Someone the other day complimented me on the amount of time I have been blogging. He or she (I honestly cannot remember who it was, so I’ll apologise now for my lousy memory) said that they were always saddened by the amount of folks who started blogging, but could not keep up with it.
I had not noticed. But after he or she mentioned it, I began to look out for folks whose blogs I read to see who was still blogging and who wasn’t. They were right. Some bloggers had just stopped writing and others posted one last entry to their blog. The last entries are apologies to their followers for stopping.
I guess that I am not really surprised to see a constant fluctuation of bloggers. A lot of people only start a blog as some sort of time filler. There are several reasons to blog, not least of which (according to the pundits who claim to know) because it looks good on a CV (curriculum vitae or resume stateside) and “everyone” who is “successful” in business blogs.
I guess I’ve either missed it or maybe I read the wrong circles because I’ve never read a blog by Bill Gates or even Donald Trump. Please don’t hesitate to tell me if I am wrong. I would not want to “short change” Bill or Don.
Blogging is for the most part a recent phenomenon. The word weblog did not even exist before 1997. In 1998 there were only a handful and some researcher’s say there were only about 23 listed. *figures courtesy of Yahoo answers*
The blogging website Blogger was born in 1999 and quickly became a hit with users of the net. Blogger was being used at an astronomical rate with over 300 blogs a day being created on the new site. By 2002 blogger had over 100,000 users. *Yahoo answers*
WordPress sprang into existence on March 27, 2003. As of December 2011 the application had been downloaded 65 million times. *Wikipedia*
So despite the fact that blogging is a recent development it appears to be extremely popular and in all likely hood is here to stay. Of course the “face” of blogging is constantly changing. I am referring to the written blog versus the video blog (or vlog as it is more commonly known).
Blogging is of course not just for individuals to write movie reviews or book reviews or to share recipes. It is also used as a sales platform. I am sure that there are a lot of people who rely on blogs that deal with retail or product information. I don’t read sales blogs, but I may need to one day.
It would be interesting to see just how many bloggers are of the long distance variety. I still consider myself a “noob” in the world of blogging and I’ve been posting since November 2011. I was a very haphazard blogger in the beginning. It was only after I’d been injured at work and had a lot of time off that I started posting on a regular basis.
I did not know anything about how the whole thing worked and I am still learning new things daily. One thing I had to learn was regulation. It was not unusual for me to do several posts a day. That has now evened out to about 1.5 posts a day. So I am “almost” blogging on a daily basis.
But a lot of folks only post once a week or less. These are the blogs that I would have pictured as long-lasting. But the amount of posts or the frequency does not seem to make a difference to the ratio of long-term bloggers.
I do know of at least a few other bloggers like myself who have a lot to say (or write) and they show no signs of stopping. Others are frustrated authors or are writers who are submitting their work for publication and are waiting for their big break. Some are just getting published but want to write more than a novel or a collection of short stories. They want to communicate.
I can’t help but wonder if the blogging craze will “bottom out.” Is it just a current fad? Will there be a gradual decline in the number of blogs available? Or will there be a winnowing out of the less than erudite and entertaining blogs. I would like to have a look into a crystal ball and see if in ten years time I will still be blogging.
I’d like to think my blog will still be around. It will change I am sure, but that is the natural progression of anything we do over time. I would like to think that I can still be entertaining and thought-provoking in the years to come.
And if I am, I hope that you are still here to read my posts friends and neighbours. Because without you I would be “whistling in the wind” or worse, I would be typing to myself instead of just talking to myself.
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I like to think that it’s part of that “I have to be creative” thing. It is for me anyway…I think. LOL Still, *raising metaphorical glass* here’s to both of us still blogging years to come. 😀
I blogged for about three years before I stopped last time – I had also had three blogs (one about my life, one with movie reviews and one with short stories and poetry). I didn’t have a particular reason for stopping, I think it was just something I didn’t need anymore at the time. It’s all very personal I think and not really something statistics can make sense of but that’s just my take. I think it’ll still be around in the future in some form because I think people like having the ability to meet and talk with others all around the world but maybe that’s just me being idealistic with my “we’re all just humans” way. 😉
Hey! Thanks for the ping back! Cheers mate! 😀
Yeah, staying motivated is a tough one for sure. I try to give myself a break (taking the odd day off) because when I’m “on fire” I can sometimes post up to three a day. Thanks for sharing!! 😀
I also began blogging in 2007. I didn´t begin with any real intentions other than to find a place to store what I was writing while I worked on getting published in a magazine. Still trying to work on my skill set and success seems a long way off but blogging is kind of fun in itself. I understand people who give it up though as I have had periods when I haven´t touched the site because I felt so demotivated.
😀
Welcome!
May I also say thank you for following my little blog. I have returned the favour, I need all the help I can get in the photography department! 😀
First of all, thank you very kindly for stopping and commenting on my little blog. Having never really spent a lot of time on forums, I can only imagine the vitriol that must be bandied about. Like you, I would rather communicate in a more positive manner. Of course not all my blog posts are stunningly positive, but they are my opinion and not open to full scale debate. I am not retired (but I’m darned close) but I applaud your efforts and hope that you continue to enjoy the blogging experience for a long time.
