Blogging is dead. Long live the blog!

by

rsz_screen_shot_2015-05-03_at_52933_am

Last week I had a secret meeting jetted off for a short trip.

The plan was to: go, meetmeetmeet, sleep, return.

What’s not included above?

Hint: it rhymes with SLOGGING.

A touch of social media exhaustion coupled with choosing to live & not blog about life resulted in my decision to leave the laptop home.

The trip was fantastic. The trip was pretty damn enlightening. The trip wasn’t complete without my taking an hour a day to write.

I knew this about my blogging-self (Blog, why cain’t I quit you?), yet being away from the manufactured pressure of “I have to” gave me the perspective I needed to consider:

Is blogging a dead medium?

My answer remains NO.

Here’s why:

 

 

  • Writers write. They may also Tweet, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, but mostly we write. Carefully crafted sentences. Plural. Many of them. We need it to survive as our heads are filled with words begging to be set free. I hear bloggers lament they love blogging, but loathe writing. I always encourage them to find the medium which resonates with them. I like vlogging just fine. I love the written word.

 

  • Blogging is my therapy. I don’t lifecast, but by the time I share thoughts with you (family yoga to meditation) Ive spent considerable time working through the topic at hand. My blog posts are intended as a launching pad for the (therapeutic) discussion & normalizing you share in the comments. Without one there could be no other.

A friend who works in publishing remarked:

I miss the days when blogs were lower-case b, when someone could quietly blog and if others were charmed they could read it and if not then not. Now blogs are vehicles for platforms and topics.

Initially reaction was

Wait, in order to get our books published the industry demands platforms & hooks!

My next thought, however, was:

That’s it. The charm can feel forced for page views & uniques. For the most part it seems the was blogging began, without a constant barrage of sponsored posts and ‘click to tweet’ is dead.

Now you.

  • Do you believe blogging is shifting?
  • Are comments DEAD & likes or shares the new blog currency?
  • Do you loathe blogging from the ipad as I do?

POSTS BY EMAIL

Never miss a post. Enter your email to get my latest posts delivered to your inbox.

Comments

  1. I definitely think liking and sharing are become more importnat but I hope that commenting never totally dies…I find value in comments but in today’s world more people can be touched or moved by what we write through sharing and liking than commenting…which is a GOOD THING!

    I recently did tihs same thing (left Chrome Book at home on family trip) and felt weird not writing though it did feel great to be 100% present!

  2. I think a part of blogging is dead. It’s definitely an industry at times that’s all about the likes and shares. But when you have a genuine, I’m putting my thoughts, feelings, emotions out there post, it’s so not dead.

  3. I almost started blogging last year and then I read some blogs first.
    I like the recipe bloggers, but I want to share stories and those do not seem popular any more.

  4. I’d not considered it this way before and I think you’re right.
    I’d say likes and shares and pinning are the new currency of comment.

  5. I can ONLY blog from my laptop. I write. Blogging is alive and well!…although click to tweet may be dead… 🙂

  6. Blogging has definitely shifted. Not enough story telling anymore IMO. And oh gosh please no iPad blogging. Can’t. Just can’t.

  8. Yessss! I agree! This is actually the reason runners connect brought me on as the community manager. I love that we can ramble and let our thoughts flow, because it makes you real. I love that you do not have a word count limit to be a good post, and most of all, I love that we can write from the heart. You are so good at it, and so good at these posts that remind us all what really matters!

  9. I don’t have an iPad and blogging is one thing I don’t do from my phone. I blog because I love to write and have words spilling out of my head. As a blog reader I still enjoy reading someone’s stories although I don’t much care about their run-of-the-mill weekend update unless I know them personally–or have gotten to know them through blogging.

  10. haha…my blog still is that charming little blog that people go to because they like it. I keep working to make it a platform but it ends up just being a platform for the totality of me; writer, artists, generalists, curious human, pontificator, slightly strange me. Maybe I will make serious cash from it some day but I hope then it’s still at least a little charming!

  11. Not dead. But evolving. The evergreen content is and will always be in the storytelling.

  12. YES YES YES! i agree with everything – especially Writing is living memoir. I NEED to print some of my posts!!!!!! (namely, baby william posts!)

  13. I come at this from the perspective of a PR professional and I agree.
    We need more story telling when bloggers fulfill sponsored post requirements and fewer bullet points.
    IMHO.

