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Blogging is hard. I've always known that. You have to really love it in order to keep up with it. I've loved using my blog to discuss reading and writing in depth, but now I'm noticing a new trend. The blogging world is quickly becoming less active. Blogs are becoming inactive, readers aren't pouring over sites like they used to, and it seems like gaining followers is harder than ever.I follow a lot of different blogs. Some are by well-known authors who have thousands of followers. Even last year it seemed like with every post they would get fifty comments. Now they're lucky if they get fifteen. It's not that their posts aren't as high quality or that their blogs have changed, they just aren't being read anymore.
So where is everyone? Are there just too many blogs right now? I feel like I get a lot more interaction from readers and writers on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. What do you think? Is the blogging world going downhill?
Good question Heather.
ReplyDeleteI read a lot - a few books a month, news and magazine articles, and a few blogs. I think that there needs to be a blog organizer because with so many of them trying to get your attention, it becomes unmanageable. I only read this because of a twitter post and had some free time.
Mark,
DeleteThanks for your input. I think you're absolutely right. There is too much competing for your attention, and it's out of control. There are a few sites that organize blog content, but they're just not big enough yet.
I'm still trying to get a handle on the blog world, but you're right, it does seem like places like twitter, and FB are more active. I'm still trying to figure out how to use FB as an author--it's probably my most-preferred social media, but finding people to friend and keep track of has proved difficult.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I found an organizing blog that, in the three weeks I've been following it, has gained over 2,000 followers. It started at 19,000 and is now over 21. So maybe it's just genre?
Jessica,
DeleteYou're right. Facebook is a great social media tool for authors, but I have a hard time knowing how much promotion is okay before your friends get annoyed. That's really interesting about that organizing blog. That makes me think that self-help blogs are a lot more popular right now than reading/writing blogs.
I agree there is a shift to twitter and facebook and bloggins is less popular than it once was.
ReplyDeleteKathy,
DeleteYes, and it makes me sad. But I am happy to see that your blog is still doing well!
I think that, as both a reader and a writer, blogging takes an extra level of commitment. Reading a blog requires a writer to do more than a few sentences spouting off on Facebook and Twitter. There is design and promotion and all that to consider.
ReplyDeleteBut, too, we're asking readers to display an extra level commitment as well. It requires them to click out to another page, follow it in some way if they want to return. Posts tend to be longer than a Facebook post, so the blog world also requires them to commit a few extra minutes of time.
And, in a world that revolves around 140 character tweets and short paragraph (at best) FB statuses... I think that honestly our attention spans are just getting shorter and shorter.
Jo
In Which We Start Anew
Jo,
DeleteYou're right, it takes a lot of commitment to have a successful blog, or even to just keep posting. We've trained ourselves to read a paragraph on FB or Twitter and be done. I'll always read blogs because I appreciate the writing, and I don't want to get to the point where I can only read a sentence or two before I have to move on. I'm hoping others feel the same way.
Having read over my comment, I am impressed with your ability to decipher completely illegible phrasing. LOL I hate it when my brain goes faster than my fingers... I end up with parts of three different phrases in one sentence!
DeleteThere are just so many blogs out there. I do my best to follow a bunch, and I try to keep my own blog up to date. It is hard to gain followers. It has been a slow, but steady process.
ReplyDeleteDorine,
DeleteYou're doing something right because you have a great following! But I agree, there are so many blogs, it's just too much. I've heard of so many bloggers who have hung up their hats, and it's unsettling. Not that change is always bad, it's just hard to know how much time to put into blogging.