Considering social media avenues (Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr) getting attention and stories about “the death of blogging” starting about five years ago, is blogging, as the kids say, so over? (Editor’s note: The kids don’t really say that).
What blogging is has changed over time — moving from the simple logging of events to serving as an online diary to many different things — a meld of personal/professional writing, updates about a specific fandom, group blogs around a theme, and a means of reaching out to users/customers.
But many have also stopped blogging. Some blogs have stopped because of too much personal information being found out by employers or others, some due to lack of interest in the topic, some because the purpose blogging served in their lives is now filled by social media, as well as other reasons.
Perhaps the naive high point for blogging was when Mimi Smartypants got a book deal for the first couple of years of her blog. But other bloggers didn’t get similar deals (but she *is* still blogging).
And blogging is hard work. Even if one doesn’t post everyday — or week, blogs require the maintenance of new posts, through coming up with new ideas, and writing those posts. We’ve certainly struggled with keeping The Learned Fangirl on-point, relevant, and interesting over 175 posts in the past three years.
So many blogs have fallen by the wayside over the years, including some of my favorites, including Sivacracy, where Siva Vaidhyanathan described the end of his blog thusly
So why am I suspending this blog? Mainly, it’s a distraction from my day jobs. I have a massive and painful book deadline coming up. If I continued to blog daily about the election and the state of the world and everything else I would drive myself and everyone around me crazy.
Plus, this is less fun than it used to be. Back in 2004 it seemed fun. Blogs were the bomb. Now, I think my blogging voice is hoarse. And I am tired.
More recently, Bitch PhD also closed its doors. But most blogs fade away when they die, to be sucked into spambotland.
In a followup post, we’ll write about the change in the economics of blogging.
