When AOL bought the Huffington Post for $315 million, I had to chuckle at the news reports calling it a blog. Most classify news sites like HuffPo, Mashable, and Engadget as blogs because there really is no other way to classify them right now. They’re not considered mainstream news sites because they’re not attached to an entity that existed before (or whatever other reason you want to use to tag them as blogs). Still, how can sites that get millions of visitors of month and who pay their writers and editors still be considered blogs? Let’s look at how Wikipedia defines a blog: The original “Web Log”…

I have been blogging professionally for nearly five years — it has been my sole source of income. It isn’t by any means an easy career decision, but I make it work for me. But, as they say, all good things must come to an end, and I fear that the day of the professional blogger is no different. For now, I’m in good company: 34 percent of bloggers who participated in Technorati’s State of the Blogosphere in 2010 revealed that they partake in this blogging endeavor on a full-time or part-time basis, meaning there is money to be made. Blogging is also incredibly popular in the States, where 33 percent of respondents…

The blog — once full of affinity, originality, and creativity — is now filled to the brim with animosity, mediocrity, and futility. So what happened? What has become of the blogosphere that I once knew and thoroughly enjoyed? Going back a few years ago, it was not uncommon for yours truly to read hundreds of different blogs in a single day. It was amazing to have the opportunity to read a myriad of unique perspectives that I never had been exposed to before. Everyone had something to say, and everything they said was interesting. As such, clicking that “subscribe” button was incredibly addictive…

The rise and fall of the blog is a heavily discussed topic on the Internet. Many are quick to claim that social media is killing blogs; that blogs are no longer important. But this isn’t the case. The truth of the matter is that blogs have done far more harm to themselves than anything Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Flickr, or any other social media site could have ever done. And, if anything, these sites provide more exposure and opportunities for bloggers. Destruction From Within But all that doesn’t take away from the fact that blog growth has been slowing. There are also quite a few theories…