Blogocentric Formulations

The Great Blog-Off - Prompt 1

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Prompt: What do you think about different blogging platforms? For example: your WDC blog vs. Tumblr. What are the pros and cons? What do you think about social media sites as a blogging platform (Facebook statuses could be considered mini blogs)? Tell us all about your blogging preferences and thoughts about the different ways to blog.


I think there are pros and cons to each blogging platform and use of each - as well as the severity of their strengths and weaknesses - really depends on what the blogger is trying to accomplish on a given platform. I'm also including social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. in the term "blogging platform" for the sake of simplicity and because I do see them as a valid form of blogging. If a blog is meant to be an electronic form of keeping a diary or journal, I think it absolutely counts as blogging/journaling to post to Facebook about the terrible day you had at work, or to tweet about a show you're watching on television.

Sites like Writing.com, Wordpress, and Blogger/Blogspot are advantageous for writers who are looking for an unrestrained medium in which they can express themselves. In most cases, writers can write as much or as little content as they want, and they have the basic tools necessary to format text, add images and videos, and otherwise create a fully-immersive reading/blogging experience. They have near full control over the way a user experiences their blog. The downside, however, is that the blog page is out of the mainstream conversation on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, so it can be incredibly difficult to find and attract followers at first, or to become part of a social media trend. I maintain a blog on Writing.com in order to interact with other WdC members; I don't necessarily use it as an all-inclusive communication tool for every facet of my life, and I don't feel the need to maintain one for my personal or professional life outside Writing.com.

The reason I don't maintain a personal or professional blog outside of Writing.com is because I participate in multiple social media sites, including Facebook, LinkedIn, and the micro-blogging platform of Twitter. Whether it's posting a personal update to my Facebook friends or finding a 140-character observation that I can tweet, I usually feel like I've put enough out there in the universe; to the point that I'm not compelled to maintain a longer form blog in addition to that activity. Personally, I use each blogging platform and social media site differently. There are many facets to my life, I find it easier to maintain my "professional/career" image on LinkedIn, my "personal" image on Facebook, my "writer" image on Writing.com, my "entertainment industry" image on Twitter, etc. Each platform serves its purpose in the patchwork quilt of my interests and activities, and I like keeping them separate so that each one is wholly dedicated to one area of my life without worry too much about overlap.

I have to admit that I've never ventured into Tumblr beyond checking out links other people have provided, so I signed up today to check it out specifically so I could talk about it in this blog. I have to admit, at first it seems kinda frenetic and with the mash-up of text, images, videos, etc. I feel a bit lost. I also feel a bit lost with Pinterest, but then again, I felt the same way about Twitter when I first started. Maybe it's just a matter of getting used to the format.

I think the cons of these "follower" and "friend" based social media platforms is that it often requires other people to subscribe to the same service in order to find you. Where a blog is a webpage that can always be visited by anyone with the correct URL, your tweets and status updates get lost in the perpetually-refreshing ether of a social networking site. Your voice is likely to get lost among the masses unless someone specifically connects with you. It can be a huge advantage for people who specifically want to follow you and who use the same platform, but it can be a disadvantage to those who don't know who you are yet.

If I were only interested in one thing (e.g. I only wanted to be a novelist, or only wanted to be a professional/expert at my day job), I think the most effective use of blogging platforms and social media is in concert with one another. Everything should drive readers to a central place where you provide information. So, for example, you might maintain a personal/professional blog on Writing.com, Wordpress, or Blogger where you can fully and articulately express yourself in whatever form you need. Then you have the potential of using other platforms (like Facebook and Twitter) to provide links to your blog so that users on each of those services can find your blog. An effective social media presence is about finding a home base (like a blog), and then using all the other platforms to point toward that home base.

New blogging and social media platforms are coming out all the time, and while there are some people who will jump all over everything and scatter themselves to the wind, I think the real strength in blogging comes from developing a brand or a name for yourself. Maybe you have several for each of your varied interests like I do, or maybe you maintain the same persona across all media platforms. The important thing to remember, though, is that a blogging platform is only as strong as the effort you put into it. If your passion and your talent is the written word, a photo-based blogging platform may not be worth the investment of time since it's not showcasing the abilities you want to highlight. I think your choice of blogging platform(s) should take into consideration the kind of work you want to put out there, and the ones that you'll be able to regularly maintain over an extended period of time.