The Unfortunate Decline of Blogging Among the Fortune 500: The Downside of Adopting Substitute Innovations

Abstract

This study follows the adoption of blogging by the Fortune 500 and its eventual decline. Through the use of Roger’s diffusion theory (1963), the process of adopting a newer more exciting innovation in the place of blogging is discussed. Despite the interesting capabilities offered by microblogging, we argue that newer tools such as Twitter, or Instagram do not offer the key benefits that blogging allows. This makes microblogging a new innovation, however not a suitable substitute or a relevant next generation of blogging. Practitioners should reconsider discontinuing their use or adoption of blogs in favor of these newer tools.