A few years ago, blogs were all the rage. Now blogs set the stage.

It’s amazing how a few years ago, blogs became the next big thing, commanding time an attention. Interesting, too, how quickly companies who were not in the publishing business realized that they didn’t want to be. After all, blogging is publishing, and publishing is work. I can’t tell you how many efforts were involved with where well-intentioned blog efforts never got off the ground because, alas, companies didn’t have the stomach for a sustained research, writing, design, production, and promotion effort required to make a great blog.

Enter Twitter, Facebook, the era of micro-blogging, and the end of non-serious bloggers. Semi-committed publishers found their medium. Writing a blog post, which is basically an article, is a lot more intimidating for non-writers than a Facebook post, let alone a 140-character tweet. A quick notification or reaction is easier than the proverbial blank sheet of paper.

A few years ago, when we helped build Spout, we talked a lot about the idea of “cognitive cost” - or, how much brain power it takes to perform an action. My feeling is that Facebook’s triumph over MySpace (remember MySpace?), beside basic usability and taste, was lowering the cognitive cost for engagement. Much of the Web 2.0 world is being dominated by players who have lowered the cognitive cost of interacting with a product, signing up, interacting. The ultimate low cognitive cost is a page with one item on it (Google), and certainly posting on Facebook has a much lower cognitive cost than writing a blog post, let alone maintaining a blog.

We’ve had the same experience at Peopledesign, where we’ve had an ambivalent relationship with our blog, posting in fits and starts, but have taken to social media more easily. Interestingly, our micro-blogging (and, okay, other efforts like writing a book) has reinvigorated our blog. Personally I’m getting more comfortable and committed to sharing ideas in longer form, which has led to other ways of reaching out.

So not only are we sprinkling our message and love around the new media landscape, but we’re being asked to contribute elsewhere. Starting this year I’ll be a guest blogger for a local webzine and for a blog our book publisher has started. My first guest article about the Grand Rapids Brand appeared this week in Rapid Growth Media magazine, which has already stirred up some good conversation. I’m looking forward to blogging for a refreshed Regarding Design, joining my fellow guest bloggers and colleagues John Foster, Stanley Hainsworth, Robynne Raye, Jake and Pum Lefubre, Terry Lee Stone, Steve Gordon, Jason Tselentis, Debbie Millman, and more.

Micro or macro, what’s clear is how the blog world sets a stage for conversation and engagement of all kinds.

Cartoon by Dave Walker.