  14. I started blogging 3 years ago and sometimes I feel like I was just a tad late to the party to be successful. But then I think, what is success? Do I share my thoughts through the written word and do people respond? Yes. Sometimes does it even change them? Yes. And does it always change me? Heck, yes. So I guess I am a success. I’m currently on a “stats fast” for one solid week. No checking how the darn thing is doing. Because I’m linking views and shares to who I am as a writer and that’s not healthy. For any of us. Great post!

  15. The struggle is real!! I struggle with this a lot lately especially in the last year where I feel the pressure to create a platform and to post things that will be pinned/tweeted/shared. All the while, the words are backing up in my head. I’ve still been writing but in a less public manner at least initially until I can get them into a more public forum 🙂

  16. I can only blog from my phone. On the train. Anything else is torture! I edit pics and stuff on the lap top but the words must come from my brain with music pumping in ears.

    I don’t think blogging is dead. I think it’s shifting. I think what we used to know is fading….quickly.

  17. The timing couldn’t be more fitting for me on this one. I have seen a drop in engagement on my blog lately, yet my share rates are skyrocketing. I find that I miss the engagement–I prefer it. And I wonder if the shift isn’t with my own shift in style (more click to tweet posts, etc). I’m feeling at a crossroads in terms of where to go with it.

  18. I think it is alive and well but definitely shifting. My favorite bloggers are the storytellers and I hope they never stop sharing. Oh and I cannot blog from an iPad – tried it once and about pulled my hair out!

  19. I’m too new to blogging, and reading blogs, I think to see the shift, but I don’t think it has to die as long as people are still putting real thoughts and feelings out there (maybe not every post, but enough!) Communicating ideas and sharing experiences is my favorite part of blogging.

  20. I think blogging can be whatever you make it. If someone wants to continue blogging for themselves, then blogging isn’t dead. But I too miss the days when we. Read the blogs we wanted because we were charmed by them. Now a lot of it feels forced, and I’ve been there too. But I always come back to why I started my blog, and it wasn’t for anyone but me.

  21. I am not sure that I could blog from a mobile device, I would just get too frustrated. But then I’m torn when I want to be on the go yet still be connected. I haven’t found a way to do that yet. This blog life is all consuming and while I love it (need it?) it does get tiresome somedays. I just need to find a happy medium between posting and making it a platform for something more.

  22. i feel like blogging is still alive, just changed.. or there is more “types” of blogging. Which is why i read yours, to learn, to be inspired. It’s like my daily devotional. xxoo

  23. i have a lot of thoughts on the topic of blogging. even tho I don’t write long “journalog”-type posts much, I still consider myself having been a blogger since 2000. that’s forever in internet years, right?! I volunteered and then worked for a then-big blogging company in the 2000s, and so I know that shapes my perspective.

    I think blogging has shifted, not died. when I started, there was no commenting. we shifted our topics when commenting became an option because we no longer had to make posts that were reactions to our friend’s posts. Now, my Instagram posts are just as VALID as my original blog posts – describing what’s going on with pics and words – so I use some code to pull those recent posts into my blog homepage. So that’s how I think of all of my phases of blogging personally: documenting my life. sure, my archives aren’t as nicely condensed into a single site because of that, but I also have the benefit of private blogging because I choose to use Facebook at times for talking to specific audiences. that’s still documenting my life, it’s just spread out.

    And on my iPad, I use blogsy. I get frustrating not being able to add in tags within my posts otherwise (that’s my coding background showing) and this gives me an html view as well as the main view. it did take some getting used to to really appreciate typing on my iPad – with fibro, it has allowed me to write posts even while bed-bound… in the years before I had a laptop as an option 🙂

    boy, I wrote a book. but this was good stuff and it made me think, thanks 🙂

  24. You put it all so well.

    I miss the old days too. But even if everything hadn’t changed and I hadn’t discovered how much I suck at feeding all the different social media “must-do” channels, I’m discovering there’s a blogging energy that ebbs and flows. Right now… ebbing fast for me, alas. I want to hole up and write fiction and be a social media hermit and stop giving a shit about page rank and unique visitors and all that stuff. Which may mean by the time I have something I want people to read, I won’t have any ability to get the word out.

    The whole Platform Thing drives me nuts. I can either (a) have a platform or (b) have something to use the platform for, but I can’t seem to do both at once!

