Blogging has been around for quite some time and as with most things, change is inevitable. I am sure that we have all foreseen these changes, although we might not have seen specific things about it. I like what I read at Conversational Media Marketing and how they outlined the changes in the blogosphere. More importantly, though, they presented some of the more significant changes that are taking place this year and beyond. Here is an excerpt of the blog post:

1. WordPress is now considered a lightweight CMS platform, not just a blog platform. (Has been for a while.) It’s becoming more common to see entire Web sites being built using WP or some other blog-related CMS. For example, two real estate news Web sites, RIS Media and Inman News, have now completely coverted their sites to blog-based platforms.
2. WordPress is also morphing into a social media application, as is Movable Type, which now has a social network version. I can imagine other blog platforms will follow suit.
3. New blog platforms continue to be built.
4. The widgetization of the web is a trend that will contribute to the welfare of blogs, as widgets can be plugged into the sidebar, extending the functionality of blogs as more of a social networking platform.
5. Blog posts will be less anecdotal and more article-like in their format. More of what Brian Clark refers to as value blogging. That, to me, spells maturity. The less important, more transient content now ends up on Twitter, Facebook or Utterz. This leaves the blog as the repository for more thoughtfully prepared material.

Indeed, blogging is becoming more mature and we can find great content in a lot of blogs today. Being aware of these changes can help us keep up with them and allows us to continue to have a strong presence online.