The blogosphere has been killed off by paid for content produced by PROs and professional bloggers. That's the claim made by Paul Boutin, Editor, Wired magazine, who said: "Cut-rate journalists and underground marketing campaigns now drown out the authentic voices of amateur wordsmiths."

I'm not sure I agree. Certainly paid for blogs produced by professional bloggers or PROs has had an impact on the blogosphere, but I don't believe that it's killed off the blogosphere as professional and amateur bloggers blog for different reasons.

Professional bloggers blog to share news or their opinions about issues affecting the industry they work in, as well as to network, whereas amateur bloggers blog to share their thoughts and ideas, and to keep in contact with friends and family. As long as the barriers to entry stay low, amateur and professional bloggers can co-exist.

Further proof that the blogosphere is far from dead comes in the form of Technorati's recent 'Blogosphere 2008' report, which reveals that 79 per cent of bloggers write personal blogs. This hardly makes amateur bloggers sound like a dying breed.

Instead of pointing the finger at PROs or professional bloggers I would suggest that social networking sites, such as Facebook, have had the biggest impact on the blogosphere. Since many amateur bloggers blog to share news and photographs with friends and family it is no surprise that some have swapped blogs for social networking sites.

Labels: amateur bloggers, blogs, facebook, formby, matthew watson, pr, professional bloggers, wired magazine