Are we a dying breed ?

Is it really beneficial to build and maintain an online persona when it is fraught with problems all around the corner? This thought was echoed on a thread on javaranch.com, which happens to be a very popular social forum for java technology enthusiasts.
One of my acquaintance had also, quite recently expressed reservations about the same due to the lack of appreciation. Whether his comment is just his perception or is it the truth, remains to be seen. The concept of professional blogging too remains an elusive concept for me and as far as I have observed, this remains largely and exercise in isolation or through and 'tool'.

In the google trends on blogging, it appeared that the search volume index dropped to an all time low in the last quarter of 2010 ever since the usage curve became consistent since 2007. The reference of blogs in the news also became erratic and dropped during this period.

This leads to an interesting conclusion; is twitter really ushering in an era of microblogging since the people don't really want to go that extra mile for sharing their thoughts ? Applying social networking in the above comparison definitely causes no raised eyebrows as it is quite clear that social networking has taken the lead for the online citizens.

As the aftermath of this change, you can expect greater emphasis on the management of information over these platforms - both for commercial and research purposes as well as a general change in the dissemination of information. This is because instead if the traditional Author-reader/follower role, we're fundamentally shifting towards an peer to peer approach with spontaneous interactions. So instead of following your favorite blog and waiting for the posts to come in, real time and probably, geographically aware interactions rule the roost. Social networking today has spread much beyond socializing with friends, family and that 'hot chick' profile(pun intended) to an information sharing portal. It is customizable as a mini internet with all the users being able to be the generators of the content.

So if you are a techie or business savvy, you can utilize this change for your benefit. What do you feel about this ? are there any new developments in this arena that you are aware of ? please do comment about it.