Don’t worry! I’m not talking about the end of Let’s Eat Grandpa. I’m going to be here for a long time, sharing all sorts of things you didn’t really need to know in the first place, probably long after everyone has ceased reading and just started beaming information directly into their frontal lobes.
I’m more talking about the end of blogging in general.
You see, Steve and I were talking the other day about our blogs. We’ve both been around for a relatively long time (six years for each of us), and we’ve both noticed that our readership is down a little, and people aren’t commenting like they used to. Neither of our blogs is particularly stagnant — we both update often and about a variety of things.
It made us wonder — now that we’re Facebooking and Twittering and Instagramming everything in short little bursts, are we losing our ability to follow something that’s longer than 140 characters? Do people not want to sit down and read actual paragraphs?
I asked some friends about it — mostly people who blog. Of course, I asked about this on Twitter:
- Matt: Disagree. For me, the usefulness of Twitter is that it points to content (blogs) and is not necessarily content itself.
- Jen: I agree with Matt.
- Same Matt, but a bit of discussion later: Actually that makes a lot of sense, with content overload, we need ways to help us filter.
- Jessie: Noooo! I can’t say nearly enough, nor use as many photos and make a fully composed thought with anything except my blog!
- Steph: I hope not. I just renewed my hosting site for a couple more years.
- (The aforementioned) Steve: No, but I think the quick-hit world of status updates has lured away many. There’s still a place for discussion in blogs.
- Lennis: Well, I neglect my blog and post to Twitter and Instagram a lot, but I still read other people’s blogs.
- Michelle: I’m the opposite. Still keep up with MY blog, but never read others unless via twitter or instagram.
- Brooke: IG let me connect with more people and then just check their blogs when I see an interesting pic.
- Amy: I think that’s probably true to a certain extent. We’re so instant gratification & both feed that.
Personally, I will admit that the biggest reason I blog is for the community, and has been since my early blogging days. I love participating in discussions, reading about the thoughts and opinions of my friends that differ from my own, and having people interact with the stuff I post. I could pretend that I blog just for me, but that would be a lie. I like the comments. I like the interactions. I like the community that I’ve built on my blog. Is this the only reason I blog? Of course not. But it definitely plays its large part.
But now Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are slowly siphoning off the interactions we used to get on our blogs. Not that it’s a bad thing — it’s just a different form of interaction. It’s a lot easier to like my Facebook blog post than it is to take the time to leave a comment. I say this while admitting that I’m just as guilty as the next gal of lazy internet relationships. I LOVE Instagram, like Twitter quite a bit, and it’s complicated with Facebook. Like Matt said above, sometimes I use the social networks as a filter, to figure out what I really want to read. I have to make a concerted effort to comment on the posts flying through my RSS feed.
I’d like to also consider that maybe blogging was a fad. Everyone was doing it. And many of those people are now moving onto other things, both online and in real life. So many blogs were lackluster, and perhaps most of the population got bored. I’ve been carefully curating my RSS feeder for a couple years now, and it’s incredible how often I’ll add an awesome new blog, only to realize a few months down the line that there have only been a smattering of “I’m sorry I haven’t updated lately” posts.
So perhaps there will just be some of us stalwarts to hold out and continue to interact through our blogs — we love the open space and the lack of restraints to write what we’re really feeling, to post twenty photos without being accused of “overgramming,” and to cultivate the relationships and ideas that we’ve been investing in for so long.
I, for one, am not going anywhere.
Now comment on this thing and let me know what you think, so I can feel better about myself.
I’m sure that FB, Twitter and Instagram are having a big effect on blogs. I think sometimes they can drive readership up though, because you’ll discover new people to follow through those mediums. It’s interesting to see how new technology effects old technology.
Melissa recently posted..First Among Sequels
That’s such a good point that I hadn’t even considered! I have definitely found new blogs through Twitter and IG.
Cori recently posted..The End of the Blog?
Sorry, I stopped reading after like the third paragraph…
I have a friend that is sort of anti-social media, and so he is my last “phone friend”. Does that make him less of a friend? Not really. Does he miss out on some of our internet hijinx? For sure. Could we be closer if he participated in life (and yes, I chose that word) using the same tools as me? Probably.
I think it does come down to remember that these things — phones, texts, emails, blogs, twitter, facebook, all of it — are tools for communication and connecting with others. I love that aspect about it. I guess if I felt like if through blogging I wasn’t connecting with ANYONE then maybe I wouldn’t participate, but I still am and still get a lot out of it — even if a lot of the people have changed over the years.
SteveB recently posted..Teh Science of Teh Cute
I feel the same way about blogging. I know there are some people who write just for them — and that’s great — but I’m not one of those people. I write because I want to communicate and engage, and that’s hard when there’s no one else around!
