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We're overly attached to a specific idea of a "blog". In practice, "web logging" never died, even if the specific blog format has diminished over time. Blogs a

We're overly attached to a specific idea of a "blog". In practice, "web logging" never died, even if the specific blog format has diminished over time. Blogs are websites that host posts in chronological order, but defined in a very specific way that excludes your Facebook and Twitter. The difference isn't self-hosting - Blogger and Wordpress.com host your blog. I reckon the difference is aggregation. Facebook groups your posts with posts from everyone else. They get to curate individual feeds. People with money get to bypass the curation a little. Don't get me wrong, I have my own blog (link in profile) and I deleted my Facebook account years ago. But quite honestly, the format is less usable than having centralized aggregators that float the most popular content to the top. This is why we're all on Hacker News, right? The act of having the aggregator allows extra features to be overlayed, like community discussion. Are aggregators the "best" format by every metric? No, but it allows me to read content I like without doing a lot of work, so here I am.

ravenstine 6y ago
Isn't the need for aggregators a failure of search engines? To the credit of Google, as much as I disdain them, combating SEO spam is a hard problem. I think that blogging feels "dead" because of SEO spam and because ads pay for jack shit these days.
- kevin_thibedeau 6y ago
  Google knows very well that they're padding their search results with e-commerce sites to the detriment of meaningful content.
emsal 6y ago
I think there's room for both self-directed aggregation (à la reader sites) as well as the centralized aggregator model. It's quite shackling to never have any control over the content that you're about to consume, and being able to check up on websites that you have personally discerned as being good content is quite empowering.
tehjoker 6y ago
This seems right, but I think it's also about authorial control of format and the expectation of readers that they are going to possibly read longer texts. Twitter is very up front about formats and character limits. Facebook is less dramatic but still very self contained. The placement alongside many other items that scream for attention, the possibility that facebook won't present it to your audience, presentation, and interactions mean investing in forms of writing outside the constraints of the medium is just not very worthwhile. There are places in Facebook where longer form writing is possible, but the system still doesn't really encourage it.
qznc 6y ago
Blogs in the sense of "log your web browsing" is either niche as ever or more popular as ever due to like/share buttons.
deleted 6y ago
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ravenstine 6y ago

Isn't the need for aggregators a failure of search engines? To the credit of Google, as much as I disdain them, combating SEO spam is a hard problem. I think that blogging feels "dead" because of SEO spam and because ads pay for jack shit these days.

kevin_thibedeau 6y ago
Google knows very well that they're padding their search results with e-commerce sites to the detriment of meaningful content.

emsal 6y ago

I think there's room for both self-directed aggregation (à la reader sites) as well as the centralized aggregator model. It's quite shackling to never have any control over the content that you're about to consume, and being able to check up on websites that you have personally discerned as being good content is quite empowering.

tehjoker 6y ago

This seems right, but I think it's also about authorial control of format and the expectation of readers that they are going to possibly read longer texts. Twitter is very up front about formats and character limits. Facebook is less dramatic but still very self contained. The placement alongside many other items that scream for attention, the possibility that facebook won't present it to your audience, presentation, and interactions mean investing in forms of writing outside the constraints of the medium is just not very worthwhile. There are places in Facebook where longer form writing is possible, but the system still doesn't really encourage it.

qznc 6y ago

Blogs in the sense of "log your web browsing" is either niche as ever or more popular as ever due to like/share buttons.

deleted 6y ago

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