Did social media take off and break the blogger hearts? Have Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Google+, and all the other social networks done to blogging what video did to radio? Remember the lyrics? “Video killed the radio star.” Have blogger voices and careers been cut short by social media buzz? Is the era of blogging about to pass? We don’t think so. In-fact, we think the opposite.
We don’t think social media has gone too far. And while everything since television has “Rewritten (how we communicate) by machine and new technology,” we don’t think that’s such a bad thing.
Lets take it back to Facebook having less than 100 million users in 2008 (compared to today’s 900 million). Blogging back then was it, the trend.
After Facebook, Twitter popped in, and instead of long blogs of information, updates were condensed to 140 characters or less. Turns out, you can say a lot, and efficiently, in 140 characters. Hash tags and little links were born.
Even radio has found a new place in blogging, through online radio and newcasts like NPR.
So much for social media killing the radio star too.
Today, the web is full of social networks and social media.
And bloggers have embraced it. Social media has given bloggers the dream platform.
Now, bloggers can advertise for themselves. Bloggers can be known by simply sharing their links on multiple social media platforms. A blogger’s circle of friends, family, and followers can all stay connected and updated.
Plus, there are more ways to blog now: Tumblr, Twitter (for the micro blogger),Wordpress, Blogger, and all the other easy to set up blogs.
Wordpress does take the lead however, as 43% of people choose Wordpress to blog. Wordpress makes it easy to choose a template, free or paid, and easy to buy a domain name if you want to get rid of that “.wordpress.com,” tagged onto your URL.
We think, blogging has grown since social media took off. With an upwards of 500,000 new blog posts a day, and 60% of businesses having a blog, blogging looks to be staying around for the long haul.
Still, everyone gets stuck sometimes. So what do you do when you don’t know what to blog about? Have a back-up blog ideas list.
Five suggestions of things to blog about:
1: A how-to blog
Everyone needs direction and who doesn’t Google “how to…” at least once a month? We know we do! How to tie a tie, how to update this or find that…
How–to-blogs are informative and can be very interesting.
2: Top 10 list
Everyone wants things in order. People want to know the Top ten songs, movies, and YouTube Videos this week. For business, clients want to know the top ten things you do for them, for example.
3: Infographic
The awesome, short, fast, and fun way to spread information like wildfire. If you have new information in number form…create a fun infographic. People are drawn into your creative picture and then interested by your new material. With easily embedded share buttons, your readers are sure to share.
4: Shareable content
Anything that you can share, a fun idea in a picture, or just a funny picture you think might go viral…share it. Share Videos, share pictures, share information, templates, slides, just share. The more you share, the more traffic you will get.
5: New information
If your clients, company, the world (news…etc.), have new information…share it and spread it. If people are already reading about it, say it in your own way: have a new take on a trending topic. People want to know what is new, trending, and in. As soon as something new comes your way…start writing.
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