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What happened to blogs

mpmisko.github.io

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Re: What happened to blogs

#21

Post by twelve40 »

jhbadger wrote: post #8
lcnmrn wrote: post #4

Browsers dropped RSS support, Google killed Reader and social networks are easier to use.

I really think that's the answer. Blog traffic fell off when Reader was killed and a lot of bloggers stopped blogging and moved to Twitter.

Really interesting to explore.

* Intuitively, I would argue that RSS and reader were a tiny minority for blog traffic gen. Because both were used mostly by -nerds like me- tech-inclined minority. Blogs in their heyday were way bigger than just the tech bubble.

* I would probably bet on search referrals declining. Which, over decades of professional SEO chipping away at the top keywords and the long tail, having amassed the knowledge and direct monetary motivation to displace non-SEO-professional bloggers (or most everyone else, really). So the article kind of checks out for me.

* Twitter (to me at least) always looked like a dump and a direct opposite of a thoughtful blog post, I wouldn't be surprised if it's abhorred both by bloggers and their readers. But what do i know.

* A bunch of people who really enjoy creating content probably also moved on to Youtube where it's probably easier to make money/promote your content than the present-day blogs.

Re: What happened to blogs

#22

Post by runevault »

lcnmrn wrote: post #4

Browsers dropped RSS support, Google killed Reader and social networks are easier to use.

This is purely anecdote, but outside blogs read because they are posted here, reddit, or on twitter my blog reading dropped through the floor after Reader died. I tried one of the alternatives that allowed importing reader feeds (Feedly maybe?) but for some reason it did not stick for me and I fell away from the habit.

I wonder if this helped prop up mailing lists as an alternative which in some ways is better than blogs (gives you information on how to contact your regular readers) but also if it is literally ONLY email kills discoverability of old content.

Re: What happened to blogs

#24

Post by codazoda »

mertd wrote: post #19

I don't believe the SEO blame. I think in reality microblogging won. People get the same engagement with 2% of the effort.

I recently added microblogging to my blogging routine. I just added it to my own page. I use an alias of “status [message]” and it throws it on the top of my status page (an md file) and replaces my previous status on my home page. It’s so simple it’s stupid. I don’t get bells and whistles but it frees me from the platform wars.

Re: What happened to blogs

#25

Post by twelve40 »

mertd wrote: post #19

I don't believe the SEO blame. I think in reality microblogging won. People get the same engagement with 2% of the effort.

um microblogging still looks pretty terrible for long form, not to mention hostile. If you have a story to tell it might be youtube now.

Re: What happened to blogs

#26

Post by pclmulqdq »

listenallyall wrote: post #10

Most high-quality blogs (in my observation) are/were written by people who grew up when reading an actual newspaper (or two) was an everyday part of life. You didn't have to be a professional journalist to understand how to write a good "article," since you've read thousands of them, and it was natural that is what you'd emulate in your own writing. That's simply not the default model in younger people's heads anymor…

I write a blog that I think is okay, and definitely grew up reading long-form content, but not really reading newspaper. Most of the readers I have met are 5+ years older than me, though.

Re: What happened to blogs

#27

Post by langsoul-com »

Time happened. Before, when the internet wasn't so established, it'd be easier to gain traction.

Blogs cost a large deal of time and effort. The reward used to be a decent amount of traction. These views, engagement created motivation and also would inspire others to hop on.

Since things were new, attention was more distributed, even if some blogs recieved a lot of views. It wasn't so overwhelming like today, where the top recieved virtually everything.

Because of this attention economy, now there's so many other things to do. Both for the blog writer and potential readers. With the little time people have, they'd rather be reading pgs blog like some random smuck like myself. This isn't only for blogs, it's also true of movies, people would rather watch the big ones than small or mid movies.

To write a blog, to spend so much time and effort. To pour one's soul out and have ZERO reads is brutal. Yet, a tiktok of someone farting will gain infinitely more attention than the blog article. Its not very motivatial to continue in this climate.

Re: What happened to blogs

#28

Post by renegat0x0 »

Personal sites are tagged as 'personal' in this repository.

https://github.com/rumca-js/Internet-Places-Database

The question is how do you find interesting blog in 4000 of blogs?

Some blogs are not tagged, but they are also easily found by searching 'personal site' or 'personal website' or 'personal blog'.

The blogs exist, but google has no monetary incentive to show them to you, when it can show you content farms with ads.

Re: What happened to blogs

#29

Post by tverbeure »

My long form blog posts about the obscure topics such as old test equipment, obsolete FPGA boards, or my kitchen hood controller board repair will take a couple of weeks before they show up in Google search results but eventually they always do, no SEO required. That’s good enough for me.
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