A blogger saying in a mainstream publication that blogging is dead - and the echo chamber goes nuts.

That what happened when Paul Boutin, a blogger, reporter, and correspondent to    the gossip blog Valleyweg, wrote a terrific article in Wired, stating:

@WiredReader: Kill yr blog. 2004 over. Google won't find you. Too much cruft from HuffPo, NYT. Commenters are tards.

I have to respectfully disagree. There are many points that are true in Boutin's article. Yes, it is harder to get noticed. Yes, the blogosphere is getting professionalized. Yes, there are stupid marketers who abuse this medium. And yes, there are several people who should be stopped from commenting by court order.

Having said that, blogs are still a great way for professionals and amateurs alike to state their opinion. Boutin writes:

Bloggers today are expected to write clever, insightful, witty prose to compete with Huffington and The New York Time

What's wrong with that? Yes, bloggers need to write in a professional way - if they want to treated as professionals. One can't expect to be treated as a pro if he/she writes amateur pieces in the world's most simple to use CMS. The fact someone is a blogger doesn't mean that he is rated on a different scorecard. It's the other way around - bloggers MUST be professional to stick out in the crowd.

Boutin continues:

Social multimedia sites like YouTube, Flickr, and Facebook have since made publishing pics and video as easy as typing text. Easier, if you consider the time most bloggers spend fretting over their words. Take a clue from Robert Scoble, who made his name as Microsoft's "technical evangelist" blogger from 2003 to 2006. Today, he focuses on posting videos and Twitter updates. "I keep my blog mostly for long-form writing," he says.

Yep, the secret sauce of social media is integration. Write a blog, be active on Twitter, use Facebook and Linkedin wisely. None of these tools is good enough on its own. Together they are an impressive toolbox.

Boutin is a very smart man - and his article is thought provoking. However, advising people to stop blogging, while the guy is making a living out of it, and many cases are showing the opposite, makes me think that he is just flaming the community to get noticed in the Echo Chamber...

Related articles:

• Valleywagger attempts to assassinate blogs; social networking and microblogging is where it's at
• Blogs are so over, Wired magazine says
• Kill your blog, says Valleywag blogger ... in print
• No way! Blogs are pervasive?

After mentioning Vista as one of the things that helped Apple grow in the last years, Apple continues in its heads on attack on Vista in two new video ads:

This one is a bit childish but funny:

Wonder what Microsoft will the next...