“Blogs are dead.”
I know what people who write that with the headline mean, which is mainly that the vibe has shifted away from blogs.
It makes sense to me; social platforms are incentivized to keep people in the platform, so any content linking outwards—to, say, a blog—will not be boosted organically by the algorithm. Platforms are now powerful enough to do this in a major way. Even publications now have to write threads on Twitter, rather than just a short punchy headline and linking back to their article.
All that being said, blogs are alive and very, very, very well.
There’ll always be people like me, who blog because we love it. The interface of social media just isn’t really for me, I don’t love the instant feedback, and I just want to write and publish. I also like the idea of a place that can keep my library online so long as I keep paying hosting bills, and that Google might crawl and send people my way when they might find what I’ve written useful.
From a corporate or commercial perspective, I’ve also noticed a couple of interesting developments. First, that Stripe acquired Works in Progress. And before that, Digital Ocean bought Scotch.io. I’m itching to dive into how these publications are going, both purchased for different reasons I’m sure, but still providing enough value for an innovative company to acquire.
In an age of shortcuts, instant audiences, and virality, sometimes doing things the long way is enough to give yourself an advantage. For me, blogging every day is one of those things. It might be for you too.