Have blogs given way to social media?
I know that if you want to catch up on the latest things that are going on with the majority of the Wyrdsmiths, you'd have a much better time of it following any one of us on Facebook or Twitter than checking here on a regular basis. I'm probably the only notable exception. I actually prefer the long-form, that is to say, the blog, over the sound byte-ness of Twitter, especially. (I actually prefer Facebook to Twitter or foursquare or "whatever the kids are into these days", but that might just be because I'm old.)
I used to look forward to everyone's detailed con report after the weekend, but now I'm expected to catch a play-by-play in 140 characters or less as it happens.
I'm so old school I still work pretty hard to keep up on a nearly-daily basis on my livejournal. I don't know that most of us bother any more. So my question is: do people (besides me) blog any more? Do people still find it useful? Your lack of response will speak volumes, no doubt.
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11 comments:
Yes, blogs are quite valuable. They serve a different purpose than social media: the like a wave hello, and a blog more like sitting down for a conversation over coffee.
I still spend more time on the blog than on Facebook or Twitter. I have fun on the latter sometimes, but it's a different media, and it's a lot harder for me to get into any in-depth discussions over there.
I haven't seen any dropoff in my readership at the blog in recent years. Looking back, it's either held steady or slowly increased.
I still blog and still read blogs, and I check here daily for updates! I can tolerate Facebook, but Twitter drives me crazy and I am not on it. I want to read something meaty, not a few succinct words.
This is good news! Even though I struggle sometimes to be brilliant (here more than over at LJ, where I've given myself permission to be mundane), I prefer blogs too.
Ironically, several of us are discussing this post over on Twitter. ;p
I stopped doing regular blogging a year or two back. I think that, given my time constraints and general writing pace, I usually weigh blogging vs. writing, and writing wins. That, or if I am done for the day, the last thing I want to do is write a structured blog post. I also tend to not turn to the web for in-depth debate (I know, what kind of freak am I, right?) since I never manage to keep on top of it.
Then again, when I was on an intranet back before the internet, I mainly used it for communication, story-rouders, and keeping in touch with people. In that sense, FB is a bit closer to what I was doing before the advent of blogs, so perhaps I am just sticking to what I know?
In any case, I tend to not find a lot to blog about on a regular basis. Maybe it's not being in the habit; maybe it's stage-fright; or maybe I'm just lazy. I expect it's a mix of the three, with a few other things thrown in as well.
I'm sore tempted not to respond, just to antagonize. I'm equally tempted to ignore this and just post a con report.
But I think I'll do neither--at least, neither as I've mentioned them above. I find that the excitement and joy of blogging wore off for me after a couple of years, and it became a task, a chore. Another thing I was doing to look like being a writer, but which was taking up writing time.
Additionally, as I've gone into before, I had a rough couple of years in there coming to terms with my alcoholism and dealing with that. A lot of things fell by the wayside, and blogging was completely off my radar. I was trying to hang on to the main components of life, nothing extra. Now that I'm getting back to myself and remembering the me I want to be, I think you'll see me more often here.
More often, but not all the time. Because writing isn't my full time job, and blogging is something that can be a distraction from the limited time I have for the thing I love to do most. But I'll be here.
Now, let's see about that con report...
To some, blogging was always a chore, those people have happily vacated to the likes of twitter and Facebook where they incessantly babble in short sentences without real content. Personally, I still blog, but adhere to the 'Slow-Blogging' movement and only hope onto Facebook or Twitter if I really have too.
At a glance, the numbers show that traffic to the blog has stayed generally constant even as the blog authors (i.e., us) have been spending more time over in the so-called social media.
If anything, I think that activity on FB and Twitter has great potential to drive more traffic to the blog—maybe even a lot more.
My pist was meant as a serious question, and I'm glad to see people's responses. I know that I spend a lot more time checking into FB and twitter, and I wondered how much of a trend that really was.
It's interesting that traffic has stayed mostly the same here, even though we don't post much (lately.) I know Jim's blog is always up-to-date and is one of the places I regularly check in on.
Bill - I've found that using Twitter to automatically post links to new blog posts generally brings in about 50 or so extra hits. I haven't automated that function to Facebook, but when I have something I think people would enjoy, I post a link over there and that usually brings in some extra viewers as well. So I think you're right that, at least in some cases, Twitter/FB can increase the blog traffic.
I still prefer blogs, thank you. I can't figure out how to twitter - I don't carry that type phone and I can't figure out Facebook and frankly, I don't want to. I'm not into other people's lives and I'm too private a person for anything but my own blog. Keep posting on your blog, please!
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