|
Most people in our industry believe the sky is always falling. Some of us remember the movement to limit the amount of pictures TGPs can use because they were giving away too much content. Then there was Google picture search that was giving surfers easy access to our content, and some of us complained about that. (At the same time some of us learned how to use Google picture search to our advantage.)
The truth of the matter is you can blame this on TGPs giving out too much content, Google picture search, Tubes.... The funny thing is no on in our industry seems to give any thought to other issues that kills us - such as the fact that a handful of websites now suck down more than half of all Internet traffic. That's sixty percent of our potential customer base out the window from the start. (I'm talking about Facebook, Ebay, Myspace, and YouTube here.) The Internet is now useful and entertaining, and we are being left behind.
No one in our industry seems to be accepting the truth. We are in the worst recession we'll see in our lifetime. People are loosing their jobs and their houses; Discretionary cash for cheap entertainment is at an all time low. More than half of the houses on my street are empty; I can name a dozen restaurants within a two miles radius of my house that have closed up shop. The problems our industry is facing isn't because of tube sites; Open up your eyes - every industry is hurting.
How have I kept my head above water? Blogs. I launched four more this week, all hand written. Cost me nothing to make, and after a few months each blog makes me some coin. While everyone is bitching, my blog network has been rising every month except for last month.
|