Is Blogging really an Industry?
Is blogging an Industry? Apparently, so. Nearly 1700 attendees showed up at Day 1 of 2 in Las Vegas for the first Blog World Expo. There are nearly 100 speakers each day, with 10 tracks for this massive conference.
A few taxi drivers asked me what the conference was about, I told them it was an “internet” conference, which they said seemed to be very popular lately. They asked what I did, and I told them the honest truth, “I’m a writer”.
How do you know it’s a real industry? There are buyers and sellers, advertisers and content creators, celebrities, personalities, press, media, analysts (like me) and even booth babes.
What’s one big clue to me that it’s an industry? There were a lot of political, government and even military folks that attended, it’s not just for geeks.
Where does this take us, where will we go? In previous conversations with Chris Heuer, we’ve speculated we’re really in year 2 out of a 10 year business growth curve for the social media industry before it completely normalizes out of a growth curve.
I was glad to finally see a physical print copy of Website Magazine, I was one of the contributes, see articles in back “Social Media Strategy: From Drawing room to Board Room” Last night there was an industry “pajama” party at the Hard Rock Cafe, drinks, food, chocolate fountain and live performances really made it a must-attend. I went to bed early as I had a 5:30 concall this morning, which I just finished. Dedication is hard.
Although I arrived mid-afternoon I was able to catch Maggie Fox’s case study on Yamaha’s social media blogging program, a good deployment starting with business needs followed up by metrics, she took a strategic approach. I cruised all the vendor booths and spent time with several very interesting companies.
Today, I’ll be speaking on stage with Chris Brogan (who applies stillness and listening), along the same lines: “Delivering a cohesive social media strategy”, more updates soon.
See all blogs linking to Blogworldexpo (there’s over 2400 of them!)
View all public photos tagged Blogworldexpo
Update: I met up with Debbie Weil, who I had spoken with on a panel about two years ago, we’ve stayed on each others radar ever since. She video interviewed me, check it out!
I audio interviewed Rick Calvert last night at the very loud party (sorry for yelling), he’s the founder and conference organizer, hear what he had to say:
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Hey Jeremiah - nice to see you again, and glad to hear you enjoyed the presentation. Sorry I’m going to miss your panel today
break a leg!
[…] my recent post, I write about how our industry is starting to solidify and come together. This conference, blog world expo in Vegas is more like a trade show, and we’re seeing […]
Having a conference doesn’t make it an industry; Oracle World closes down Howard Street in SF for 8 days so that the Moscone Center can sprawl across the street. Doesn’t make Oracle an industry.
Thanks for the bricabox.com pointer. Interesting stuff.
Kevin
It’s not the package, it’s the components that make it whole.
It’s not the conference that are the indicators, it’s all the various constituents that have come together that result in an eco-system.
Yes I told the Bricabox founders I would adopt if they could allow me to have an ASP version for my domain, I could create sub-databases, and a few other things. Interesting hybrid product, it’s on my radar for further evaluation.
Jeremiah:
It was good seeing you at BlogWorld. I thought your question to Mark was appropriate. He kept talking about his Dancing with Stars promo and didn’t really allude to whether his massive, manual Facebook strategy actually worked - until you asked him.
Sorry that we didn’t get a chance to formally meet, the Cuban thing went so late, I just bailed afterward.
-Lena
Kevin and Jeremiah,
We’ll be be getting all that out in the January release of BricaBox. Very pumped you liked what you saw so far… It was fun to launch at Blog World Expo.
Nate
If we’re just at year 2 out of 10, then a lot of firms that are popping up are popping up too early.
And, does this take into account what happens when the bubble pops?
[…] Another person I had fun hanging out with was Frank Gruber, from Somewhat Frank (Gabe calls it “Simply Frank” to — very effectively — piss him off). Frank and I tried to connect back in October, when our mutual friend Tracy Sheridan used the Introductions app on Facebook to connect us, while both traveling in San Francisco. Now in Vegas, we had time to hang out after the Weblogs Awards in the Hard Rock Cafe. In fact, it was Frank who seridipdously pulled me into the Full Access lounge, where I met Jeremiah (someone I have to write about later, but who’s already expressed enthusiasm for BricaBox). […]
[…] Is Blogging really an Industry? “I told the Bricabox founders I would adopt if they could allow me to have an ASP version for my domain, I could create sub-databases, and a few other things. Interesting hybrid product, it’s on my radar for further evaluation.” (tags: bricabox testimonials jowyang webstrategist) […]
[…] shortly. I was so glad to get to meet many people in our blogging industry, (yes we are now our own industry) and actually meet in the flesh those that I feel I have known as colleagues and friends online for […]
[…] After Blog World, I came back feeling energized and excited about social media and its future as an industry. Although still young, a conference like Blog World shed light on what COULD be a promising future. […]