Did Instagram kill the blogging star?

Well, that was a stretch. But something that's been a topic lately. I think blogging was over about 4 years ago, so I'm still surprised by the way it keeps popping up in conversations.

I get all kinds of weird emails these days. There are a lot of people, from marketers to travel enthusiasts, that want to either sell me something or plug their products or them personally. This isn't a whine, it's just a fact that now that I have an audience on Instagram, people email me all the time. A majority of it is form emails from people casting a wide net to see who will bite, and some of it is very niche. Like the time I got offered free colonic hydration. (Yeah, not really sure how that photo is supposed to play out on social media.) And there's the group of people that just want me to provide them with a day by day itinerary for their upcoming trip to London.

The dead giveaway for me that a person has just sent me a form email (made to look as if it's personalized) is that they refer to my blog, my blogging style, etc. Well, you guys know this blog has been dead for a while and I'm not a blogger per se, so it's an easy way to spot the PR people just throwing out bait to see who they can catch. But, I also get a fair amount of inquiries from brands and companies that ask if I blog or if I could provide a blog post in addition to instagram content, so there must be some people out there that are still reading blogs regularly? Who are these people? I'm serious. I think people may dip into some of their old favorites now and again, but I'm guessing you only end up on blogs now if you've been searching particular topic on google, or if you are bored at work.

I know a few bloggers that have talked about the difficulty of unifying the conversation between their blog and instagram, and I know of instagrammers that have started blogs because they feel it's a requirement for social media types, and if nothing else, a place to store all the extra photos that won't ever show up on IG. I can think of only one person that manages to bring an instagram audience to her blog (Me & Orla) and I'd say that a majority of those people are visiting for her frequent instagram posts and insights. (I don't know Sara personally, but I think she's bloody brilliant) I follow a lot of bloggers on instagram and you can always tell at events who's into what channel based on clothing, camera usage, and proximity to the food. (Okay that list bit only identifies me, but I think it's a characteristic worth noting.) I don't read any of their blogs though, and you can often tell which platform an audience is using based on their comments. That is to say, I think people tend to hang out on their preferred social media channel, and so many of us have grown tired of reading anything more than a few sentences. I'm not saying that's right, I'm just saying we are all pretty demanding about fresh content. We want it now, and we don't really want to work for it.

Instagram feels like a form of micro blogging anyway. Pretty photos and trying to share something that people can relate to or a thought that provokes discussion or comment. There's far less room though to get into a bunch of navel gazing, which i think might be the main reason readership has dropped, and it's much less of a commitment. We prefer easy lifestyle voyeurism, right? I know I do. But I keep getting these emails about it and I keep having real life conversations about starting up a blog and the benefits. 

And so this is my very long way of saying that I think everyone behaves like me, and I can't really relate to people doing otherwise. (hahahahaha) No but seriously, I'd love to know your blogging habits if you've got a second, reading and otherwise. Do you read them? Do you blog yourself? How often? What kind of content? Why did you read this? How did you end up here - instagram? I'm going to ask about this on my post today because being a former blog junkie I'm truly curious.

For transparency, I'll go first:

My name is Mendy, and I do not read blogs. I do not look for them or search them out. I occasionally find recipes for baking on blogs, and I very rarely blog myself. I blogged regularly for about 2 years, mostly as a way to escape diapers and mom groups, and for regular writing practice. I do not ever click through from instagram to go to people's blogs, and I actually find it a bit annoying when people announce a post, so I feel super hypocritical about all of this. For the most part, I think blogging is best served by niche interests and very focused content. And truth be told, I think Instagram is oversaturated and on its way out, and I'd really like to go back to a monthly gossipy book club and get all my socializing done in one go.