Where is blogging headed?

Christianity Today has an article out right now on the "death of blogs."

It's a bit of an overstatement. As CT itself admits, there are still 3 million new blogs started every month. But the real issue is the number of blogs active now versus what there have been in the past. According to CT, 200 million blogs fomerly active have now been abandoned - more than twice as many as are now in existence.

The question CT takes up is the role of blogs in the larger Christian conversation. Is the blogosphere an effective (and enduring) place to engage in questions of Christian faith and practice?

I think that it is. A couple of quotes in the CT article by bloggers indicate that bloggers feel the need to post daily - or even several times per day. I personally think that pace is unrealistic. The number of people who can write effective daily posts is low. And if you are not making your living by blogging (and who does that??), then the incentive to keep up a regularly active blog can suffer under the pressure to keep current.

When I started Gen X Rising, my goal was to post twice weekly. That's a pace that I have been able to maintain. (It is also a pace that matches the most active newspaper columnists.) Posting at that pace may cause a blogger's readership to grow more slowly, but it is also a pace that allows for a blogger to use a blog as a way to explore relevant issues in a way that corresponds with a normal life in school, the workplace, or the church. Establishing a semi-regular routine also encourages readers to check back in on a pretty consistent basis.

Thematically-related blogs also tend to attract a fairly consistent readership, even if less frequent posting may have something of a limiting effect on attracting lots of new readers. Think about many of the regular bloggers and readers in the Methoblogosphere. We may not always post (or read) daily, but we always know where to go to check in on "the conversation." It also has the distinct advantage of connecting many of us who would not know of one another's existence otherwise. And that's important - since we are all brothers and sisters in the same body of Christ!

I am always looking for ways to increase readership, as we all are. But for our generation, I also think blogging has become (and will remain) an important media outlet for sharing views and engaging in conversation - regardless of whether we are hyperbloggers, weekly bloggers, or occasional bloggers.

As always, I appreciate any comments you might have on the pros and cons of this (still) relatively new form of communication of which we find ourselves a part.

Worth Checking Out

I know most of us don't have the time or inclination to add one more blog to the list of those we frequently read, but here's one worth checking out. It's called Theolog, and it is the new blogging venture of the The Christian Century. Though the editorial sections of the Century can often appear to just beat the same old, tired liberal Protestant motifs, the commentaries and feature pieces are usually excellent. That's why it, along with Christianity Today, are the two Christian periodicals that I subscribe to and read regularly.

The strength of blogging as a media form is that it allows for contemporaneous engagement on issues by people from vastly different backgrounds and geographical locales. I think that quality may help the Century overall, since its much smaller readership and overall operation often makes it appear behind trends in media that a larger publication like Christianity Today jumps on.

I am particularly glad to see the presence of strong Methodist voices like James C. Howell and Jason Byassee among the mix of Theolog contributors. Howell is a rare example of a theologian who finds his vocation in the church rather than the academy - a wonderful model of Christian scholarship that allows him to directly form a local Christian community while contributing to the larger church through publications that are eminently accessible to laity. Byassee is a young, up-and-coming theologian who serves as one of the Century's main editors, while also teaching at seminaries in the Chicago area. Both also have Ph.D's from Duke.

Note links to both the Chrisitan Century and Christianity Today in the sidebar to the right.