Is Facebook Killing The Blog?

Great read! And great comments so far. I think it’s the combination of Twitter and Facebook that’s resulting to the stagnation of traffic for WordPress and Blogger. “Regular” people no longer need to really open a blog to express their thoughts. And as you pointed out, it’s much easier to manage your Twitter and Facebook accounts.

On the other hand, though, I don’t think blogs will be killed completely. Enlightened businesses (and even individuals) should understand that blogs are a better way to manage your online brand. For me, for instance, as a future professional, I can leverage my blog to ensure that I have some control over what potential employers see when they Google me. Blogs will always have a place in the digital era — at least until a more direct substitute (other than Facebook) comes along.

With Facebook’s explosive growth something has to give and it’s going to be the blogs that are going to suffer, especially since FB is trying to create a pseudo-blog environment. But those of us who have been around the block long enough know that FB’s growth will peak. Blogs will never go away but the hard core bloggers will survive, and when blogs get more socialized I can see a lot of beginners wanting to trade up to something more robust, open and secure.

Interesting perspective, but since I work in fashion I do see the growth of blogging for my category. You can’t post relevant content for fashion without a blog. You can’t write about the current trends or have longer articles or gorgeous high res photo on FB that are required for our community…I know I tried to upload a High Res large image the other day to FB and it wouldn’t go. Either way I think blogs are fantastic for certain brands and they should be used to create content that is publishable on social media. I see a lot of bloggers that use social media to drive traffic to them because without content what can you post to FB? It would get boring unless you say Ashton Kutcher and people want to see that your eating cheerios otherwise people want relevant and newsworthy and I think blogs are perfect platforms for that.

Plus large businesses bypassing the blogs are the ones that can pay FB over $100 grand to drive traffic to their pages so really why would they need the blogs when they have the cash flow?

Excellent question raised by Jeff, and an equally excellent discussion.

Our society seems to be always striving (hurtling) toward brevity, a trend that has only accelerated as we move forward, particularly in communication and entertainment. It used to take days (or more) to get a communication delivered; now it’s instantaneous. We used to write letters to each other or have meaningful discussions; now we text or email or FB each other. We used to sit through plays for entertainment; now we watch 40-second You Tube clips.

In a world where it seems we are all subject to a little ADD, Facebook and Twitter impacting blogs strikes me as inevitable. But, I tend to agree with Deana — it’s those who are on the fringe or weaker (less dedicated), which may be the reason for the WP and Blogger stagnation.

At the same time, there are still great novels being written, great essays, great documentaries and great observations…all being created by dedicated, skilled people who are committed to their craft and have more to say than what or where they are eating dinner. I have a hard time seeing Facebook kill off all those blogs many rely on for information, insights and entertainment beyond the cursory or banal (“OMG…what a cute picture of Fluffy!”). And, If FB helps scrape off those who are creating the chaff maybe we’ll all find it easier to harvest the wheat.

Thanks for a stimulating post!

Ted
@tedlsimon

Hey Jeff,

I don’t think Facebook is “killing the blog” per see. I think blogging is and individual action. Those who are into blogging and writing will take the time. Those who don’t won’t. Facebook, Twitter and Social Media only enhance a blog and help syndicate its reach across the Net.

For those who just want to share but don’t want to go through the act of blogging, both Twitter, Facebook and for that matter Tumblr and Posterous are great options for less formal sharing.

Just my take.

-Seth Goldstein
Blogger at Addicted to Social Media (a2sm.com) and SethGoldstein.Net
Creative Director at Goldstein Media LLC (goldsteinmedia.com)

I don’t believe Facebook is killing blogs for corporate brands or for anyone seeking to carve out a thought leadership position, though it has certainly given personal bloggers a much easier way to publish their opinions and ideas. I see the social networks as ways to extend the reach of your blog, not compete with it.

Thanks to Twitter, this blog post has stayed alive for five months!

It is easier to use Facebook and I get great interaction on the site to things I share. But then again, when I started a blog, I didn’t build a community on the blogosphere but just marketed it to my Facebook friends.

For branding and selling, I use my own blog, for readers and interactions, I’m on Facebook, a nice working relationship.

I don’t think that Facebook is killing blogs. At this stage they are still being used for different things. I agree with most of your points, but I also believe that if FB homepages become bombarded by too much information, people will get frustrated. The nice thing about blogs is that you voluntarily take the time to view that content. The only other place an update might come is to your inbox. On Facebook however, I can see the status updates, links, pics, etc of all of my friends. While I want to know what my friends are up to in a social way, I don’t need to see their freelance writing. Having said that I think Facebook is a fabulous place to submit one’s blog links. Why not use your existing network to generate visits after all?

I just posted an answer to this question on my blog, but whatever. I don’t see how Facebook could “kill” blogs, since :

1) Content on Facebook is usually poorer than what you can find on blogs. (How much do you actually learn from your news feed ?)
2) Facebook gives exposure, but it’s not sufficient. Reaching people on Facebook is actually harder than it seems.
3) It’s hard to build credibility through Facebook. It just doesn’t look professional.
4) Facebook still has lots of privacy issues and, well, “personal blogs” are personal. Some bloggers are not willing to risk overexposure.

Plus, blog platforms like Tumblr are more popular than ever, and blogs are becoming consistently influential, so… Yeah, I really can’t see how Facebook could “kill” blogs.

Thanks for the comment Cynthia. I totally agree with your approach and a blog should be treated as your homebase or hub that you own and your social media properties as your distribution points and outposts where your other readers hang out.

I genuinely believe that without a three-cornered approach, (facebook, twitter, blog), you will be missing out. So, no, I don’t think that facebook is killing the blog. If facebook provided a blog platform that could provide the functionality of WordPress and truly integrated the purely social stuff with the the fiction that I write, then facebook might take over; but facebook doesn’t. And every change facebook makes seems curiously wobbly and full of faults. Until facebook offers exactly what I need, I will be sticking to blog, twitter, facebook.

Never.

I would repeat what many others have said – No. Facebook is not killing blogs because they are designed for entirely different purposes. To sum it up: Facebook carries the headline to the story, but the blog tells the story.

Facebook has stolen the limelight from blogs but its a good source of traffic too – facebook is part of a bigger trend toward supersites, as you point out. Its much harder for the little guys to gain trust and an audience.
Long term though, blogs will weather this storm because they can easily get traffic from the next social network. You need to be flexible though.