1999
April 25th, 2006
Like many people my age, I had my moment in the dot-com sun, as did Adam. Unlike many of our friends, we did not make millions. Like, at all.
I spent almost 10 years working in PR and marketing for technology companies based in Boston and San Francisco, which includes about a bajillion dot-coms, some of which burned through $100 million in less than two years and promptly died, and some that are actually quite well known, and still successful. But, I have nothing to show for it, unlike our millionaire friends from college who got in at the ground level at companies like this and this, and started ventures like this, and hilarious side projects like this. All I have to show for my years of free bagels is a fat ass, a slew of options and shares in defunct companies, and an enviable collection of dot-com schwag, such as T-shirts, mugs and water bottles. We even scored some fancy water glasses from our favorite dot-com, Kozmo.com. Did you know they would deliver anything – ANYTHING, including digital cameras, movies and toothpaste, within an hour? TO YOUR DOOR? I miss them.
But, while we are not millionaires, we remain Technology People, in that any new thing that comes on the market, we research and ponder, if not buy, and anything happening with the Internet, we follow. I am a giant Internet Geek, and although I spent my years in PR dreaming of the day I could get out, I still follow technology companies, and I’m still fascinated at the impact the Internet has our daily lives. And let’s remember that after the dot-com bust, I stayed in technology for five more years, and went on to pitch companies in hot areas such as packet switching, fiber-to-the-desktop media converters and speech recognition software. Fucking riveting. So although some of my worst memories in PR are surrounding sending a truckload of angry contest winners to Aruba for a random, stupid contest for this company (They WON A TRIP TO ARUBA. And still, they complained. And screamed. And cried. AND WENT TO ARUBA, FOR FREE. AND SCREAMED AT ME ANYWAY), I remain attached to the Internet and all its workings. Because it’s pretty fucking cool. And also, weird.
I remember the days so vividly, when there was so much VC money floating we thought we’d explode from the fat, and I don’t think I could have gotten fired even if I came into work, took my pants off and farted on a lit match, because THEY NEEDED ME THAT MUCH. And also, that kind of behavior was usually covered by our too-young-to-be-believed CEOs of our dot-com clients. One actually came in wearing jeans that showed his asscrack, and, because he was paying us $100,000 every month for lame PR services, we had to sit there and smile while his asscrack smiled back.
Anyway, those days were heady. And it’s kind of feeling that way again in the blogging world. I promise, I’m not going to blog about blogging – not my blogging, anyway, or why I do it or any of that shit, because who cares? And also, you already know. But the thing is, I’ve noticed that every single news site has started “blogs” and new companies are hiring well-known bloggers to help them build community*. There are entire agencies devoted to finding bloggers to offer them book deals. And citizen journalism is everywhere, and viewed as the new frontier in news today. Christ, the BBfuckingC announced a broad, sweeping citizen journalism initiative that was no doubt influenced by the blogging generation. A friend of mine, a well-known columnist at a major metro daily, told me she believes she will be obsolete by the end of the year, booted by bloggers who compete with her for free. Blogs are the new dot-coms. “Our audience is becoming tired. Let’s start a blog!” It reminds me of all those brick-and-mortar stores that added an ‘i’ or a ‘.com’ to their name to stay relevant. iParty, anyone? FortheLoveofGolfDOTCOM?
I don’t believe it’s sustainable. I just don’t. I believe that blogging will stick around, but I don’t believe it can maintain its momentum, or its notoriety, and I think the quota for professional bloggers is just about up. And while I don’t think the crash will hit nearly as hard as that infamous bubble burst did, for blogging doesn’t cost a thing, thank God, save for hosting costs, I think it’s inevitable that we’ll feel it. Certainly not in the reduction of blogs, but in the opportunities that bloggers can expect to be afforded, just because they’re bloggers.
There are so many great writers out there. So, so many. It’s been a pleasure to see how beautifully this brings them all out. Eventually, though, because everyone reads the same 15 famous bloggers, everyone starts to sound the same – one collective voice per genre, emulating what’s worked in other areas and trying to recreate it. When all is said and done, I think the best will stick around, but I think so many people will inevitably dry up and walk away, abandoning their attempts at becoming writers because it didn’t come easy, which is so sad. But the reality is, it’s not that easy, and I don’t think it should be. Am I that big of a hardass? Because I think I want more than this., and I think a lot of bloggers are good enough to deserve more than this.
I’m taking two more fiction classes this summer – one online, and one in real life. Because talking about yourself gets old, and as much as it’s good for getting through life, and figuring things out, and connecting with people, I’m not sure this is really helping me become a better writer. In fact, in some ways I think it’s making me a worse one. I won’t give it up, but I no longer see it for what I first thought it was. I’m not writing, I’m getting free therapy, for chrissake. And no way should I expect anything for that except what I’m already getting.
*I like these women. And I’m happy for them, so please don’t misunderstand this as a statement that they are undeserving, or the opportunities they are afforded are somehow invalid. That’s not what I’m saying.
Entry Filed under: Nuttin'
12 Comments Add your own
1. Lara | April 26th, 2006 at 7:24 am
Damn. You just dashed my hopes of being discovered through my blog.
