Having a Carrie Bradshaw moment and thinking “I can’t help but wonder, are blogs dead?”. Has Instagram became the new blog? Are people double-tapping or scrolling past, without even reading your words?
Yes. Yes, they are.
I had this conversation with a fellow influencer/ friend a couple of weeks ago when she asked the question, “Do any of you read my words?”. I felt the need to reach out to her, because I read all of her words. Every caption on Instagram and every blog post. Knowing it wouldn’t mean much, I wanted her to know that I read everything she writes. But does anyone else?
James Nord said once that if you can write, you should do so. But if you can’t, don’t. If you don’t watch his YouTube series A Drink With James, go check it out!
So that’s what got my wheels turning. I mean, I’d thought it before, but I really started to marinate on it after talking to her.
We live in such a fast-paced world now where we can get everything in one place, what’s the reason to click a link? To take that extra step?
Maybe you just want to learn how to wing your eyeliner like that girl on Instagram. Or maybe you wanna know how she over-lined her lips. Hey, I’m right there with ‘ya girlfriend, and that’s fine! But sometimes, clicking a link to their site may teach you more that that.
People tend to get a bit more personal in their own space. I know I do. I was reminiscing the other day and found my “sales pitch” to my now photographer. Women’s fashion wasn’t his forte, but I worked diligently to craft that email pitch in an attempt to make him think, “OK, this is something I can’t turn down”. The line I was most proud of read “I started my blog in 2012 while in my mid 20’s. I loved the fact that I could say fuck if I wanted, and not get reported.
(For what it’s worth, Facebook jail is no joke, y’all! Ha. Like I had shit to do on that platform for my job and I was grounded for 72 hours. They don’t play!)
While I now realize that my carefully thought out five paragraph sales pitch should not have included the word fuck, instead of apologizing once waking up from my bottle and a half of red liquid courage it took to hit “send”, I just ran with it. Turns out, while I waited in purgatory for a month, he responded and took a meeting with me. Solely because my email was so bold. “Brazen” is the actual term he used.
So, are blogs dead? I think that answer is very grey and depends on the reader and blogger. There are several blogs that I read every morning while drinking my coffee, and there are a lot of bloggers that I only follow on Instagram or Facebook. I prefer blogs like a prefer actual books, so for me, blogs are not dead.
How about you? Do you prefer Instagram or blogs? And why?
Photography by Ryan Sherrod