The New York Times has recently published an article that pointed how the number of bloggers has dropped significantly due to social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. This raises an important question: is blogging still relevant?
With so much emphasis on conversation, blogging may seem like a waste of time. Audiences are looking for faster ways to obtain information and may be more interested in reading a single tweet about a news update than a lengthy blog. However, it’s important to remember that blogging is still an integral part of having an online presence and plays a major role in our day-to-day lives.
The article points out a decrease in the number of bloggers, but doesn’t answer the question about the number of blog readers who are still actively engaging and getting information from their favorite blogs. Gossip (Who doesn’t love Perez) and celebrity photo blogs still provide people with real time updates on the latest celebrity news by the hour. Fashion and design blogs continue to build and spread trends. Similarly, tech blogs are still popular for tech reviews and news.
The importance of blogs is that it gives readers a personalized view of a topic they care about – whether it is fashion, design, cooking or technology – and provides bloggers and readers with a platform to exchange opinions and gather lengthier information.
Though the number of bloggers is dwindling, it doesn’t necessarily mean the death of blogging. It simply means blogs are evolving just as social media platforms continue to evolve as well. People may not maintain steady personal blogs with long articles about their daily lives, but the rising popularity of platforms such as Tumblr show that people are still using blogs to express themselves – they’re just expressing themselves in a more concise manner with fewer sentences or images.
As social media platforms continue to evolve and expand, it’s easy to consider letting go of certain tools in the social media mix. But blogs are still a great tool to establish conversation and deliver longer messages to readers. How are you keeping your private or corporate blogs popular and relevant.