Paul Boutin: Twitter, Flickr, Facebook Make Blogs Look So 2004

Thinking about launching your own blog? Here's some friendly advice: Don't. And if you've already got one, pull the plug.

Writing a weblog today isn't the bright idea it was four years ago. The blogosphere, once a freshwater oasis of folksy self-expression and clever thought, has been flooded by a tsunami of paid bilge. Cut-rate journalists and underground marketing campaigns now drown out the authentic voices of amateur wordsmiths. It's almost impossible to get noticed, except by hecklers. And why bother? The time it takes to craft sharp, witty blog prose is better spent expressing yourself on Flickr, Facebook, or Twitter.

Read the whole piece. Boutin makes some good points which are hard to deny. In addition most people under 20 wouldn't touch blogging with a barge pole, seeing it as old-fashioned and nerdy.
The web is going to become much more visual over the next few years and we will see a huge expansion in video postings and photo based posts from mobile phones. Better start practising in front of the mirror, old buddy.

But then again, on the other hand...