Every now and then I take a moment to wonder why I still blog so regularly. It feels like a dying medium as everyone shifts to other platforms. In terms of medium to long form content, our socially-oriented communication environment skews in favor of social media platforms versus standalone blogs and websites. I'm more likely to get more eyeballs in a lengthy Twitter thread versus a blog post - and it always amuses me how Twitter has found new relevance in longer threads instead of its original claim to be a micro-blogging platform. I could get more attention through a Facebook Note as the platform naturally favors content hosted directly there, but I didn't want a repeat of Multiply where my hosted content there eventually had to be migrated when the platform shut down.
These days when people ask me why I blog, my standard reply reflects my current outlook - that I blog for myself and I try not to care about readership. Part of me will naturally hope that someone out there still reads what I publish online, but the rest of me is very guarded and skeptical about this fact. I concede that people are more than happy to get their content fix through more convenient channels that don''t force them to go to another site and that's just the way things are. And I still refuse to align my review blog to have a narrower focus in order to pander more to advertisers or other companies who might support me with freebies or whatnot.
But I don't see a need to stop anytime soon and I'll keep going for as long as the blogs still matter to me. It would be nice to know if friends or even strangers still take the time to read what I have to say but it's a little daunting to venture into the deafening silence of the web at large, so I'll let sleeping dogs lie for now.
And I'll keep writing.
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