  25. I definitely think blogging has shifted and a few months back, I found myself acutely aware of what I was publishing. These days, I try to limit the “10 Tips To….” posts in favor of stuff like I did today. I guess I prefer character to pageviews 🙂

  26. I have never tried blogging on a tablet, a phone or even a laptop. I love my desktop with all its bookmarks to creative commons, bitly, and such. And I have a place to set out materials. Added bonus? My desk is in the kitchen. Or is that a liability? Hmm. My waistline might have that answer. But seriously, I sometimes try to adapt my blogging to the zeitgeist, but mainly I shift blogging to adapt to my needs. If I get readers. Great. If I don’t. That’s OK. Keep rocking your fabulous B(b)logging self, Carla.

  27. I end up sharing a bunch of different topics on my blog, but the ones closest to home are the emotionally sincere ones about struggles I have been through or achievements I have reached. Everyone is fallible and I don’t think enough people touch on that. It’s about presenting a happy facade where everything is right with the world and I just can’t subscribe to that. While some of my posts might be more lighthearted recaps, my favorites are always where I speak from the heart.

  28. That’s it. The charm can feel forced for page views & uniques. – YES!!! I keep bookmarking posts on how to increase readership & all that. I get emails all the time about how low I rank… I care but not care. I care cause I am working on things that need viewership, but I hate the forced!

    Now you.

    Do you believe blogging is shifting? YES

    Are comments DEAD & likes or shares the new blog currency? I feel it is more about likes & shares vs. comments & I am not even close to how long you have been at this!

    Do you loathe blogging from the ipad as I do? I hate doing everything but Instagram from a phone! 🙂 I do answer emails sometimes though cause I like the emoticons! 🙂

    Where did you go???? I am so off here a lot that I missed it!

  29. I believe blogging is dead. However, I also believe that MY BLOG IS A ZOMBIE THAT WILL EAT YOUR BRAINS IF IT CATCHES YOU! BEWARE, MY BLOG!

  30. I love your post!
    I’ve had my blog for 5 years. Most of the time, I love it. I hope blogging isn’t dead. From time to time, I get overwhelmed by all that’s involved as a blogger on social media. So I take a few days off. It’s so liberating.

  32. Well, for starters, GUATEMALA. I love Guatemala. Would love to hear more about your experience (guess I might be able to find that in your living memoir of a blog, huh?
    Do you believe blogging is shifting? – YES. It’s used for so many different reasons – personal memoir (like you said), flexing the writing muscle (my main goal), and sharing about products via sponsored opportunities (which I enjoy but am still finding my groove with).
    Are comments DEAD & likes or shares the new blog currency? I seriously hope not. I have made some INCREDIBLE friends via comments. Likes and shares are not the same.
    Do you loathe blogging from the ipad as I do? Don’t have an iPad so can’t say! 🙂

  33. Blogging has definitely changed. It used to be about the story.. and the carefully crafted words. It had little or nothing to do with earning an income (unless you were Dooced). Now it’s all about being a platform for corporate sponsorship. Something to hang your tag line on while you build your brand on other sites.

    This spreading of the brand has led to comments often disappearing. It’s more important to engage on their FB page, like their InstaGram, retweet their tweet of the blog… Personally, I find it all diluting the focus. The disappearance of good blog readers is another sign that blogging is changing or disappearing.

    I miss the stories. The well-crafted tale of a life. And this is one of a half-dozen blogs I know that still gets comments.

  34. I only add to my blog when I want to document a feeling/experience. It’s on WORD first and printed up so I can give it to someone if I need/want to. I prefer journaling-pen in hand on a blank page. I don’t care of anyone reads it as I am just writing for myself-but thanks for visiting!

  35. Yes, I think blogging is shifting/evolving. When I first started, I didn’t read any blogs…I just needed a place to be me. Then I found all sorts of amazing blogs and discovered the community! Then it became a platform, then my energy around it wonked because I decided to start a business…and now I am getting back to my original reasons, which you summed up like this:

    “Writing is living memoir. Brevity doesn’t always rock. Writers write. Blogging is my therapy.”

  36. Shifted? Yes. Dead? Not quite yet. There are lots of big-box blogs out there, that’s for sure. I like that companies are noticing people’s wants and needs by interacting with them more via social media/blogs. However, It can be frustrating that I often find myself reading too much of companies’ needs by reading various social media/blogs. Don’t worry though – there are still lots of us little-b bloggers out there just talking/ranting/writing/photographing for anyone willing to read… but more importantly, for ourselves.

