What Happened to Blogging?

“If you get easily offended I urge you to stop reading”

A topic I’ve been wanting to touch on for a while, “What happened to blogging?” If you started a blog in the early 2000s you were just ahead of the curve. If you started between 2011-2013 I noticed a huge boom and shift in the blogging world and community. Blogging was becoming more and more apparent, aided by having trusted web hosting similar to the service found at https://www.hostiserver.com/. Yes you would still have to explain to people why you have so many pictures of yourself and what exactly you are doing. They still would not understand but you poured your heart and soul into your little space on the internet, your blog. Fast forward to 2016-2018 and a huge shift in Instagram took over. Bloggers now are everywhere you turn. People started making this their career, especially when they start to get a large number of followers. Some people have used an instagram bot to do this. Somewhere along the way our little spaces on the internet got left behind. Here’s what I mean.

A huge rise in Instagram giveaways happened and people that started blogging yesterday went from 0 followers to 200K followers. As someone who has blogged for years this seemed really unfair. Insecurity sets in. Top bloggers with almost half a million followers started to forgo their blogs for the sake of squares on Instagram. Seriously, some of my favorite bloggers don’t even write on their blogs anymore. And here we are. It almost feels like bloggers have lost their voice. God bless if Instagram shuts down tomorrow…then what? Funny that I’m mentioning Instagram because they just made a huge change that will affect all bloggers…yet again.

Here’s my take on what has been happening.

1. As much as I love Instagram I own my blog and will never sell myself out for Instagram followers. I put a lot of work in making sure my blog is as good as I could possibly make it. For example, I spent ages looking into web hosting options. Luckily, sites like InlineHostBlogger really helped me. My blog is my baby, my blog is a huge part of where I am today. I have a voice on my blog. If I choose to get really touchy and sensitive on my blog I don’t have to worry about someone reporting me and my blog getting shut down. It’s been said before but Instagram could seriously shut down tomorrow or turn into another “Vine” and then what? No matter how many followers I gain (or lose) I know my blog’s worth. My number of Instagram followers does not define me, my work, my worth, or my business.
2. Some bloggers aren’t comfortable writing. I can’t knock people for this at all. Every blog is different and some people just use pictures to tell a story. I used to wonder/get confused when I would see blogs with only pictures and no writing. Take Blair Eadie of Atlantic Pacific. Her reasoning for this however made much more sense. She has one of the most unique style’s and honestly, she doesn’t need to tell you a story behind her photos or outfits. They truly speak for themselves. She also has evolved over the years and now incorporates more writing which I love.
3. Instagram is turning people into clones and stressing us out. I’ve seen a ton of accounts that look exactly the same. Same filter, same style, same feel, same pose…same clothes. Wasn’t the point of blogging to be different? If not, why would visitors go to your blog? Same goes for Instagram. I can’t remember who is who anymore because the content looks the same. With the algorithm changing more than I change my underwear everyone has become so strategic. When to post, when not to post, how often to post, what to post. Hash tags or no hash tags. Filter or no filter, iPhone or DSLR pic? If you’re not engaging with people then no one sees your account. It’s sooooo draining!
4. The blogging community has become super exclusive and cliquey. I hate to be negative but I’m going to say what everyone is thinking. This community was supposed to be about building each other up and helping one another. It seems as though it’s turned into (worst case scenario) a competitive cat fight. Think about how many bloggers who were once great “friends” aren’t friends anymore. Don’t even get me started on LikeToKnowIt. You work so hard to get accepted and then once you get accepted find out that you still aren’t “in”. The RewardStyle Conference (bloggers know what this is) is not open to everyone which is so not fair. Once again the same group of girls/people gets a leg up on the industry while the rest of us are left to fend for ourselves. And sadly everyone talks about the comparison game which is a really sad truth in blogging and being human in general.
5. People are all talk. If you have to tell people that you aren’t like other blogger because blah, blah and blah or how real you are while always trying to prove yourself to be real…you’re probably the fakest of them all. Sorry I didn’t come to play today.
6. At the end of the day IDGAF. <--- If you don't know what that means look it up in Urban Dictionary. Listen y'all, I have been stressing out so much on what content to post and trying to sensor myself for the sake of people not liking me but hey...I'm not everyone's cup of tea. With so much on my plate right now, this blog is and has always been my outlet. So falling behind on posting because I'm afraid what people will think or because I feel like my content isn't good enough is crap. If I need to vent and get something off my chest or go on a rant, I hope y'all will be accepting and listen first before judging. Leave a comment at the end of the post and we can definitely get a discussion going. Am I the only one feeling this way? Am I too harsh?

Y’all I apologize if this wasn’t the lightest post especially going into the weekend but I’ve been holding this in for soooo long. I understand that in life things have to evolve…but for the better. It just makes me a little sad because I wish things were the way they used to be.

Time to lighten the mood. I’ll be spending tomorrow with family for my mother-in-law to be’s birthday and Sunday doing a staycation. Look out for some fun new content coming to the blog in the next couple of weeks. Trying to get all of the content together for my “launch”. I hope you all have a fantastic weekend and please leave a comment on your thoughts to this post?

Thanks for reading!