Is Blogging Dead?

Are we even allowed to use the 'd' word any more? I'm going with "Is blogging dead?" for SEO reasons, because I don't think people will be googling "did blogging unalive itself?" yet. I guess they could go with: "Is blogging cancelled?" But, I don't think blogging is problematic enough to get cancelled. It's probably just no longer getting the hype, because Gen Z doesn't rate it. 

If something's removed from the internet now, it's usually because it's either problematic or cringe. 

It isn't problematic, so I guess blogging is now cringe. 

This is glorious. This is spectacular. It is fan-frigging-tastic. It means that blogging is no longer cool. If it isn't cool, Gen Z will ignore it. If Gen Z ignores it, we can have a blogosphere renaissance. 

Of course, those members of Gen Z who give zero fox about being on trend are also welcome to the party. However, anyone who only likes things because everyone else likes things won't even know there is a party. This works for me. I am suspicious of any club that would have me as a member, and any party to which I receive an invitation.

I invented this space (first blog in 1999. I was one of the first 23 people in the world to blog), and if it's once again becoming an underground club of nerdish glee, I'm ready to resume the party. 

Why Is Now The Moment To Blog?

1. When everyone else zigs: zag. It's important to keep up with trends, so that you know what to ignore. If everyone's thinking the same, most people aren't thinking.
   
   Observe.
   Contemplate.
   Make your own decision.
   

   If you do what everyone else is doing, you're a commodity with a limited lifespan, not an asset. You won't have longevity unless you create assets, and become an asset.

   On TikTok? You must be hotter than a 19-year-old dancer, to pull in a significant following. The moment you lose that USP to a new hot teen, your audience is gone too.
   
   If you're creating any other kind of content, your market is not focused on it, because the algorithm is set up for dopamine hits, not focus.
   
   I went there before the marketers did. Researched it for a year, and made friends with a bunch of TikTok people. I then closed my account. I have no intention of reopening it. The boom for marketers is exactly as I predicted. What is happening to their brains will also be in line with my predictions, but not for me. I'm not playing that game. 
   
   On YouTube or Instagram? You're owned by the platforms. On any social network, your account could be closed down without warning at any time. All your work, gone. 
   
   
2. Less competition. Everyone's shut down their blogs, so there's no competition for keywords. The few people blogging now will gradually sneak up through the search engines. None of this is microwave activity. That's for the fast food networks. This is slow cooker world. Time-biding. Creating the nutritious signature dish of your brand, with hand selected produce. You're not in competition for scrolls and swipes. The eyes that land here are more deliberate. 
   
   
3. You own your work. If I post my ideas on TikTok, then TikTok owns my ideas. Other people repurpose them. My work isn't attributed to me. If I post it here, there's a big old copyright statement at the foot of every page. Nobody can close down my blog. I own and host it. My podcast is also duplicated here. So, even if Spotify, Apple, Google, and all the other podcasty places were to ban my podcast, I would still own it, and it would still be hosted here. Nothing would be lost. 
   
   
4. I'm building assets. Social media posts are commodities with a limited shelf life. They are not evergreen content. Stack assets:
   
   1. Blog
   2. Self-hosted podcast
   3. Email list
   4. Self-branded courses and books
      
      The value of assets goes up over time. You can always repurpose content. Random social media posts, though? They go missing. They're only relevant for 24 hours in most cases.
      
      Your life, though, is a precious asset that cannot be replaced. Every tweet or TikTok twerk takes time you'll never get back, and the posts vanish. But what you put on your blog goes into the Internet Archive. That's legacy. 
      
      

My current plan is to post regular blogs and blogcasts here. I know that it's unlikely I'll get comments, and it may be a bit of a lonely endeavour for a minute or so, but it was a ghost town back in 1999 too, until it wasn't. 

My hot take isn't hot. It's warmer than room temperature, but not hot enough to hurt your tongue. Like a cup of afternoon tea. My take is that fame is not the game. Fame's cringe. You don't want to be the popular kid. Be the nerd. The popular kids end up in rehab. The nerds end up running the world. 

Don't be tactical: be strategic. The right path for you is the one you define. If it's cringe, let it be cringe. If it's problematic, let it be problematic. The rarest substance right now is authenticity. Let society cancel whatever it likes, but don't self-cancel. Being one of the crowd is instant self-cancellation. As the meme says: Don't try to fit in. You've seen Tetris. When you try to fit in, you disappear. 

Stay weird, my eccentric friend,

Rebecca. 

P.S. If the pandemic got your knickers in a knot, I have a free book for you. Life happens, and we all need a fresh start at times. Click on the puppy to get it.