10 Ways Sneaker Blogs Have Changed in the Last 10 Years

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As sneaker blogging has gotten older, blogs have been able to feature historical posts rather than just expired release schedules. This means blogs are writing to readers who become informed at a faster rate. If you knew nothing about sneakers or sneaker history, you could become an expert just by scrolling through a well-written blog. The uninitiated can get a good list of some of the best sneaker collaborations of all time just by doing a simple search. Not sure what Michael Jordan wore in his last NBA game? That was 11 years ago, further back than the reason of this list, but you know we already got you.

As readership grows, so do customers and their talk. All it takes is for a brand to hint to a blog that a release is going to be “limited,” or offer a handful of really dope photographs, and the echo chamber starts. The pics and information are used by the community to start the hype and increase market demand. This is how hype blows up, and, suddenly, it's impossible to find what you're looking for. Back in the day, it took time for photos and information to spread slowly by word of mouth—like the speed of dial-up downloading a .jpeg. The same blistering speed at which Janet Jackson’s nipple shield “wardrobe malfunction” found its way onto your desktop.

Blogs, bloggers, and readers, have come together to create a platform on which to speak together to the companies that are making their coveted products. Blogs used to basically list releases, but now cover the whole world surrounding sneakers. As more attention is paid to collaborators, customizers, and mockups made on a whim, some brands have started to shift their product lines. Blogs are now something that can be used to study interest not just sales. It’s retail democracy. 10 years ago, the Junior Senator from Illinois gave an impassioned speech to the DNC in Boston, and look where he is today. Talk about the power of the people.

Comments sections are always a trip, and mostly because of the anonymity allowed on blogs. Everyone has their original opinion and many are looking to start a fight. In 2004, some were still afraid that “hackers” were going to steal our credit card numbers—everyone tried as much as possible to be on the up and up. Mothers, as a group, were afraid of anything having to do with eBay. Now you can create 18 different Yahoo emails and have comment arguments with yourself just for something to do between Jordan drops. This has led to virtual bare-knuckle brawls under articles. Quite the development after the gentlemanly decorum of years past.

Blogs are everywhere, running 24/7. As soon as a bit of information is leaked, blogs are delivering it straight to the reader. This immediate cycle means some blogs look for other things to talk about. This has given rise to specialty blogs that investigate other things. Campless delves into the wonky side of statistics, and folks like NightWing focus on just performance. 10 years ago, NASA sent a rover to Mars and found water. As information is spread more widely by blogs, the community can send out their own rovers to learn and research their own smaller interests within the industry.

Readers are people and people buy things. As clicks have turned into purchases, blogs have let brands turn little effort into real money. All they have to do is take a few nice pictures and pair them with some information—someone's going to cop. As a result, the money has also flowed upstream allowing those guys who started blogs—with those heavy laptops on their days off—to do it as their job. Putting all that information in one place means that blogs have become one-stop shops to learn what you need, and many have figured out how to turn that into money. 

Almost all blogs started as pet projects by people who wanted to share information or get attention for having that information. As more people read blogs, corporate entities have seen the power and dropped a lot of money into their own blogs that highlight their own interests. They get to capitalize on cheap advertising. Blogging has become big business.

As time has gone by, the amount of readers on sneaker blogs has exploded. People have shifted the way they get information from word of mouth to checking blogs. They've moved to the source. Having all the information in one spot means that brands were able to find a way to speak to the people who were interested. Remember that around the time that Rachel, Ross, Monica, Chandler, and Phoebe were taking their final bow you had to keep an eye on the Eastbay catalogue, or grease some palms over at Foot Locker. Now you’re reading this list. Where did the time go?

Sneaker blogs are like Kanye. There weren’t many—if any—sneaker blogs in 2004, now they’re omnipresent. When The College Dropout dropped in 2004, Yeezus was just starting to poke his head out, and now you can’t get away from him. Especially on any one of the thousands of sneaker blogs, and Tumblrs, and Twitters, and Instagrams. And LinkedIns.