Or take the Marketing unit which this blog represents an assessment piece, I am motivated to post regular because it means marks at the end of the day, but what happens when the unit is finished. I would like to keep posting, but there be that essential top of mind motivation to post new entries? It's the unknown, that's for sure.
This has implications for organisations running their own blogs as well. For the blog to be value-adding to the brand, blogs need to be kept up to date with interesting and relevant posts, with a healthy amount of two way communication between the organisation and consumers, predominately through the traditional method of comments and replies. All too often, like people, the campaign or strategy the blog was set up for, is completed and the posts stop. But the best corporate blogs are one where consumers can log on everyday and see something interesting and new about the brand or things relevant to the brand, so they are encouraged to engage with it.
Maybe the era of blogs has come and gone, and the era of micro-blogs like Twitter or Tumblr is here. These have more regular and shorter posts, sometimes specialising in multimedia like Instagram with photos. These are less time consuming for the writers as they can post interesting things as they see them instantly and quickly, and readers can quickly gather if it is something worth following or subscribing to.
Are blogs still relevant? Comment below people of the internets.
I think blogs are definitely relevant (says this person who doesn't upload everyday). It is true that maintaining a blog is probably the hardest part about running one, as it is essentially an online newspaper column. The difference is that, often, columns are paid and only weekly, whereas the immediacy of the internet demands daily posts for any form of blog to be successful.
ReplyDeleteThe true issue with running a blog is finding a niche that people will be interested in. This has to be both original, accessible, and current, meaning that every day you don't post is another day closer to the death of your blog.
Then again, I can't talk. As someone who is trying to run an online portfolio, I know just how hard it is to blog everyday. Which is why I don't, and why my blog is, in essence, a failure.
The difference with microblogs is that often they aren't full of original material, rather a platform to promote your own work, or indeed blog, from.
What if the motivation for ongoing blogging is a reputation that will land you a dream job? What if the motivation is ongoing learning and dialogue with interesting people? What if the motivation is to crystallise your thoughts via the process of reflective writing? What if the motivation is to simply have fun? What if...?
ReplyDeleteI'll be watching this blog over the coming years... it will be interesting to see if it continues! ;)
To answer your question, its rather subjective.
ReplyDeleteTo me, I would say it would relevant cause one day I know i'll probably view it as a reflective piece.
But I think the true issue with any site is that once it becomes mainstream, its too hard to sort through the clutter. No matter how many people you follow, there is only so much you can take in.
Wags; a question for you, if you weren't marketing the electronic marketing blogs, would you even read some of the posts?
Personally, every blog I have started I've given up pretty quickly after the novelty wore off. Even my Twitter and Tumblr accounts have lost their magic. As Thiha said, both networks seemed to change to some degree once they became mainstream and popular. Although it's probably something to do with my short attention span..
ReplyDelete