- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Featured Post
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Since my return to blogging on a daily basis, I've noticed a severe downturn in the total number of visitors to my blog. Now, some of that can certainly be attributed to my relatively low output for the second half of May (and much of June) but it still seems like viewers aren't as present as they used to be.
My question for open discussion is: Is Blogging on Life Support?
With all of the various social media outlets available to us, is blogging simply too slow?
It takes me 3 seconds to send a tweet, but even a semi-decent blog post will take at least 10-15 minutes. Much more if I want to scan cards and edit the scans.
However, I'm not convinced that it is the writing of blogs that is dying. After all, we have a ton of great baseball card bloggers out there who churn out quality, interesting posts on a weekly (or even daily) basis.
No, I'm wondering if it is the reading of blogs that is dying. Are people more prone to the quick and dirty tweet? The 5 seconds to read something that's limited by a character count versus the 5 minutes it might take to read a decently long blog post?
I'm not sure I have any answers here...but it's food for thought I'd love to hear what you think.
My question for open discussion is: Is Blogging on Life Support?
With all of the various social media outlets available to us, is blogging simply too slow?
It takes me 3 seconds to send a tweet, but even a semi-decent blog post will take at least 10-15 minutes. Much more if I want to scan cards and edit the scans.
However, I'm not convinced that it is the writing of blogs that is dying. After all, we have a ton of great baseball card bloggers out there who churn out quality, interesting posts on a weekly (or even daily) basis.
No, I'm wondering if it is the reading of blogs that is dying. Are people more prone to the quick and dirty tweet? The 5 seconds to read something that's limited by a character count versus the 5 minutes it might take to read a decently long blog post?
I'm not sure I have any answers here...but it's food for thought I'd love to hear what you think.
Comments
I still enjoy reading blogs, especially yours. I wonder if this downturn is normal for summertime?
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if your readers are the same as mine, but on my blog readership plummets on weekends and holidays. And given that we're now in the midst of summer where it's one big long weekend/holiday for many, it makes sense that readership dips. At least for me anyway.
ReplyDeleteIv'e noticed a migration to Twitter for sure-most notably Wes, Kin, and now Matt/Bob Walk The Plank. There are still a lot of regular bloggers around-and commenters. I've been very pleased with the amount of comments on my Sports Card Tour series.
ReplyDeleteHopefully the decreased interest in blogging is only temporary, or seasonal as Matt and ZZ have suggested. I don't see myself ever going to social media; I love long-form writing too much to give it up.
I tend to agree with the others...summer is a slower time for readership, as is the end of the year. As for the move to Twitter, blogging may losing some heavy hitters because of the time commitment to putting together a post. With Twitter you just need a thought...but to me that's not as interesting as reading someone's post. Keep up the great work!
ReplyDeleteI blog for myself more than readers but I've noticed that my viewing stats have been declining and that on some posts I can have more "likes" (I'm on Wordpress) than views. I can't help but wonder if viewing in an app doesn't trigger the counter the way that viewing in a browser does.
ReplyDeleteVery good questions. I've always been a reader at heart, as I was reading the baseball card blogs for about two full years before I actually started mine. Personally, I have not been blogging as much the last year, but probably reading about the same as I always have.
ReplyDeleteMy readership numbers have been down, but I figured that was due to the infrequency in which I post. Perhaps it's because of a summer lull?
Twitter. Today's culture is largely built around convenience and saving time and Twitter is certainly gaining popularity among the card collecting world. It's also a great way to get quick reactions and commentary. Lately, Blogger has stopped sending e-mail notifications to me when a comment is left on a post... quite frustrating. I either have to check my posts on a consistent basis or just don't worry about it. Twitter's notification system is top notch.
No, I haven't noticed any readership dips.
ReplyDeleteThe migration of bloggers to Twitter has been happening for years. Yet there are as many bloggers as ever. I happen to think that blogging is the "more intelligent" medium and it's disappointing that several smart bloggers ditched their blogs a few years ago, it's made for a less interesting experience on the blogs for me, both in blog content and conversations in the comments. But that isn't anything new.
What is new is Blogger's issues of late. No more email notifications on comments. The search function is all screwy lately. If anything is being left for dead, it's Blogger's maintenance.
Although I do not have a blog of my own, I do read quite a few on a daily basis or as the various writers have a new post up. There are many great blogs and I look forward to reading the blogs.
