The Mutation of Content
Long before blogging became a multi-billion dollar industry of influencers and content creators, blogging was nothing more than a digital diary. Blogging was first introduced in the 1990s and was widely known as a place when you shared first hand information about your life. It could include things such as pictures, links, and videos. Commonly people would update blogs daily to share with the rest of the universe what they were up to. The pioneer of blogging was a college student named Justin Hall who used his site to publish a list of things he found interesting. Some of those things ranging from links to cartoons he found interesting, all the way to him announcing he was a father. Yet, something shifted one creation...
Influencers. Conventional blogging suddenly went from posting your own webpage to social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat. In the copy of Essentials of Social Media Marketing by Michelle Cherello They state one great point "Today, readers expect bloggers to deliver content that combines storytelling, data, and interactivity." This led me to believe that maybe blogging just comes in different forms in todays era.
For example, one extremely popular trend on TikTok is called "A Day in My Life" where the content creator makes a video where they film their entire day with events such as what they wear, what they eat, where they go, what they like to do. These similar conversations happen in conventional blogging as well. We also see this on platforms like instagram where influencers and content creators post a photo with the hashtag #OOTD meaning Outfit of the Day, where they show off what they are wearing today and put hyperlinks to each item. Both of these examples are ones that we see commonly on both platforms. the hashtag OOTD has been used over 400 million times on instagram according to Meta.
I'll leave you with this question. Do you think social media platforms are the new form of blogging?
I really enjoyed your perspective on the evolution of blogging and connecting modern social media to blogs. I have OOTD and "Day in the Life" videos blowing up my TikTok and Reels feeds. I never considered how similar that was to what Justin Hall began. decades ago.
ReplyDeleteI see a lot of similarities across blogging and social media with the sharing of personal experiences, interests, and daily life. I see social media as the next stage of blogs. They deliver similar information, but the reach and accessibility social media provides is far greater than traditional blogging. This is really hit by the fact that OOTD's hashtag has been used over 400M times.