Bah, humblog!

The age of blog moguls have taken blogging to all sort of directions, but some have headed to nowhere in particular — and the trajectory’s hit a plateau.

Funny how blogs have evolved. Some things have remained intact and are reinforced, like niches and the emphasis on individuality. And some things have changed, like the appearance of ads, ranks and the way in which we digest each post. Then something else happened: the pictures got bigger, the prose got shorter, and yet, at times we’re still left famished. An entirely different culture emerged: the age of the blog moguls arrived and took us away in a tornado. Suddenly, we’re not in Livejournal anymore.

Things are meant to evolve and understandably so, especially in a place like the Internet. And it must be acknowledged that blogging’s a pretty tough commitment to keep. But in a medium where there weren’t supposed to be any limits, there seems to be a reverse exercise of it. It was going on a pretty progressive trajectory, where personal expression led to people investing in what you know and what you think about it. But it hit a plateau and remained transfixed on the self, where agendas, hidden or otherwise, have decidedly become the trend of the curve.

Which is not to insult the cultural and aesthetic value of the blogs we have today. It’s more visually stimulating than ever, probably more informative than ever, too — but what are we actually learning? The ratio of static versus noise becomes a point of contention: Did my favorite blogger just really talk about how to get the perfect ombre?

What’s become of blogging, in some aspects at least, is that we’ve begun to delegate it as a meal ticket to cyberrelevance. Again, nothing wrong with that. It’s, after all, a democracy’s wet dream: who you are or what you do isn’t the criteria by which you’ll be judged, it’s about what you put out there. If people like it — if a of people like it — then there’s no stopping you from upward mobility. You could be A-list within months, or even weeks.

I guess that’s the thing. You may think your sexy blog niche isn’t enough. Maybe your sexy self isn’t enough. Your old username isn’t good enough, and the Internet subtly urges you to make a brand out of your own name. And there’s a palpable fear out there — a fear of obscurity, at least online. Identities are built around social networking accounts and blogs, and some subsist on the mentality that a blog’s like a shark: if it stops moving, it dies. The posts become relentless, and all cards are laid on the table — regardless if that card’s a joker — in order to keep the clout.

It’s the preoccupation with perception that sometimes nips honesty, creativity and personal genius in the bud. Or maybe it’s the press exposure collected as trophies that create false affirmation. It could be why a lot of blogs seem less organic, and have become more about sowing one’s seeds then fertilizing it with, essentially, crap. More things are being uploaded — more entries, pictures, songs and reviews — and yet, if you squint hard enough, you get a sense of vacancy there. Either something’s missing, or there’s nothing there at all — smoke and mirrors with a few patches of clarity, if you’re lucky.

At some point, people will start calling a spade a spade, and the smoke will dissipate. And right now maybe the medium isn’t saturated yet, but it’s only a matter of time until we hit the glass ceiling, and you watch as nostalgia creeps in from above. We’ll wonder where all the blogs that actually hit cultural nerves have gone. We’ll start looking for the bloggers who represent the once-grassroots nature of blogging, and where the slow-burning properties of credibility and identity have gone.

In the age of blog moguls, substance still exists. Substance will persist. Popularity may breed popularity, but you know what? Quality also breeds quality. The more discriminating we are about hollow ramblings, the better cultural filters we’ll be. There’s certainly more out there than news of Miley Cyrus’ phallic birthday cake, glorified press releases and Ryan Gosling memes. The gossip and eye candy may be delicious, but still, we gotta watch what we eat.