Cheers mate!! 😀
I’ve only been blogging since August of 2012. I migrated to blogging because forums were full of destructive people who posted things they’d never say to your face, not and remain conscious anyway.
As a photographer for 42 years, I love to teach how to appreciate the world around me and share that world. My home in the Pacific Northwest is a photographer’s dream. Now retired, I can devote most of my time to perfecting my art and teaching others to do the same. Blogging gives me control over the environment I’ve created to display my pictures as well as my likes and dislikes in movies, books & music. I love to share a good thing.
I also have become an avid follower of 5-10 bloggers. That’s about the number I can follow on a daily basis and respond to their comments. I’ve signed off of all forums and now just enjoy my blog and a handful of others. – Bob
ALL stealing most appreciated! 😀
Well said! Thanks for stopping by and reading, sharing and most of all following. Cheers mate!
Very interesting observations. I for one, have been blogging since November 2007, and don’t think I want to stop. There have been at least two instances when I had decided to stop blogging, once because I was being stalked, and then again, because I was in shock due to a personal problem.. but end of day, one returns, because blogging has the power to heal. It connects you to like-minded people and there is a rapport that develops and makes you a responsible blogger… You care for your readers and respect the time they spend on your blog.
You are one of many who turned to blogging while looking for work in an attempt to keep sane. You’ve done well to keep it up after starting work again. Keep up the good blogging man! 😀
I’m like the White Rabbit in Disney’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’; “So much to do and little time to do it”!
I was unemployed up until a few month’s ago and started blogging at the suggestion of my Wife to keep my mind active and to give me some “occupation” in my day-to-day life after redundancy. It worked wonders mand through that time out of work I posted 2/3 times a week.
As you know – I secured new employment 4 months ago and my blogging frequency has direct correlation to my working life – the more hours I do at work, the less I blog.
I have decided to keep blogging though – I’ll find the time when I can – and I value the small-ish community I have become a part of since I began; at the very least I keep visiting my reader and being active even if I can’t find the time to write a full post!
Am sure you’ll be around for a while, whether we like it or not haha 😀
Personally i blog my reviews because i thought it would be fun and it was, started just a couple of days after my birthday and have been doing it ever since. Only time i will stop is if i dont have fun with it anymore 😀
Of course when I read the phrase ‘what a wonderful world’ I think of the legendary Louis Armstrong aka Sactchmo and I smile. I love that song…Oh and I’m glad that someone else has noticed the lack of “important” people blogging! lol Cheers mate!! 😀
Hey, Mike!! Thanks, first of all, for the little backgrounder on blogs. I vaguely recollect when very important people said they had found a new outlet to express their very important thoughts that were not being covered by the mainstream media. I remember receiving a note in the TV Newsroom chiding me for not doing stories about very important blogs. I think I felt a chip growing on my shoulder. Fast forward to today. I am thrilled My Wife, Marilyn, has found — in blogging — an outlet for her creative writing and her thoughts on all things, great and small. I am also happy to have met folks like you who I now consider friends although we’ve never met in person. It’s a bonus because I am not what you’d call a very sociable guy. I look forward to reading your blogs every day. Some days I realize that several hours have sped by as I read the blogs from you and other folks. I still have not read those very important blogs from those very important people. Now, I pause a moment before going on to the next blog. My hearings aids just beeped reminding me it is time to change batteries. What a wonderful world, oh yeahhhh!!
Thanks mate!! I do appreciate the re-blogging that you do of my little scribbles! It is most appreciated. You have an incredibly busy life from what I’ve seen so far, so I’m amazed that you have the time to do a blog. Thank goodness you do, it would get awful lonely out here otherwise!! Cheers mate!! 😀
I hope so! It would be awfully lonely out here in blog-land if other good folks like yourself were to stop! Keep those reviews a going!! Cheers mate!
Cheers mate!
I’ve also seen a lot of bloggers who stopped doing it, which is a shame, but I do understand their reasons. Personally I think blogs will be around for a long while and I know mine will be 🙂
I find that more and more, I have to rely on reblogging others … like you … because I simply can’t give all my time to blogging. It’s not that I don’t have enough to say. Anyone who know me is aware that running our of words is not my problem nor is ever likely to be … but the time to turn it into readable prose requires a lot more time than most people imagine and I have other committments I can’t ignore forever. So I need you to keep writing … you and others who have unique perspectives on the world … who say things that I would say had I thought of them. Keep on keeping on!
Reblogged this on Serendipity and commented:
And then there are those of us who love it, but discover the amount of time involved virtually precludes all other activities, so we steal YOUR stuff 🙂 With appropriate attribution, of course!
Well I, for one, am happy for your blog! I’ve had fun chatting about, well, just about everything. Lol Movies, games, urban exploring, quorn, the misadventures of your youth xD, etc, etc. I hope you don’t stop. Not only do you write for you blog consistently, unlike many as you’ve said, but you write them all well. Your posts have always made interesting reads, Mike! 😀