ReplyDeleteI have a Christmas music blog, not a baseball card blog, and I've run or overseen other websites in the past. My personal experience has been this: it can take a while to build a regular readership. Readership will grow and your readers will check in frequently. The growth will continue so long as you are providing frequent updates--especially if you are providing interesting information that can't be found elsewhere. Reading your blog or site becomes a habit for the reader. But... take an extended break (or, if the frequency of new posts drops significantly) and you will lose much of your readership and you might never get them back, even if you return to a frequent posting schedule. That's just the way it is. Readers establish new reading habits and do not return to the old ones. There are blogs I used to check daily that I now check maybe once a year, if that. Once the habit is gone, its gone. Best advice is to post for your own head and don't worry about who or how many are reading.
ReplyDeleteOn Blogger (never used the platform myself), I'm told that, if you remove your email for notification of comments (and perhaps some other of the information you've previously provided as well) and then re-enter THE SAME information, the notifications will start up again (possibly preceded by a "do you wish to subscribe" email). When they updated something in the system, it rendered all the notification emails as inactive or something, so you have to act as though you're providing updated info, even if the info is the same as it ever was. Hope that makes sense. As I say, I've never used Blogger.
(Not to hijack Nachos' thread, but...) For anyone who is interested, I have a downloadable Christmas music collection up at my site right now for Christmas In July. It's not like Bing or Elvis or anything. Probably most of it you never heard before, Cross genres, mostly pop flavored. If you read the post, you'll catch the drift. Just throwing it out there for anyone who cares.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.stubbyschristmas.com/home/christmas-present-in-july
Will have to check it out. Love me some Christmas and Christmas tunes
DeleteI'm old school (or just old); I don't do Twitter or really any social media, so it's blogs for me. Still hoping to get my own blog going this year.
ReplyDeleteBTW, Stubby's blog is a fine resource and I've discovered a lot of good, free holiday music from it over the years.
I feel like my readership has taken a dip the last month or two. My contests have as well in terms of view and entrants. Not sure why. It kind of makes you want to take a step back but I have been posting daily for 6 years now. Not sure if I can do that. I think that's why I am never satisfied with things, I see a dip, I make some changes. I will be making some more soon.
ReplyDeleteInteresting comments from everyone. Like some of you said, I definitely blog for myself as much as anything (as evidenced by my ongoing Barry Larkin Collection posts that only the most die-hard Reds/Larkin fans care about). Still, it is a bummer to see the overall numbers on the blog plummet and I was curious to see if it was a "me" thing or a general trend across the blog-o-sphere.
ReplyDeleteI've seen my numbers dip some too. Wasn't sure if it was a trend or just my posts aren't as good. Some of my regular series that do well stayed up, so I figured it was content.
ReplyDeleteI have no plans to join any social media any time soon, so my stuff will be blog exclusive.
I've also noticed views and comments are down. None of my posts from June have hit 100 views yet. I even put up a rare baseball themed post and didn't even crack 40 views in the week it's been up. I don't know if it's due to Twitter, which I have and hate, of if it's just the general malaise running amuk in the hobby right now, brought on by poor designs, small sets and exclusive licenses.
ReplyDeleteI have been pretty busy in real life over the last few months, and my writing, reading, and commenting has declined as a result.
ReplyDeleteDespite me taking another unintended and extended break from publishing posts on my blog, I am still an active reader. I've taken some other things to the Twitter-verse, but at this point in my blogging career, my lack of posts has little to do with lack of comments or declines in viewership numbers. I'm honestly experiencing what feels like collecting ADD. That's not to make light of anyone actually afflicted, but my focus has truly been all over the place lately and I am trying to devise a plan to somewhat cohesively share my new additions. I can say that while I certainly appreciate anyone that takes the time to read(and leave a comment), I still feel the want to write about the goings on in my neck of the hobby.
ReplyDeleteI still read through my blogroll as well, but I do think Twitter is definitely a reason for feeling less urgency to read through blogs because it's so easy to quickly show off a card, make a trade, post tradebait, and have quick conversations that the comments section wouldn't allow you to have. I wonder how your trade stacks would do with a quick Twitter post.
ReplyDeleteI also don't trust blogger's analytics at all. They never seem to match up to Google Analytics even though both are owned by Google. To me, Google is just letting Blogger die without giving any attention to it, making proper updates, or making ANY improvements at all.
Thanks for the Blogger notification fix, Stubby! I wondered why it suddenly stopped.
ReplyDeleteCompared to 5 years ago... my number of views per post have dropped significantly (by 100 to 150 views). However it's been pretty stable the past year or so.
ReplyDelete