In December 2007… 28 percent of all 18-to-29-year-olds with an Internet connection kept some sort of blog. By the same time last year, that number hovered around 15 percent….(though) blogging has actually climbed slightly in popularity among American adults over the age of 30, from 7 percent in 2007 to 11 percent last year….

In the past, blogs were the prime vehicle for pour-your-guts-out self-expression, often of an uncomfortably intimate variety…. But younger users seem to be turning en masse toward social-media sites, where it’s quicker to broadcast information, and easier to receive instant feedback.

So yes, those who groused that blogging was a fad were right. Though it was not, is not just a fad. It will level off into a comfortable and, I say, significant role in the media even as it evolves and blends into other forms of communication. I look forward to the day when the word “blog” all but disappears, placed onto the linguistic discard pile along with other terms that progress has rendered unnecessary or obsolete (“talkies,” “horseless carriages” “stereo” “color TV” “car phone” “home computer”)