OTOH maybe the majority of WP users are not blogging.
It's anecdotal but I know about a dozen WP users first-hand (and maintain a couple of those installations) and none of them use it for blogging. It's mostly for marketing websites and shops with WooCommerce.
Yes, agreed WooComm is new. Nonetheless, social media'ing has replaced "I got a website" and "I got a blog."
In general, companies in this vertical are not really hurting.
https://getlatka.com/companies/automattic
https://www.wpzoom.com/blog/wordpress-statistics/
Data = good; facts = good
Truth: Belief drives behavior.
To go nuclear as MM did, what is he believing? What is his future like?
But you picked a good word: insane.
So yeah, we're on the same page. The difference is direction. Past v future.
Its not. Its used for everything from marketing websites to ecommerce. CNN, Reuters etc have their blogs run on it too.
Do they have a portfolio of work that gets updated as the work of the brand? That's a blog.
What about case studies?
Any ongoing activity that's add to the site in a "social update" sort of way is effectively the blog.
That's been WP original idenity. As you noted, that's not a priority any more. Now tools like Shopify, WebFlow, etc *in the eyes of the market* have parity. And while Matt went all in on Gutenberg / Blocks there were already a number of page builders. Blocks is not gaining traction. It was a *horrible* product rollout.
So what's WP's and Automattic's identity now? Extortionist?? Certainly looks that way. Ugly but true.
I think this is significant. As I caught up on this conversation I've seen it interwoven with saltiness about "The Block Editor", which I understand is a new WYSIWYG editor replacing the classic editor under deprecation and which an increasing part of the community have been feeling alienated and forced by. It's been Matt's baby and WP hasn't been taking the community feedback to heart.
People took time off and spent money to go to WordCamp US. MM used his keynote to shit on a prominent entity in the ecosystem. And entity many people know, use and love. There was no need to go nuclear at that event, using that keynote.
Either someone said "No Matt, this isn't a good time" and he ignored them. Or no one close to him stood up to say anything. Both of these scenarios are ugly.
Zooming out a bit, Automattic acquired Tumblr and like all those before it seems to be choking on it.
Competitors like Wix, Squarespace, WebFlow and Shopify are all nipping at WordPress' marketshare.
I don't know what WordPress.com's stats look like, but blogging is out of sytle. New cool kids want the new black. That is to be social media influencers. Along the same lines, the WordPress Community is "aging out". Events online or off there's too little "youth" engaged and excited about the product.
In shoet, the pie isn't what it once was. Matt looked around the room, saw deep pockets (i.e., WP Engine) and made a go for it. That was a poor decision. Seeing himself as a cult leader who would get unwavering support from his cult (aka The WordPress Community) was another mistake. People are fatigued and enough them have stopped drinking his Kool Aid. There are pockets of support but certainly not what it used to be. Many WP people are anxious to move on from the Mattopoly.