A decade is a monument and measurement worth observing. We consume culture at such a fast clip that most of what we see day to day—the moving images, the ads, the music—wasn't even a dream 10 years ago. Sneaker blogs barely existed at all in 2004, and have evolved from that nascent seed to a veritable weed. 2004 saw the breaking of the Curse of the Bambino. The Patriots took the Super Bowl and Cam'ron had switched from wearing pink to getting caught in a Purple Haze. George Bush had just won an "election." But sneaker culture—at least online—was much different. Blogs have allowed us to keep in faster and wider touch with the world around us, and as a result have helped to shape the culture they document. Here are 10 Ways That Sneaker Blogs Have Changed in the Last 10 Years.
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Holding History
The hype machine wouldn't exist without them.
They give power and identity to the sneakerheads who run them.
People aren't afraid to get online and sound off in the comments section.
General sneaker info turned into specific categories.
There's money to be made by writing about sneakers.
Personal hobbies turned into corporate projects.
People read blogs - not catalogs.
They actually exist.
They've gone from being forums to becoming blogs.
Back in 2004, when Aubrey Graham was playing Jimmy Brooks on Degrassi: The Next Generation, most sneaker talk and information was on forums like 5th Dimension and NikeTalk. Now, with a handful of exceptions, almost everyone gets their info from blogs and goes to other social media to compare notes and bicker. That means a more centralized point from which to get information. As blogs started to pop up, they did the message board surveying for you, and gained enough clout to confirm or dismiss information.