4 Trends That Has Replaced Blogging – Blogging Still Relevant?

 

 

 

 

1) SOCIAL MEDIA

Who has not heard of Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn in this digital age? While some people may see the rise of social media as the end of blogging, but I have a different view. People no longer dedicate a specific time slot to write a full-length “daily report” of their lives; They spend several quick minutes throughout the day to share short posts on social media.

That is exactly what I think social media is, casual microblogging in other words. Nope, I don’t think this is a bad direction, and the ability to quickly connect with friends all over the world is more than welcomed – This is something that the traditional blogs cannot do.

 

2) PHOTOS, IMAGES, AND IDEA SHARING.

So what happens when cameras become very accessible to the young ones? Instagram and Pinterest. People start to take selfies, wefie, groupies, and foodies. Well, not everyone is good with words, so a picture does speak a thousand words after all.

 

3) VLOGGING

Once upon a time, taking videos is a huge task that requires an expensive video camera, long rolls of film, and a whole production team. Today, anyone with a smartphone can do it. This accessibility to technology has led to the birth of another form of blogging – Video blogging, or more commonly known as vlogging. Well, even though I sometimes think certain vloggers are overly dramatic, vlogging is still more entertaining than blogging.

 

4) MICROBLOGGING & SOCIAL BLOGGING

In this age of information overload, it is easy to see why people still blog – but very much in an “alternate way” of sharing short posts and pictures publically. Check out Tumblr and Medium if you want to experience social blogging.

 

 

 

NOT QUITE THE SAME

The spotlight has moved away from blogging, but that does not mean blogging is entirely dead. Blogs will still have a special place, just like how traditional media like the newspaper is still alive and kicking. Back in the 2000s, blogging was a lot simpler without any social media and videos. The community was also a lot less demanding with the type of contents that bloggers create. Today, things are a lot more competitive, and the market is over-saturated with tons of media.

So yes, traditional blogging is dead in the fashion that people would rather spend time on social media, and not read the “dear diary” that other people wrote. But at the same time, new technologies have also given birth to a new breed of bloggers called “influencers”; Blogging is still relevant, but it is less writing in the “dear diary” style. It is more about publishing “polished content” that people are interested in.

 

BLOGS WILL REMAIN RELEVANT, JUST LOOK AT THE BIG BOYS.

The bottom line is, humans have been writing and reading for thousands of years, and that is not going to change until some mad scientists discover how we can communicate telepathically. So before that, as long as people continue to read, blogs that offer great value will continue to thrive. Just in case you have not noticed, a lot of the “big boys” in the industry have a blog:

• Walmart Today
• Coca-Cola Unbottled
• Oh My Disney
• Yes, even YouTube Engineers has their own YouTube Developer’s Blog.

Ever wonder why these big companies still run a blog and have dedicated teams to keep them updated with beefy contents? The answer is simple – Because blogs are still rocking it. If blogs are truly dead, then companies won’t even bother to spend money on it.

 

 

LET’S SEE SOME STATISTICS

Still skeptical about the survival of blogs? Well, let Google Trends show you the numbers on the interest in the keyword “blogging”:

Oops, that is an expected downhill trend with the social media storm taking over. But also think twice, Google Trends is showing the number of people who are searching for the keyword “blogging”, which should already be common knowledge. Let us do a more detailed search on the “start blogging” keywords instead. Now, this should paint a better picture, aye?

Yep, it is not as wild as before, but that will hopefully show you that plenty of people are still interested in blogging. If you are still not convinced, here is another one for “how to start a blog for free”, and “how to start a WordPress blog”:

If you are still not convinced, do a search for keywords like “Tumblr blog”, “Livejournal blog”, “how to blog”, and even “free blog sites”. My point being, if you combine all of the search volumes of all these terms together, you will realize that the tsunami called “blogging” is not going to suddenly go flat anytime soon.

 

 

 

MORE TYPES OF CONTENTS & MEDIA

The grandmother Internet age of “text only” is over. Images, photos, podcasts, vlogs, virtual reality, augmented reality, memes, animated GIFs… The future of blogging lies in adopting various kinds of media to create interesting contents.

 

COMBINING THE POWER OF SOCIAL MEDIA – WILL IT NOT TAKE OVER?

Social media will continue to be a huge influence on bloggers, but it is ultimately not the same as blogging – There are various restrictions on the post length, the types of media you can use, the lifetime of a post, and most importantly, who owns the posts that you make on social media?

A blog is still the best place to house your prized valuable content. You write good solid articles, and those will be your intellectual property on your own personal blog; Social media is a part of the promotion game, but it will never become your “personal dear diary”.

 

BLOGGING WILL REMAIN REWARDING

Despite the bleak outlook of a saturated market, blogging can still be very rewarding – Especially when you offer good insights on niche topics. When I first started blogging, it was out of interest in photography. I kind of used the blog to keep notes for myself, and little did I know, it turned out to be an interesting way to learn new things and make money along the way.

As the wealth of information grew on my photography blog, search engines began to reward it by sending free readers to those tips and tutorial articles. Of course, I took the opportunity to put advertisements on my blog. Viola, that is how I turned my hobby into a source of online income.

Although it might become more difficult as time passes but I don’t see this trend changing in the near future. If “blogger and social media influencer” rings a bell for you – Then feel free to pick up the challenge.

 

PAINFUL LAWS

Laws in the U.S. require bloggers and vloggers to disclose affiliate links upfront. Laws in Europe require websites to inform users that your website uses cookies. Aye, the Internet may be a grey zone, but every region will have its own set of laws… Some of them are good, but the law bug will only become “increasingly painful” in the future.

 

WILL BLOGS EVENTUALLY DIE?

Media is forever changing. From cave paintings to writing on paper, to publishing prints, to online websites, blogs, podcasts, social media, photo sharing, video sharing, virtual reality, and whatever comes next. Traditional blogs will undoubtedly face the same fate of becoming obsolete in the passage of time, without any doubts.

But the catch is – The practice of blogging will change, and not truly die. Even now, blogs are no longer “just text” – People have adopted podcasts, vlogs, social media, memes, and animated GIFs. So my personal take is no, blogging will not completely disappear from the surface of Earth. Although the traditional “text-only” way of blogging will become a thing of the past.

 

 

 

LINKS & REFERENCES

• Is Blogging Finally Dead? – Blog Tyrant
• Is Blogging Still Important? – The Muse
• Blogging Still Worth It? – business2community.com