Blogging As I See It

Whenever I think of blogging, I tend to think of Julia Engel and Rachel Parcell, two bloggers who have successfully turned their traditionally feminine senses of style into successful women's clothing lines that are sold at luxury retailers like Nordstrom. It also brings to mind George R.R. Martin's blog, Not a Blog, which I check at least once a month to see if there are any updates on when the next book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, Winds of Winter, will be released. So for me, blogging seems to be either a means to an end (boosting and solidifying your personal brand to the point where it can become a consumer good) or a way to keep others updated on your personal life and achievements in a more long-form manner than Facebook is really intended for. I think that blogging like this, for a graduate class about educational matters, is going to make me appreciate it more. It's certainly been fun to put my thoughts down into words and see what others have to say about them.

However, do I think that blogging will be a permanent fixture of the Internet? No, not really. In the case of Engel, Parcell, and other fashion bloggers like them, it seems to me like Instagram has really given them more of a platform to interact with their followers and showcase their brands in ways they weren't able to before that particular social media platform took off in popularity. That is where they thrive. For us plebeians down here on Planet Earth (although I would like to think that my style is cute too, thank you very much), it is so much easier to just throw up your 280-count thoughts on Twitter and call it a day instead of taking the time to sit down and construct a blog post, especially if you're not being paid for the content. It kind of feels like screaming into the void sometimes, and do you really want your personal thoughts splashed all over the Internet for anyone to look at when you could just write them down in a physical journal?

However, I do see vlogging being a mainstay. I think everybody enjoys YouTube in some capacity; even if you don't care about those who regularly vlog like Jeffree Star or David Dobrik, you'll probably find at least one niche on there that really entertains you. For me, it's the Book Tubers, people who discuss books that they've read. I don't know why this is because my current to-be-read list on Goodreads is well over 500 books by now, but if one of them is talking about the 10 best fiction books of 2019 or whatever, count me in. Also, I love a good unboxing video; for those who don't know what that means, it's basically when people go through a subscription box or online order that they've received and show you all of the items they got. I don't know who first thought of this because it's kind of dumb if you think about it, but it really holds my attention for some reason. What's in there? It must be what my cat feels like whenever he watches me open a package I got.

Anyway, that's just how I see things. Blogging has been on the Internet for a long time and some people do make a good amount of money off of it, so I could be completely off in saying that I don't think it will be around forever. I guess we'll just have to wait and see!