Video-based content has taken over. Blogs seem to be the remnants of a by-gone age of the internet. Does anyone truly use these platforms for anything more than platforms upon which to build a website?
Even social networks use to be about sharing content in a mostly text-based form. I even remember when sharing links was the “new” thing on facebook. and when status updates became just a thing to publish under your profile name instead of a message than came after “User Name is…”
Notes came and went, sending emails to friends became tedious, sending messages became too long-winded against recording a message. Voice messages went from a few seconds to several minutes in length – what’s wrong with calling if you have than much to say?
Not all of it is bad though. Sharing pictures to represent your mood, or show what you’re doing or where you are is wonderful. Typing paragraphs of text for someone to read is condensed to something to be heard while cooking.
But content… Books became audio, articles became 2 minute video reviews, news roundups needed more videos to drive people to read the articles featured.
Does anyone read anymore? Does anyone take the time to read? Is a blog even relevant or is just something left over from the days of MSN Spaces – the same period that MSN Messenger was more relevant than Skype (before Microsoft bought that too) – and should the blog-format be a thing reserved in it’s “higher” form of news articles?
Even sharing posts now seemingly requires images. How many are ignored just because the picture isn’t eye-catching or the info-graphic isn’t interesting enough? Blogs, scientific and technical journals, art publications, even video games now require someone to present a spoken-word format. Podcasts are pointless without a radio or a video to present them and publicise their existence. Then, when there are too many, notifications help us see one source of content over another. Notifications are pooled into a single provider, which can only present them all as long as there aren’t too many notifications. Notifications need to be more engaging, providers give preference to engagement and the cycle repeats.
So are blogs even relevant?