In Conclusion...

This industry analysis set out to examine the potential blogging might offer writers, published or not.

It cannot be ignored that there is a less pleasant side to blogging – however, at the time of writing, blogging is free and offers a platform for everything from poetry, banter, fiction, debate, to simple musings on life. If people take pleasure from narcissism; they have a platform to express it.

The Internet is moving and developing so fast that an accurate analysis can only really be based on current information. (After all no one predicted the dot com bust, or subsequent rise)

As writers living in an age dominated by technology, we engage with the written word daily. On reflection, therefore, it seems that in many ways blogs were ‘made’ for us as writers – if we use them in a way that develops our understanding of both our craft and our culture. They do offer the potential to do this.

However, above all else, my research demonstrated that blogs offer a way to connect, reflect, and communicate with our peers in a way that was unimaginable even ten years ago.

Who knows where they might lead us in ten years time.

UPDATE:
As this was written, the UK Writers' Guild held a meeting to discuss this very topic. Read a report about this meeting here. Danny Stack, one of the speakers gives an outline of his speech here.

It seems that the Guild agree; although the meeting was entitled 'Websites For Writers' the discussion very much focussed on blogs. The conclusion was, that blogs are a useful tool for writers to engage with and develop.