Jason Calacanis Retires From Blogging

Posted on July 12, 2008

Jason Calacanis founded Weblogs, Inc. and made it popular enough that he was able to sell it to AOL for $25 million back when many people had not even heard of blogs. Calacanis continued blogging after the sale of his company. He used his blog and other channels to promote his Mahalo company but now he claims to be finished with blogging. He has retired with an emotional post on his blog. He says it was taking too much time away from his family.

"It's with a heavy heart, and much consideration, that today I would like to announce my retirement from blogging." Jason McCabe Calacanis, July 11th 2008.
This was an extremely difficult decision, and I haven't made it lightly. After five years I'm not sure I know any other way of being but the blog, but at some point you have to hang it up. I know that I had made the right decision for me and my family. I am very proud of the success that we have had in blogging and I leave the game with few regrets.
To be sure, I am going to miss blogging. I am going to miss the relationships with my fellow bloggers. I am going to miss the readers. I am going to miss the great friends that I have made over this time. I am going to miss all the good times that we have had together. But most of all, I am going to miss the comments.*

Is Jason Calacanis really retiring? It seems unlikely. For many blogging is like writing. Most writers will tell you that writing is something that you continue doing until you can't do it anymore because you are dead.

Valleywag says Calacanis is returning to the now old-fashioned email newsletter so his writing and marketing will continue in some format. It seems that he also still has his microblogging accounts on FriendFeed and Twitter.

The "retirement" of Jason Calacanis is getting some coverage in the blogosphere - even from those who refuse to care. Jim Kukral links Jason's departure from blogging to the death of the A-list. The A-list may not be completely dead but it is certainly more diffuse than it was when everyone was blogging and no one was microblogging.