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August 8, 2003
Where's that curve?
Obviously, all of you know what a blog is, but am I right in supposing that some of you hadn't seen one prior to your first visit to "About Last Night"? I didn't invent arts blogging (see the right-hand column for further details), but when I started telling friends, acquaintances, and colleagues in the art world about my plans to launch www.terryteachout.com, I was struck by how many of them had never heard the word "blog," and thus had no idea of what I intended to do. Once they saw the site, they got it, but it was more difficult to explain than I expected.I know my experience is not unique, because I got an e-mail the other day from a writer friend who's been talking me up. "I mentioned ‘About Last Night' on a small AOL board," she told me, "and one woman admitted she had never heard of blogs before now."
My own feeling, for what it's worth, is that as the print media become increasingly obsessed with reaching the mass audiences necessary to keep them profitable, serious arts commentary and news coverage are destined to migrate to the Web, which is the ideal medium for niche marketing and niche journalism (and we arts-crazed folk are definitely a niche, though not the smallest one in the world, either).
That's why I started www.terryteachout.com--I wanted to get there first, or at least not last--and I'm glad you decided to come along for the ride. Stick around. (And while you're at it, see today's BuzzMachine for some provocative thoughts on the future of blogs, occasioned by the second birthday of InstaPundit.)
Posted August 8, 2003 12:51 PM
