Blogging, a Dying Art Form?

Blogs were originally a place for personal thoughts, akin to
diaries or journals, used to record daily activities and memoirs. Today people
blog for a number of other reasons including: business, advertising, and news
journalism. Blogs are a hub of information, a place to inform readers and share
opinions. They create a sense of community by providing a platform for social
interaction. Blogs have certainly made their mark on the digital world, but
with the popularity of micro blogging services like Twitter, it has raised the
question of whether traditional blogs are becoming outdated?

It could be argued that blogging will soon appear on the
list of dying art forms, which already includes letters and books, replaced by
email and digital tablets. Even newspapers are struggling to survive and are
beginning to rely heavily on their websites to keep them afloat. In a world
where there are constant developments in technology, it seems that even  digital platforms are easily replaced.
Blogging may have taken a back seat, whilst social media websites have
continued to thrive and develop, but can these short forms of communication
really replace the rich, quality content that blogs provide?

Many bloggers would argue that their input is still relevant
to the digital world. If you take fashion blogs for example, these are
certainly still seen as valuable, or why else would PRs and brands be so keen
for bloggers to review their latest collections and be pictured wearing their
clothes? High street retailer River Island has even gone as far as designing a
collection for Autumn / Winter ’12 called ‘Blogger,’ which is inspired by what
they have seen ‘every day’ women wearing on their fashion blogs. This shows
that bloggers must have some influence over their readers, or brands would
simply stick to traditional methods like celebrity endorsement.

It must be questioned whether blogs made up of researched
ideas and quality content, can really be replaced by micro blogs consisting of
text restricted to under 140 characters? Micro blogging lacks quality,
substance and content. Anyone can post a tweet giving their opinion, but not
everyone has the skills to produce a well-researched, organised, quality piece
of text. Blogging has evolved so that, not only does it focus on content, but
is a tool used by businesses to improve their SEO, or Search Engine
Optimisation. Business blog posts often include relevant keywords which link to
their ecommerce websites which are then picked up by search engines that will rank
them accordingly with respect to the particular subject. There is clearly still
a place for blogs in the digital world. They are a stand-a-lone medium, but
should not compete against micro blogging, as their users do not have the same
goal.

The power to influence of social media websites like
Facebook, Twitter, and even new comers like Pinterest, cannot be ignored.  They provide quick social interaction,
something which is unique to the digital world. When it comes to customer
service, social media is second to none. Although blogs were originally thought
of as platforms for customer service, they are clearly outdone by social media
websites, as they provide a place for instantaneous replies. More and more
businesses use their social media accounts to interact with customers,
answering their questions and sorting out any issues within minutes.

Blogging and micro blogging both have their advantages and
perhaps should be treated as collaborative entities, rather than as separates.
It is evident that micro blogging is in fact simply a new development that has
grown from traditional blogging, combining elements of social media
interaction.

Businesses are encouraged to produce blog posts as they are
a great addition to ecommerce websites, and communicate more information about
a company. However not all businesses have the time, skills or ideas to put
into blogging and have therefore moved onto focusing solely on micro blogging
and social media. In order to create and fulfil a successful marketing
strategy, whether you are promoting a business or yourself as an individual, a
combination of blogging, micro blogging and social media will stand you in good
ground for creating a positive online presence. Rather than debating whether
blogging is a dying art, in the presence of micro blogging, perhaps we should
be questioning which medium is best for the message we want to deliver.

This article reflects the opinion of the author only. If you have any comments or feedback, drop us a line at [email protected].