  37. Blogging has definitely changed, but it’s still growing like crazy so I don’t think it’s anywhere near dead. i still love comments and don’t get why people don’t leave them more. It’s ok to use words!

  38. Blogging has definitely changed since I started in 2007 (yikes!) – blogging used to be a personal thing – the writer shared their little corner of the world and I loved that I could read about someone’s struggles or successes and identify with them. It was almost like going to someone’s home and just having a quick chat with them before you moved on to the next home. I don’t really feel that anymore, since SO MANY of the bloggers I used to read have fallen off the radar (It’s really disconcerting not knowing what those people are doing now, since for so long I felt invested in their lives through what they shared). It really was a community where people supported and lifted each other up.

    I think what we used to know as blogging has changed. I don’t think blogging itself is dead, but I think the personal this-is-a-day-in-my-life blogging is becoming extinct. 🙁

  39. As I am writing this comment, I hope that commenting is not dead. I think that blogging has changed and is continuing to do so–there are definitely new camps of bloggers that are going only for the shares, and there are those that are still sticking to the blogging for comments and unloading their lives. I’m definitely in the second camp, but I dabble in the other from time to time.

  40. I loathe blogging on a mobile device, you aren’t alone. I think that likes and shares are the new currency it seems like there are so many mediums to read on now that visiting a page and actually commenting is “old school”

    I wish I could find that one piece of content to write that is so compelling it keeps them coming back time and time again just to see what’s new but it seems like evergreen content is old and video is new. Time will tell!

  41. Things have changed — ie. people don’t run to their favorite blogs to see what’s posted. If they see it on facebook, twitter….etc.. social media, then they come. I can’t blog on my phone or iPad — which is why I am considering getting a smaller laptop. I love writing and always will, but find it takes me so much time that sometimes sharing on social media is easier. But is easier always better? I don’t thing blogging is dead, good content and sharing will always be important.

  42. I can’t blog from anything but my Mac Air. My other devices are for Instagram, Twitter etc. I like the comments, likes, and shares. Because I would like to eventually to make some kind of a living blogging, I need the likes and shares. In fashion/style blogging they do say that blogging is over, at least the way it used to be. But are so many different kinds of blogs, I think there’s room for all. What I like to think of is: what’s next?

    Anita

  43. I don’t believe blogging is dead just like writing isn’t dead. Much like people have shifted from reading a book to reading online, I believe blogging has shifted from long blog posts to much shorter ones. Readers just don’t have the time any longer to read through long posts.

  44. While i have no clue if blogging is dead or not, i have no choice but to do it from the iPad. And i’ve had to learn to tweak what i do to make it work.

  45. it’s not dead, but changing for sure. I have stopped reading a lot of blogs that I used to because they seem to shill products too much. Not to mention they are all shilling the same products. That’s not why I read a blog.

    Mine is personal. It always has been and sometimes I get out my soap box and other times I just write about things I do. That’s why I like it. Even if no one read it, I would still write it.

  46. I absolutely need my laptop to blog. I have words in my head that need to get out and very little time to write them down. Writing is a long process for me and I envy those who seem to quickly put out eloquent posts. Anything I publish that is “real” writing takes me hours. I love it. But I hate it. I’m definitely the love HAVEN written type of person. Once I get it down, though, it’s the rewriting and editing that I really enjoy. And now I’ve gotten off topic a bit, but this was fun to comment anyway. 🙂 I do love comments!

  47. Blogging for the ipad is so annoying but sitting down to write at my computer is just what I need. Writing my blog and running saved me when I was in the depths of darkness from post partum depression. I needed to write. I needed the outlet. Now my blog has become an extension of my I love to write especially when great inspiration strikes me. My blog is not dead and I hope blogging does not die.

  48. For me, blogging is just a way to keep a written record to refer back to later. If anyone else wants to read it, awesome. Maybe someday I’ll do something to actually make my site look professional or figure out why there’s a dang line of code at the top that won’t go away, but for now, it’s for me.

    …and I will not blog unless I have access to my laptop. Or at least my tablet with the keyboard but that’s only in a pinch.

  50. Oh I love that you left the laptop home…That’s awesome! Blogging has shifted and I do think it is more about the “like” and the “shares”, but I personally love leaving comments. They become personal and knowing that people take the time to write their thoughts means a lot.

