What is the future of blogging?
Living in the 21st century, blogs are an fundamental part of online culture today. Everyone from tweens to old folks read blogs now, whether they are related to news, topic of interest or entertainment, everyone probably could name one favourite blog of theirs. But it was not always so. Only 20 years ago, the term blog was coined as the abbreviation of weblog. Ever since then, the "blogosphere" rose rapidly and has really taken off in the past 5-10 years as a vital part of the online culture. I'm pretty sure almost everyone has created a blog or personal online diary of their own professing their deepest secrets while keeping it private from the world. I can surely say that I'm guilty of creating at least 3 blogs like that only to forget my password and left it there to rot. *oops*
However, with the latest sites and social applications like Instagram and Snapchat stories, everyone can easily produce content in the palm of their hands leaving blogs as just a side kick of our online persona. Even I myself have a personal blog but I usually share my life events on Facebook and Instagram, making my blog just a another portion of my online figure. I find it way more convenient for me to share my daily life events through these platforms because I can send a clear and short message to my followers and it would be seen when they open these social apps. These apps also has private messaging features which strengthens the engagement with my followers as well. As to blogs, even if I share my posts, not everyone may click in it to read as most people generally want to just look at pictures and are usually lazy to digest so much content. Also, I may only gain views gradually when people search for something similar to my blog postings which then takes time. A good example is I've had a blog post where I got around 200 views when I first posted it, but after leaving it for around six months, the view count rose to 2,000 views!
Vlogs has also taken on a significant part in the "blogosphere" as people nowadays tend to strive for information the quickest and most efficient way possible. With vlogs, there's no need to read and digest content on learing how to make something or cook a dish as they can easily just watch the tutorial while multitasking. Vlogging also allows viewers to live in the moment with their idolized public figures, giving them the sense of interaction and personal engagement as though their idols are really talking to them. Something traditional blogging may not be able to captivate readers as much as vlogging would.
However, blogging is not a fad that would just fade by tomorrow. I still believe blogging is here to stay for the long run. Take Tumblr for example, many people share their opinions on the platform and everyone is allowed to simply hop on to the thread, continue reblogging and interacting with other users. Until now, Tumblr is still very popular among the millennials and I personally think its going to stay that way for some time. Blogging is probably the future for certain forms of discussions, such as political views, social issues and food reviews as these require in depth written content. Something best done in a form of a detailed blog post than can easily be looked back again compared to a facebook post or an instagram caption. I also believe that there still will be bloggers 10 years from now, sharing their life findings and interests as a hobby like what I do as well.
In my opinion, I think that blogs are the future in certain aspects but it has to come with a package and social media applications would complete the icing on the cake.
