Oh God, I am sick to death of this “sky is falling” mentality that I keep seeing more and more. Everyone thinks they’re either cool or a 21st century Nostradamus by saying something is dead. “Twitter killed blogging.” “Google Buzz killed Twitter.” Blah blah blah.
Here are just a tiny few articles I found declaring something to be dead (something that is still widely in use):
- Twitter is Dead (For Now)
- John Dvorak says Email is Dead
- Mark Evans thought Facebook was dead in 2008
- Blogging is dead
- Alan Hogan called Google Buzz Dead On Arrival
- This guy thinks Google Wave is Dead
Sorry, my crystal ball must be broken, because all I see are more and more customers using Twitter, email, Facebook, blogging. I don’t like Buzz and have never tried the Wave, but I see plenty of people telling me they’re still using it, so they’re not dead.
Basically, until someone like Google, Twitter, or Facebook declares they’re shutting down, everyone else should just shut up about things being “dead.”
After Newsweek pundit Clifford Stoll famously declared that the Internet would not replace newspapers, that Nicholas Negroponte was an idiot for saying we would buy books and newspapers straight from the Internet, and that you couldn’t “tote that laptop to the beach,” I would think that most people would hesitate before putting themselves out like that without any evidence to back it up. (In fact, Stoll’s piece has been generating such big laughs these past few weeks, that Newsweek’s own blog said, “Decca Records didn’t get this much heat for passing on the Beatles.”)
There are very few people whose predictions I absolutely trust. If one of them says, “this technology is dead,” I’ll check it out for myself to make sure. Anyone else who says it just looks like a poseur (that’s the real spelling of “poser.” It rhymes with “hoser.”) Everyone else seems to be killing technology because they don’t use it anymore (if they ever did), or they read a story somewhere that said overall use was down, or it had peaked, or some shiny new thing came along.
If you’re declaring something to be dead as a way to generate buzz and bring in some readers, start writing things with substance. Scott Scheper just did it with his blog post, Twitter, As We Knew It, is Dead. And while his qualifying phrase, “as we knew it,” keeps him from flying too close to my whole nose-wrinkling disdain of “is dead,” I do have to say his article is filled with enough actual useful information that he gets a free pass this time.
Basically, if all you can do is declare something to be dead because you can’t think of a catchy headline, then just don’t say anything until you can. Talk about how the thing has changed, talk about how you think it can be saved, or talk about its replacement. Just stop killing things for everyone else just because you quit using them.
About Erik Deckers
Philip, your last statement is almost funny in itself, considering the state of the newspaper industry. It made me laugh.
Erik, I am a little late to the party here, but I found your post while checking to see if Google had indexed my own similar sentiment from earlier today.
I love how you say it, and could not agree more. If I want to read obituaries I’ll read the New York Times.
This sort of obituary writing drives me crazy. There are those experts who want to appear to be ahead of the curve and make outlandish statements. I was at a conference three years ago and an “expert” said that email was dead. But of course people are still using email. (I needed an email address to leave this comment.)
But I have seen a reduction of some sorts in email traffic. People I used to have to email I can now send a Facebook message, DM on Twitter or even sent a quick text message. So maybe “dead” isn’t the word these experts should be using. But like Jon mentioned, these statements are meant to attract attention. Which they clearly do.
Hey Jon,
Thanks for the comment. I actually think we’re still riding the blogging wave. While the early adopters may have abandoned WordPress and Blogger as forms of blogging (in favor of Tumblr and Posterous), I think the number of businesses that are adopting are keeping blogging alive. They’re also the ones keeping email alive too.
Erik
Hi Eric,
Thanks for the link (Is Blogging Dead?). As you’ll see, my post is very much in support of business blogging so I don’t really think I’m all doom and gloom :)
As to why I called my post Is Blogging Dead. Well, it was meant to attract attention and get a response.
I do think, however, that the corporate blogging space is changing as user engagement on business blogs is less, yet it’s still very important for seo and converting prospects.
Very best wishes,
Jon