  51. I think that there are still many, many old-school bloggers out there. Perhaps because the internet has grown so much and *everybody* has a web page, it may seem like blogging has changed just because there are so many other types of pages out there. Diluted as it were.
    And where did you go? I just can’t find it in my memory if you told me…

  52. I cannot compose a post unless I am sitting in front of my own computer. That’s the only way. And I do NOT think that blogging is dead. Like you said, there are still writers out there that have a lot to share and say (like me), and there are stories too in depth to write out on Instagram below a photo. Long live the blog! It may change, but it’s not going anywhere! I hope!

  54. I’m with you blogging is my therapy and my memoir– but I do get exhausted and need to take time off. It’s not the writing so much as all of the other stuff.. social media, up keep, reading, commenting. I can become depressed if I don’t take extended breaks from all of that and yet you feel like if you step away for one moment you’ll loose everything. It’s really a very strange and slightly unhealthy isn’t it?

  55. I don’t like blogging from any device other than my laptop. I LOVE that you said blogging is memoir. Memoir is my favorite genre and I’ve been starting to dive into writing about experiences in my life in somewhat of a literary way. I hope blogging isn’t dead because I love blogging.

  56. I love blogging so much more than twitter:)
    I haven’t been blogging lately and have missed it a LOT!!!!

  57. blogging on the ipad – dislike
    commenting – like
    blogs in general – LUV

    as a new blogger but a longtime blog reader, i certainly see a shift but not necessarily a bad one. just more more more for people. something for everyone. actually it’s more like 10,245 things for each person. spoiled with choices. shiny things all over. squirrel!

  58. I’m the same Carla. I’ve been struggling a little with my blog recently – in terms of writing about more personal stuff. But, when there’s something I want to say, I’m glad I have the forum / medium on which to say it!

    And I’m writing little else, so blogging is still my major source of writing and therefore creativity!

    Long live the blog…

  59. Nice post!

    I think blogging, just like anything else on the internet, is evolving. I don’t think it’s dead, it’s just changing. As with any change, we can either adapt or fall behind.

    I don’t enjoy blogging on the iPad. It doesn’t work well with WordPress.

  60. I think you answered your own question, Carla. It always amazes me how many comments you get on your posts, but it’s because of your innate ability to tell stories AND get people to think.
    Story-telling is an art, and why most of us turned to blogging in the first place. We seek validation of our stories, whether that is through comments or shares. I feel grateful for any engagement in a world where we are bombarded with stories.
    Thank you for always keeping it real!

  61. Well, it has certainly changed. I gripe sometimes that I miss the days when I could just *write* instead of spending an hour creating graphics for each post and then working it into my social media and worrying about traffic.

    But that just means that blogging, which I love, is become more respectable, and I’m okay with that.

  62. Yes, I so agree with what you said: blogging is my therapy. Without it, I’d go nuts. I need to write on a daily basis.

  63. I agree! There is a lot of pressure these days to have a blog that’s a business. But, I blog because I like to write. It’s fun. And that’s enough 🙂 If it grows, AWESOME. But I like the relaxed feeling of blogging to blog.

  64. Great post! I HATE blogging from the IPad. I definitely think that there is space for blogging to grow and change, just like everything else. Writing /blogging is my therapy and I love having an outlet to share the things that are going on in my life.

  65. I will admit that I do get slacking sometimes when I get so wrapped up in posting shorts on the other social media, but YES – we love to WRITE!! And 140 characters and a quick pic doesn’t always do that justice.

    I find that my blog is also a chronicle of where I was, and where I am. I like to relive my moments through my words and even though it’s not always super personal things, it is a diary look into my life of all sorts of emotions.

    I do see a decrease in my own postings since I can do a lot of things without writing novels, but love when I can hone back in on my blog and just write!

  66. Blogging has definitely changed. I still enjoy it and will keep on keeping on until I don’t enjoy it or no one reads me. 😉

    I HATE iPad and iPhone for blogging. I want to like it. The software is getting better, but…

Trackbacks

  5. […] for Thought: Why I’m Still Not Lovin’ McDonald’s via Real Mom Nutrition Blogging is Dead. Long Live the Blog! via Carla Birnberg Is Decision Fatigue Limiting Your Results via Run to the […]

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This