I fought it – I even ridiculed people like +Paul Allen for moving towards it (for that I apologize). However, I think I’m whooped. My page views are down. Comments and engagement on the blog itself are lower than ever. Looking over other blogs I manage, some with even more frequent content than my own, I’m seeing similar. As sad as I am to see it, I think blogging really is dying. It’s a really tough way to make a living, and will become even more difficult in the future, in favor of more traditional news sites and people able to share and post personal opinion on social networks such as Google+, Facebook, and Twitter.
Does that mean that personal opinion and citizen journalism is dead? Does that mean that sharing is dead? Does that mean engagement is dead? In fact, it’s even greater than ever. I always preach to use the best tool for the job. The fact is, sites like Google+, Twitter, and Facebook, as well as bookmarking and sharing sites such as Pinterest allow us to share, and engage in ways we never have before! I’m seeing greater engagement than I ever have on my blog. I’m seeing more shares than ever before. My audiences have skyrocketed on social networks! All this while, despite at least weekly posts on my blog, my audience and engagement there has diminished to almost nothing.
Does this mean I’ll kill my blog? Of course not – it just means I have to adapt its focus. I have to make it more focused around the social network. I still argue you still need a home base. It does mean I likely won’t make much money off advertising like you used to be able to on a blog. It does mean it will be used more and more as a source for SEO, and helping people find interesting and useful content on search engines (which, in and of themselves are using social networks more and more to find content). It means you’ll see more howto articles and content-focused posts than breaking news. It means my blog is now becoming an extension of the social networks, and not vice versa.
I predict in the future blogging will be back in a more social form. Right now, traditional blogging is dying, and having fought this for years now as the subject continues to be brought up, I’m finally seeing what the other bloggers out there are seeing. That means something coming from me. Am I sad? Of course. That said, there is tremendous opportunity out there as we move forward. We just need to figure out what that is – I don’t know right now.
I can’t wait to figure out a solution that can bring it back into a modern state. How do you think blogging should evolve?
(Expect a future post from me on potential solutions for this problem, and where I see blogging still working really well, and where it won’t work – stay tuned)
Discover more from Stay N Alive
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Google dropping “Friend Connect” from non Blogger sites probably didn't help viewer counts I bet.
Excellent insight, as always.
It's probably an accident that I happened to see this piece on Facebook before I saw it in my Google Reader feeds. But (as I mentioned there) it does lead to a different way of thinking – rather than considering a Facebook page or a Google+ page as an outpost to your blog, perhaps it should be the other way around.
The one thing I've noticed – if someone does choose to comment on a blog, those comments stand out. But who sees them?
I agree that earning a living with a regularly engaged subscriber base is becoming exceedingly difficult, unless you have huge numbers following your blog. However, as you stated, it can be done with how-to and tidbits of interesting information others are seeking. Search is the gift that keeps on giving, but the gift of audiences following blogs is indeed dwindling.
It also depends on the topic of your blog. Technology is one of the most competitive blogging topics, making it a very tough nut to crack. Social networking, although a bit more niche within technology, is still extremely competitive. It is easier to compete in niche markets with fewer competitors, although markets with few competitors are becoming fewer.
You're right about the importance of adaptation as the Internet world evolves. Those who are able to adapt will still make good livings. Hopefully, the blogs that never should have existed in the first place will be the ones to die. How many articles have you seen on the importance of social media? Ninety-nine percent of those articles are worthless and the other one percent was lucky enough to be first. Blogging needs to change, because the field is cluttered with folks who simply don't have any real value to add to the Internet's collection of knowledge. Thanks for your insight!
My pleasure Doug!