Just kiddin’.
2. Jamie | April 26th, 2006 at 7:32 am
Oh. God. I was literally just comparing paid blogging to the dot-com-burst THIS MORNING. I was also thinking about posting about it…but you’ve gone and done that beautifully, so I’ll just have to put up something like a list of reasons why I hate riding the bus. Sweet.
Seriously, though, I completely agree with you, and I commend you on continuing your writing through classes. I was recently offered a non-paying job to write to “community blog” for a website…which I’m considering…but it begs the question – how long before it all just becomes irrelevant and insignificant? How does one know when to jump ship before that happens?
Excellent post.
3. Whinger | April 26th, 2006 at 9:02 am
Hurrah for the classes. I think you’re right — blogging’s a great jumping off point for other writing (at least for me), and is nice as a side project, but it worries me when it’s THE project for people. And I don’t mean to rain on the ClubMom parade either. I think it’s a wonderful opportunity for these women.
And not to be a copycat, but I was also thinking about this parallel this morning. Weird. I guess it’s suddenly feeling 1999ish to me as well. What I wouldn’t give to have my free breakfasts back again.
4. Amybobamy | April 26th, 2006 at 10:33 am
Honestly.. for me, its all about the venting, the free therapy and the peanut gallery advice! My husband never made millions with the .com stuff either, but we did get forced to move to SF and nearly die while trying to figure out how to support ourselves in CA on a TX salary.
I don’t think it will keep up its momentum either… but I’m also wrong a lot.
5. lightspeed | April 26th, 2006 at 1:31 pm
I am dying over this post. Really, I cannot stop laughing! I also did time in the dotcom boom, and though I never became a millionaire, I did get a respectable cash payout.
*Bows to the Hong Kong investors that ponied up $200M cash without asking for any business plan*
6. lightspeed | April 26th, 2006 at 1:32 pm
p.s. Keep writing, I beg you!
7. Christine | April 26th, 2006 at 3:58 pm
Hey, hey, hey…I moseyed on over from Whinger’s…
I just missed the dotcom craze, as I was still in college and have only known a basically craptastic economy since graduation…but alas, I did enjoy your entry and will putz around and read some of your others.
8. Sundry | April 27th, 2006 at 5:07 pm
I’m not sure what I think of the long-term viability for the blogger-for-pay model. Will people deal with a high cost of entry to a particular blog, like visiting an ad-laden website (coughClubMomcough)? Seems like it depends on the content, but also on the overall experience.
I think the notion of a paid blog is just a part of the overall trend of monetizing anything that facilitates community-building. That’s about the most compelling consumer service offering any company can provide – see Flickr, MySpace, etc. With company sponsored blogs, if people can feel like a real person is talking to them and that they have the chance to talk back – with the author, with other readers – there’s value in that which in my mind surpasses even the question of whether the written product is top quality or not.
It’s a gamble right now and I think anyone taking a paying blog gig needs to keep those dotcom days in mind. And count the check *after* it clears.
9. Bela | April 28th, 2006 at 9:40 am
Does anyone seriously believe blogging can lead to a paid writing job? It’s good exercise, but not much more. It’s a shame because there are some very good writers out there (and some diabolical ones too).
Good luck with the courses.
10. Sundry | April 28th, 2006 at 1:21 pm
Bela: it happens all the time, actually.
11. jonniker | April 28th, 2006 at 2:04 pm
Bela, there are well-known bloggers who feed their families and pay their mortgages off of blogging. It’s like a magazine – if you draw 50,000 readers *every day* like someone like Dooce does, then why wouldn’t advertisers be interested?
And even lesser well-known bloggers with 1/4 of the traffic she brings can make a fair amount of money from advertisements since they have decent traffic. It’s very common, and not that surprising if you think about it that way – advertisers want an audience, and bloggers bring ‘em. So there are agencies out there who not only look for well-known bloggers to blog for their company (like ClubMom as an example here), but there are plenty of bloggers who were offered book deals, columns, etc. It’s very common now.
What I should have clarified in my post was that I do think blogging will stick around, and some bloggers will be able to make money and make a living, but at an infinitely more limited capacity. But the idea that it’s open to anyone and everyone – like anyone who started a shitty little venture and put a “.com” at the end of it could expect to make millions – I think, will fade. Not the genre as a whole, but maybe we’ll all be a little less fat and happy and hopeful. Which is both positive and negative.
And, as Sundry and I discussed offline, I work for a traditional media company, so my view is skewed nowadays.
12. jodiroadie | April 29th, 2006 at 12:39 pm
Speaking of:
I’ve noticed that every single news site has started “blogs” and new companies are hiring well-known bloggers to help them build community
Six Apart, parent company of the blog software Movable Type, just introduced an “Enterprise” version of its software. Its hope is to snare companies who are ready to move to a blogging model. They’re even offering seminars to companies to educate them on the benefits of blogging. Since we’ve been talking about adding a dedicated blog server at the university (a little late, but …), we talked to them on Thursday regarding the version. They’re really interested in getting us on board — even willing to give us a price-break to use us as a case-study.
Sigh.
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