise, and how your blog will make that shift?

Rhett always likes big questions, and he never fails to ask them. I think part of the shift we are seeing going on with the web right now is really nothing more than the web catching up to what the Internet is. Ultimately the Internet is a tool for people to communicate. In the early days of the web it was mostly simple websites that offered information to visitors, but there was little interaction. Eventually contact forms came along and offering website visitors the ability to send email straight from the website.

Fast forward to today where the web is moving into real time updates with Facebook, Twitter and other services. Social networks are common place and the ability to leave comments of all kinds is commonplace. The web is starting to live up to what it was intended to be, a tool to communicate between individuals. Not just a tool to communicate with each other over email, but in real time with status updates, instant messaging, VOIP and video.

Where is the web going, the web is going to continue to become a more seamless communication medium. Real time and instant updates will continue to become more common. If I knew exactly what the next big thing was going to be I would be out there building it, but I can see that part of the future of the web is to become an easier medium to communicate over. For the most part people still use a computer to communicate over the web, but mobile and other forms are starting to become more important. The web is still not as easy as a phone to use to communicate and there are advances to be made in that area.

Blogs will continue to be an important part of the future of the web. More and more everyone publishes on the Internet, whether on a blog, on Facebook, Twitter, etc. Blogs can become the centre of a persons online activity. Not everyone will use a blog to do this, some will use services like Facebook to do this, but publishing on blogs could change from writing longer posts to becoming the centre of a persons online life.

Corporate and business websites and blogs have a unique opportunity now and in the future, the ability to connect with their clients and customers on a one on one basis. This is not much different than how things were when businesses had brick and mortar locations. Businesses can talk and connect with their clients in real time on the web. Twitter is a sign of this, so are the web chats that you can find on many websites now. Add video and audio to that and make it as easy to use as a phone then the future of the web as a communication device.

The future of the web is exciting as a communication medium. The shift to real time is just the beginning of the next communication revolution that is coming. What do you think will be the future of the web and blogs?