Two Interesting articles in recent days on how non-participatory Web 2.0 has turned out to be. Apparently Twitter is all about watching and doing not that much yourself:

A tiny fraction of those who use the fast-growing social network phenomenon Twitter generate nearly all the content, a Harvard study shows. That makes it hard for companies to use the micro-blogging site as an accurate gauge of public opinion, the Harvard Business School study showed... It found that 10 per cent of Twitter users generated more than 90 per cent of the content, said Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, who led the research. More than half of all Twitter users post messages on the site less than once every 74 days.

Add to that The New York Times in which Technorati explains the truth behind blogging:

Richard Jalichandra, chief executive of Technorati, said that at any given time there are 7 million to 10 million active blogs on the Internet, but “it’s probably between 50,000 and 100,000 blogs that are generating most of the page views.” He added, “There’s a joke within the blogging community that most blogs have an audience of one.”

That puts the last six years in a certain perspective, doesn't it. You also have to take into account that much blogging and twitter activity is professional, from news services and journalists still trying to jump on the 2005 bandwagon. Fortunately, I think I have few expectations or have had most of them met. I have in fact received welcome if small amounts from shadowy ads that gets reported to Revenue Canada because I am a boy scout who thinks people show up in vans to take you away if you don't. And I was ahead of Guinness once for the Google search "beer." For a while in 2004 during the US election, this blog led the universe for Google hits seeking "Kerry's policies." I was vainly taken by that one until I thought a little more about it. But, still, I really can't complain. This is a way for me to wake up.

But is the real news that people are admitting this in the trade? It is extraordinary to me for Technorati to admit that the topic of their years of effort has really only about 0.5% to 2% actual activity of value? But the oddest thing is that lingering idea in the NYT article that people expect doing what I am doing now to lead to "a means to be financially independent to continue pursuing and sharing what I love with the world." How 2002. It is, however, an excellent way to help you wake up.