Ribbonfarm is Retiring

Venkatesh Rao announces that his blog Ribbonfarm, active since 2007, will fully retire on November 13, 2024, his 50th birthday, after which it will become a static museum-style archive with its domain and links kept active. He argues that the blogosphere and public social media era are ending, with the cozyweb, a more private and intimate online culture, taking their place. He ties the blog's 2007-2024 span to the Global Financial Crisis and the 2024 US presidential election, and attributes much of the blog's reach to low interest rates and cheap free distribution, which he says ended as platforms began charging for distribution.