i’m never happier than when i’m blogging. it’s where i get my fire, it’s what inspires me and it’s what connects me to you fine folk.

it’s been known to happen on more than one occassion that i’ve been on holiday or waiting for a friend in a bar (i try to ensure that doesn’t happen too often) and you’ll find me scrabbling around in my bag to jot down an idea that i’ve had for a blog post or video.

you can understand therefore my sadness when yesterday on the train to london, i settled down with the latest copy of wired ready to geek out only to be faced with the news that blogging is dead. i was sad primarily because not only do i not agree but the article was encouraging people to quit blogging.

if you read the article it refers to jason calacanis stopping his blog earlier this year as he had said that the blogosphere had become too big and impersonal. this can be demonstrated by taking a look at some of the most popular blogs out there at the moment – techcrunch, engadget, treehugger etc. this can mean that the personal blogs that previously had been high google rankers are now being relegated by these sites that can afford to pay professionals to blog mutliple times a day – something the average blogger with a full time job can’t afford the luxury of doing.

however, there’s the thing (and this is just my opinion), those bloggers that are out there maintaining their personal blogs are doing it for their love of writing, for the need to share, to connect with those with similar interests – not for the top google ranking on a topic or internet fame.

the personal blogs that have become popular will more often have not got there because of their passion in the topic and therefore their continued commitment to research and article writing. someone starting a blog in the hope of getting noticed (and for that reason only) will be in for a surprise because it takes a while to get a following and if you’re not really passionate about what you’re writing about, your readers will be able to tell.

the article argues that if you’re looking to express yourself, you can do so using less effort and time with tools such as flickr, twitter and facebook. this assumes however that you’re blogging for recognition or creative output. i would argue that it’s a completely different medium and serves a totally different purpose. whilst they say a picture can speak a thousand words, nothing can replace a well crafted piece of writing (and from a personal point of view – pressing publish when you’ve spent time writing).

on a different note, it’s worth considering company/development blogs too. still to this day when developing community strategies, blogs form a critical part of that strategy. the reason? it’s one of the simplest ways of communicating with your users, of getting feedback, giving a voice to your brand and creating an ongoing conversation (often meaning that you can address current issues immediately rather than the length of time it can often take to update the website etc).

so, mr paul boutin, you wired cynic, this gal may never be a famous blogger, she may never rank number one on google when you search “community“, but she’ll continue to write from the heart, she’ll always be passionate and will always have a genuine connection with her readers that a flickr picture of facebook status could never provide. so there.