Once upon a time there were blogs. Then Facebook came along and killed blogs.
That’s what it did. Many bloggers simply abandoned their blogs and jumped onto the Facebook ship. So sad, but it is easy to see why they did so. With Facebook, you get validation, lots of validation. All you need to do is publish a sentence and you can get a dozen or more comments. Thats what I call validation, chatting and true social networking.
It is much more quieter on the Blogging front now. You can write 200, 300, 400 words and get no comments at all. It is like talking to yourself. You see, after Facebook came along, all the commenters left for the Facebook ship. So poor Blog became more lonely. If you don’t like talking to yourself, you should forget Blogging and head over to the Facebook Ship. Who has the time to read 400 words? One sentence is better, much better.
If you like validation, company, chatting, socialising and networking, forget about Blogging. You will surely get disheartened.
Blogging started out as an online diary but it turned into a different animal when everyone jumped into the bandwagon. It became commercialised. Now many people blog for many reasons. As for me, it remains my little diary and if I get peanuts for writing my thoughts then it is a bonus. It is my “voice”, a place for me to talk to myself. As for comments, fewer they may be now, I’m still happy to get them or none. A little validation is good for the ego but even without it, it is therapeutic to be able to speak one’s mind “aloud” even if no one is listening. A little bit of “talking in one’s head” helps in lots of situations. 🙂
Oh no is it too late to blog?! Ya, I think there are more blogshops out there than there are real blogs. Don’t worry, freshies like me will comment :D. I treat my blog the same too – as a place to get free therapy and to be able to look back at days gone by. Do continue blogging, coz I like to read you-la!
Haha. No, its never too late. Do you know that the very first two people I started blogging with? One went on to become an active political journalist and the other wrote and published a book? Amazing isn’t it?
Hi MG, you are right re blogs as personal dairies versus FB. I will read a personal blog anytime and yours is one of them these days. FB is only good if your circle of friends are real friends or family whom you share with. Else it is no different from texting just for the sake of texting ;P. Not much meaning in “hollow” chats or “noises” (to me anywhere) via FB or texting. Even with FB, I normally send a proper message or email the person concern as we share.
Yours is a good blog so keep blogging for yourself. Those who likes your blog(s) will keep coming back to “validate” as you are good at expressing yourself here ;). Have a good day.
Thanks for your “validation”. 🙂 I don’t have a FB account personally but the blogger MG does as I do enjoy the camaraderie with other bloggers some of whom I have known for years and better than real friends but whom I have never met. I only have one real friend who knows me personally on FB. Strange isn’t it? 😉
so true. But then like me, i kinda slow down on blogging cos i am so busy. but when i blog i share it in fb.
Sasha, same same as you know very well, the sharing blogpost on fb part, I mean. With several blogs I use fb to consolidate them. 😉
True…the reason for starting a blog has changed. Have to remember the purpose of it was as a diary for our ownself. My facebook ah….hehehe…more for games. 🙂
Like I told Adino, I dare not go near any of the games. Once I get started, habis lah so I have never tried any.
Not to mention the tons of addicting games and applications on Facebook that take up our time!
Yes, knowing how addicting they can be, I dare not even go near any of them! I spend enough time online as it is. 😛
I blog as a diary…and recently have made it a private diary with access only to family members and close friends. I like to record photos and details of what have happened so that my children can look back at it one day. One time I discovered that so many people in my husband and my company knew about the blog. I became very uncomfortable and hence have restricted access to the blog for family and close friends.
Thus i get 0 comments now..not that i have a lot to begin with last time too.
But it is ok..if you know exactly why you are blogging…it is for your ownself, not for anyone else.
Oh, knowing that so many ppl in your husband and your company is reading your blog would be uncomfortable indeed and you’d have to do some self censorship which defeats the purpose of blogging in the first place. I don’t like to post photos and like to remain anon else I too would restrict access like you. 🙂
MG, i’ll always be reading blogs, turning into blogs whenever I wanna find out more details about something, read about my friends updates and yes, like you say, blog involves a lot of the inner voice and true feeling of someone. I still love it!
Me too. 🙂
so many of my frens have left blogs to facebook. everybody is now taking pics for fb. it does get lonely blogging n there is no feedback like on my blog. but it has become a habit n i have put so much effort for so long. i just maintain it by blogging n expressing myself my one channel
Just today I read that everything on a self hosted blog belongs to you whereas on fb nothing will and never will belong to you.
http://www.problogger.net/archives/2011/04/22/why-your-self-hosted-blog-is-more-valuable-than-your-facebook-page/
It applies more for commercial blogs but still its good enough reason for me to keep my blogs. I hope that you are getting better day by day. Take care.