I’ve had a blog of some sort for fiver years, give or take. My initial reason for starting my first blog was nothing as arrogant as believing people would want to hear what I had to say, nor did I think I really had anything profound that the world just needed to hear. I actually did it for much purer reasons.
I find funny, strange, inspiring, etc, stuff on the web all the time that I think might be funny to share. You’ve known at least one person that absolutely cannot stop passing on everything that comes through their email. I like to share stuff that might make people smile, but I don’t want to shove it down their throat and clog up their email, so I started a blog to post all that stuff. I figured, if you want to see it, you know where to find it. You can send the link to your friends and these days you can even post it directly to your Facebook, Twitter, Digg, etc, account with just a click of the mouse.
Others find a topic or subject matter for their blog and stick to it. These are often the ones that attract the most loyal followers because they know what to expect and are interested in the subject matter or the presentation. I read numerous blogs of fellow Christians that have great articles and stories that inspire, uplift, guide, and motivate. Several have had and article written just when I needed to hear it.
When blogging first became popular it seemed half of America started a blog. But over the last year I have notice that many of the ones I used to follow regularly have stopped updating. Many more are still updated, but not for months at a time. There will be a post stating how the author has neglected the blog for too long and is finally getting back to it. Then a few months later, another post on the same thing.
Anyone who has ever tried blogging knows how much work and time really goes into it. If you are writing your own content, it can take quite some time to think of topics, write articles, add pictures, post, edit, and so forth. Even if you just add finny stuff you find/are emailed, it takes time to create posts, tags, upload, and publish.
As I see the numbers of blog posts dwindling, I began to wonder if the practice of blogging is dying. After all, who has that much time to regularly devote to managing a blog? Then it occurred to me that blogs may be getting killed. What’s faster than blogging but still lets you post your every thought, funny picture, and video? Micro-blogging!
Social media has changed the blogging landscape because it is fast and easy to update your status or post a picture from anywhere. Its certainly easier to write 140 characters from your phone than it is to find time to write a 500 word article. Rather than uploading a picture somewhere and then putting that into a blog post, its MUCH easier to snap a picture with your cell phone and email it directly to Facebook. And your stuff is more likely to be seen by a greater number of people because it will be right in front of a person when they log into their account.
I don’t think blogging is dying. Perhaps finding a natural state of equilibrium is more like it. Once the newness has worn off, many dropped out leaving the more dedicated bloggers to continue. Those with a message will continue to write while those who just wanted to post pictures and short memos will most likely stick to social media (not that they are mutually exclusive).
Have you ever started a blog? Are you still keeping up with it? As frequently?
Okay, I broke down and got a Tumblr account. I really didn’t know much about it, except that more and more people I know were signing up. After messing around with it for a little while, I like the ease of posting things from my phone.
