The future of blogging
I've been a bad blogger. Okay, honestly, I've been cheating on blogger -- with Facebook and Twitter. I'm such a social media whore. But I'm not the only one. I've noticed that posts on many of the blogs I follow are fewer and far between and that comments have dried up. I've gone from having a couple thousand people look at my blog each week to around 600. Meanwhile, the number of people I'm interacting with on Facebook and Twitter continues to grow.Yes, there's been some Conquering Venus overkill here, but I've also found I have less and less time to write blogs with any kind of substance. I'm working on the second novel, writing poetry, giving readings, working the day job and just finished up co-directing the Atlanta Queer Literary Festival. I'm hoping that with a little break over the holidays, I can return to more normal blogging. The question is will anybody be reading? Is blogging going the way of MySpace? Mashable posed the question in this article over the summer, which predicts blogging will, basically, adapt or die.
It's no secret that MySpace has become yesterday's news unless you're into music. I'm not sure why MySpace hasn't just switched over to an all-music platform and stopped trying to compete with Facebook. I've got two MySpace pages and I'm toying with deleting them both, since I never bother to go there. The numbers of people connecting with me through MySpace has dropped to zero. I feel like I'm wasting bandwidth. Facebook has become the portal where I do the most interaction with friends and those who have read my work.
For years -- I'm about to move into my seventh year blogging -- I was a loud proponent of regular blogging and always had a retort for those who said they didn't have time to write and blog, usually along the lines of "get better at managing your time." I apologize to all of you who received that response from me. I know better now. With changes in the economy, I'm busier than ever at my day job as an editor, I have multiple writing projects going at once, I freelance, plus I'm trying to keep the momentum going with Venus. The idea of adding "write a blog of substance" to this list makes me tired just thinking about it. That's why I -- and many others -- have turned to Facebook and Twitter. It's easy.
Twitter limits you to 140 characters, so you have to be short and to the point. If you post something of interest on Facebook -- a news item an observation about politics, for instance -- a dialogue is instantly created between you and your friends and followers. I've received more feedback on Facebook than I've ever received here, except for the Poets on Twitter posts.
So, where do I go from here? Well, early next year Modern Confessional is moving to WordPress. There will be dedicated areas for news about my novels and poetry. It will basically consolidate the three blogs I keep up now into one easy-to-navigate site. And although I planned not to blog about American Idol next year, I've changed my mind. Which means more snark and laughs for all those who follow those posts. In between the Idol posts, I hope to post more about what's going on with social media, fiction and poetry. In short, I'm going to try and be a better blogger.
In the meantime, I'll be whoring it up over at Facebook and Twitter. If you're still reading here, what are your thoughts?
Comments
a blog offers something i can't quite put my finger on that i love. it's through blogging that i've made important online connections that got my going and that sustain me.(like connecting with you)
will blogging continue? i hope so, though in a year maybe i feel differently. a year of internet time is like a dog year...a lot of things change.
Karen - Yep, we have to shameless self-promote. No one else will do it for us. :)
Ronnie Lee - MySpace killed itself with being ugly and hard to use. Facebook, while it has it's problems, is just a cleaner, richer looking experience.
In the end, I believe in quality content and that these methods of proliferation (myspace, fb, twitter, etc.) are just the spokes in the wheel - quality, insightful content has always been the hub.
Content (text, pics, video) is becoming more and more portable. How long until the spokes simply grab your content from your desktop and publish automatically saving you the time and hassle?
On with the whoring!
but the internet world is constantly in flux. I still remember spending entirely too much time watching Sean Patrick sleep. how long ago was that?
I think you'll like Wordpress. Have you looked at their magazine style templates? They're pretty nice.
I guess it's your why. I write on my blog to practice writing and it's been that way from the start. My readers come and go. I keep practicing. I don't worry so much about who is keeping score.
Besides, it's more fun for me to whore it up at home than it is sitting alone at a computer.
xo
But as to blogging vs. facebook (I don't twitter), I see them as two entirely different forms of communication/writing. Facebook is kind of like hanging out at a virtual party, whereas a blog leans more towards a hand-written letter.
Blog on!
And yet...
Yes, facebook is easier and myspace is still hard to navigate in some respects. Yes, WordPress does seem to offer interesting possibilities and I have lately been thinking it would be good to have my ridiculously proliferating blogs all in one place.
Nevertheless...
I still love the scope for creating beautiful pages on both MySpace and Blogger, even if what some people create is not to my taste.
I still like to read what my favourite writers at either place have to say, even if I don't do it as often as I once did.
And of course I'm a writer and like to indulge my wordiness. (As you see.)
So I rather hope that blogging doesn't become empty and meaningless. Shall I give in and post "notes" on facebook instead?
(We haven't mentioned LiveJournal, which I've got fond of, and which still appears to be going strong. It's like a cross between myspace and facebook, without the faults of either.)
I find Blogger very easy to use. I had a go at WordPress and didn't care for it at all, as a blogger. But a well-organised WordPress blog is a joy to use as a reader. Will you be using the free version or the other?