Cori recently posted..W.i.P. Wednesday
I blogged off and on for years. I started because I have awful handwriting, so writing in journals was painful for me whenever I looked back through my entries. Some ended because they were centered around a particular theme, and some blogs just fizzled out because I got too busy. When I write, it’s usually methodically, and thus slow, so I need a lot of time to write, rewrite, and edit my entries.
I didn’t usually write for an audience though…it was mostly for me. The ones that did became public, had a mostly known and specific audience, who were far away and wanted more than just 160 character updates found on Twitter, Facebook, etc.
(It’s interesting you bring this up, as I have been starting to find my self with some “extra” time on my hands, and want to start writing again.)
I spend so much time writing and re-writing — it’s definitely a methodical process. And you’re right, it takes a lot of time! I say — write more! :)
Cori recently posted..[CULTIVATE] FAITHFULNESS: What is faithfulness?
It seems like the overall interactions are probably going up since social media is so prevalent, but maybe the quality is going down? When a quality response at a blog is desired, a 140 character Tweet might be all we get. Is that bad? Broadly, I think so. I think it is good if you can interact with more people or get some who wouldn’t normally respond at all. However, we desire for more quality interactions. (Although, as evidenced by me, long blog comments don’t necessarily equate to “quality”.) But I’m not exactly sure how to encourage that other than providing a place where people feel comfortable to comment and where they feel their comments are being appreciated.
I also think that people might just be more selective about what they read and when they comment. This comes out of the brief discussion we had. There is so much information available to us, we definitely need internal filters otherwise we would be reading 24/7 (Which some might enjoy). Twitter and other social media might help us filter or take in summaries that will suffice. But that still removes much of the interaction. So we’re still back to how to encourage more meaningful interactions.
I guess all my rambling comes down to: I don’t know how to encourage better interactions but I don’t think blogs are dying, they are just being read differently.
That’s a good question. I find that my best content usually brings in the best comments. When I post about something controversial or difficult or if I have a good question at the end. Or sometimes when I beg for comments (see above!).
Cori recently posted..The End of the Blog?
It would make sense that asking for specific engagement or writing about difficult, challenging, or controversial topics would elicit more responses. We naturally like to argue or opine when we are able or encouraged.
Well written posts that people are interested probably will still be read, but not necessarily commented on unless there is specific reason to comment. The “Nice post, well written” comments have mostly gone by the wayside or relegated to spam bots.
But begging works too. ;)
MJ recently posted..Thoughts on Bullying
I think you’re right about the “nice post” comments. That’s almost worse than no comments at all! I will try and “star” or “like” blogs if I did enjoy them but had nothing to say. I know that Steve is good at that, too.
Cori recently posted..The End of the Blog?
I don’t blog (anymore, I did when I was a teacher, because my kids were funny), I don’t tweet, and I don’t have Facebook (anymore). I only read 4 blogs, 3 of which are written by friends, and I do it as a way to keep up with them (the 4th being Hyperbole and a Half because she is so freaking funny, but she doesn’t update hers anymore). I like to hear how my friends are doing, the fascinating things going on in their lives, see the pictures, and hear the stories that go along with those pictures. I wouldn’t be able to get that in a tweet or a status update. I’m not the typical blogger/reader though; I don’t even have an RSS feed, so the blogging community aspect of it for me isn’t a factor. I do love this blog, though. :) Plus, I get shout-outs in your posts sometimes, which is a bonus!
Your life sounds wonderfully simple! Perhaps my online life will change drastically once I bring a screaming infant into the equation :)
Cori recently posted..The End of the Blog?
PS. I LOVE that you used an xkcd comic. :)
It seemed SO appropriate. :)
Cori recently posted..Six years in the blogosphere!
Kudos for sticking with blogging for such a long time. I still have a blog, but my time is so fragmented these days that I rarely post anything other than photos. I think the number of online options can be both good and bad for blogs. As others have mentioned, it’s somewhat easier for people to find blogs to follow; however, I think it probably reduces the number of thoughtful comments on blog posts.
My time is really fragmented too. But for some reason, I can usually squeeze in writing a post — I find it cathartic to sit down and write. I wish I had better photography skills — it’s something I’m working on lately.
Cori recently posted..W.i.P. Wednesday
All I really want to say here is that the punctuation joke “Let’s Eat Grandpa” always reminds me of a book I had when I was in early elementary school. I don’t remember all the details, but I know that there was a house in the book and the mailbox out in front of the house said “GIANT” on it. Everybody in town avoided the house to avoid angering the giant who lived inside. It later turned out that there wasn’t a giant in there at all, but an ant with the initials G.I.
I don’t remember if I ever mentioned that to you.
I don’t think you did. But I like it THISMUCH.
Cori recently posted..[CULTIVATE] FAITHFULNESS: Faithfulness in Action!
Oh, one other thought. I don’t know if it would actually help with comments/interactions, but having a “recent comments” list in your side bar might help people see where conversations are happening.