> The demise of blogging and the crap that is social media are both due to the same combination of two factors: zero friction to create content and instantaneou

> The demise of blogging and the crap that is social media are both due to the same combination of two factors: zero friction to create content and instantaneous, perhaps wordwide feedback on whatever you create. Serious writing just isn't designed to work in this kind of world. You'll be drowned out by emotionally-manipulative crap and then people will build engines to churn out even more crap faster that's even more manipulative. I spent the better part of a half hour trying to find a blog post a read about a month ago that talked about this very thing. It was one of the reasons why I stopped writing my old blog and moved to one where I effectively ramble on for my own amusement. I think that this is one of the biggest changes in the web in some time. Content is being produced for search engine placement and social media aggregation. Once someone hits a site and the ad loads the content has done its work. The author of the piece doesn't care if you found it interesting or informative. That is irrelevant. They got your click. Facebook and Google exacerbate this issue by owning the ad services that these sites use. It is a closed system that just feeds on itself.