Blog Action Day comes and goes again...Did you notice?

2008's Blog Action Day was observed on Wednesday. The eighth annual iteration of the group blogging event included 12,808 sites, all posting at least once on the day's discussion topic -- this year, poverty.

Organizers estimate that 13,498,280 visitors saw one of more of these poverty-related posts. Many blogs or blog readers also donated to charities working on the issue, and some corporate blogs at firms such as Google and Wells Fargo got involved as well. (Those numbers do not appear to include posts on Twitter and similar microblogging services.)

Not to take away anything from the sincerity of those involved, but what do those numbers mean? During an acrimonious election season deeply affected by the economy -- not to mention the week's whiplash-inducing financial news -- it seems that the project's focus may have been a victim of its own relevance.

In comparison, Wednesday night's presidential debate is estimated to have drawn between 57 and 58 million TV viewers. That compares in turn to last week's 63.2 million debate viewers, or the 69.9 million who checked in for the vice presidential debate earlier in the month. Blog Action Day did, however, have more viewers than last night's Dodgers-Phillies playoff game (or anything else airing during prime time yesterday).

The day of action's participation numbers were also down compared to 2007's event, which focused on the environment. Around 15,800 sites were believed to have participated in 2007's Blog Action Day.

Many of the bloggers involved were clear that the main function of a Blog Action Day is to kick-start conversation on the days after.

"Let's face it," said the proprietor of uncultured.com, "finding a blogger that doesn't care about ending poverty is like trying to find a beauty queen that doesn't care about world peace. Rhetoric is easy -- action is harder. And I don't mean making a donation -- there was a lot of that going on yesterday. What I mean is making this a priority in our lives."

Sadly, poverty continued to take a backseat to other issues on Thursday, as World Food Day organizers noted to Reuters that news coverage of dangerously low food supplies in developing nations has been ignored in favor of discussion of the economic crisis in the US and elsewhere.