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A-Listers: Navel Gazing Dies Hard

It can be safely said that there is a serious A-List fatigue in the blogosphere. Reasons are obvious: A-list bloggers rarely write incisive pieces. A-Listers aren't the first to write about exciting new technology.

When the A-list phenomenon started out, the blogosphere was experiencing its most serious phase of growth and experimenting and we liked reading their takes on issues at hands - blogging, blog networks, spam, the web 2.0 promise, Wikipedia vs. Britannica, VoIP, SEO, the startups, among other things.

But then the blogging phenomenon slowed down, every other day, you come across blogs that people hardly update. I suppose the A-list bloggers found themselves stuck in a rut, but hemmed in by their dutiful legions of commenters and RSS subscribers. Taking the easy way out they graded down to focusing the attention to themselves - what they like, where they went, what they hate...it is a Despearte Bloggers situation out there.

Mike Torres has written a post titled A-listers don't always "get it", and I quote

It used to be fun watching the "A-list" bloggers discover the obvious things that folks outside the U.S., little kids, and even big companies have been tracking for months; sometimes years.

Ouch!

Dare Obasanjo adds in,

It is now safe to say that a lot of the popular technology bloggers aren’t just often behind the current trends on the Web, but actually don’t even know how to use the software when they do find out about it because they are too out of touch with how the Internet generation actually thinks.

Why do you think the A-listers got so heavy on Facebook, when the startup has been around 2004?

Among these A-listers, Steve Rubel tries his hands at trend spotting but you have to discount his being a PR guy in the end.

I wish I read a insightful piece from Michael Arrington but where is the time to write one after you have posted the 11th blog post?

Adsense, the cruel taskmaster.

Richard Macmanus (of Readwriteweb) has written about some issues - attention economy, Google's search rivals, but that is it.

Pete Mashable started out great but these days Mashable is running compiling gadget blog-type posts - "top 20 tools on Facebook", anyone?

Jason Calacanis is busy promoting himself, his company, daring anyone to get in his way.

Robert Scoble is just another hack trying to earn his keep, now that there are no more Microsoft checks in the bank. His iPhone escapades put Paris Hilton's attention-grabbing acts to shame.

Om Malik has graduated from being a A-list blogger and is busy running his blog network, although he is a rare A-lister who can manage short and objective incisive pieces.

I suppose that is what we hoped from A-listers - no agenda, just great writing.

Instead of reading Twitter updates about blogging from the loo, I want to read the A-listers' thoughts on the current patent mess, digital divide (yes Virginia, there is a digital divide), the bubble, privacy issues, and others.

Why doesn't anyone write about Facebook's ghastly content ownership policy?

A-listers, stop gazing at your navels.
Start asking questions.
Be the Reporters 2.0 many thought you would turn out to be.

Labels: blogging, controversey, trends

posted by Pramit Singh @ 12:52 PM