Is there a difference between Blogs and Social Media?
Is a blog better than Social Media or is there even a difference? Maybe a blog IS Social Media. Personally I think our blogs are much more than Instagram or Facebook (or Twitter and TikTok). Did you know that 77% of internet users read blogs and they prefer blogs that are written and managed by real people.
Personal Development Blogs are the most popular. True! I looked it up! Even more popular than food blogs – though I find that hard to believe! 98% of the searches I make on Google are for food!
Here are 6 reasons why I think Blogs are better than Social Media (Though I do love the cute little photos on Instagram).
Community
The readers of blogs get to feel part of a community. And the writer of that blog invites you all to their kitchen table. This is why I encourage you to talk amongst yourselves because I love that this is a forum for you all to catch up on each other and comment and share your thoughts.
Here you are safe.
And without question I will guard you from harassment.
We have built a community here. You named yourselves the Fellowship of The Farmy. I cannot find the post where that began but I do know it was a long long time ago. And many of you are founding members of the Fellowship of the Farmy.
Control
Writers who are the owners of their blogs have total control of their content and their email list.
On my site I have total control. I write what I like, when I like and I can make sure this space is a safe space for you all to comment and chat amongst yourselves any way that you like, too.
We have never had a problem with hate speech or abuse here because together you and I have gathered a community of good generous humans who read. We read all kinds of stuff and talk about it too. This blog is about a farm and home that is managed along organic sustainable lines.
My words get delivered straight to your email account. No algorithm can take that away from us.
Trust
Trust is mutual on a blogging platform. This trust is earned and it goes both ways.
Over the years you got to know me. You know me when I am happy. Sad. Angry. Hurt. You trust that I am authentic. You know I am flawed and I trust you not to abuse that knowledge.
I make good on my promises that all the material is my own and all the images are within the last 24 hours.
The same promises as I wrote about in 2015
And they still apply today. Things are different on the farm now, we can no long afford to have piles of workers, I buy in animals instead of expensive breeding programs, the fields have all gone organic and I hope to take this blog up a step so as to include The Sustainable Home but essentially it is still a one person blog charting that persons personal development.
SEO – Google Searches
Blogs are more SEO-friendly than social media platforms. SEO means Search Engine Optimisation. Search engines like Google prefer websites with original, high-quality content that’s regularly updated. And except for a few bloggers we write our blogs so we can be read, so we can find people who understand us and ordinary people can share our message.
So if you have an original blog that you regularly update make sure to think about your SEO and your taglines. (Just a little). I don’t know terribly much about this – I do know that there does need to be optimisation in the back end too and so far I have never researched my taglines. But before you begin a post think about the words that are most important to your message. (This is actually a logical part of planning a letter anyway and blogging is just letter writing to my mind).
Make sure those words are front and center, and included in your tags.
Social Comment
Social comment for me is not about politics and more about the feeling of the period. And after blogging over a long period of time it is interesting how much of this writing becomes a social comment on the times. Our pandemic blogs make incredible reading.
In that period. I soldiered on, work went nuts, I quite liked wearing a mask, I faltered, fell down, burnt out, stopped writing, crept along, went silent, reconnected with my family, traveled, started to write more, rose back up and now you see me back to blogging every day.
Those posts will always remain for us to revisit, and learn from. They are honest and true.
To have the arc of a life in an accessible form which is pretty special really.
This is what they mean by evergreen content. As long as the internet continues in its present form so too will access to our files.
Long Form Content
We can really get into stuff and talk about it. Write it out without having to worry about a platforms word count.
Generally I like to keep my posts short. A three minute read is about right.
Except with a post like this that has been running about in my head for weeks and just needs a little more thought and process than the regular farm post. Or this one – when I wrote about being an immigrant here in the USA. Longer and passionate!
There is so much more to blogging than I ever imagined when I began.
I started this blog for three reasons: 1. Because I was lonely out here 2. Because I needed a structured writing focus and 3. Because I wanted you to know how easy it is to live simply and develop a self sufficient lifestyle that you can sustain and that can be sustained by our planet.
So why do you write or read blogs?
Pop into the Lounge of Comments for the discussion.
Love celi
If you think someone else needs to read this please share. This might be helpful to someone who is thinking of writing a blog or needs help getting back to it.
Join me in the blogging renaissance!
55 Comments on “Is there a difference between Blogs and Social Media?”
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I never have a problem with comments on my blog, docsmemoirs.com. And I work hard to keep my Facebook page free of political comments and inappropriate topics.
Enjoyed your post.
Hi David and yes! I think as owners of these pages we do need to make sure to keep them safe for your readers. I have not been over to your blog for a while – I look forward to doing that this afternoon!
My daughter in law is headed out to California to do a tour of the Biggest Little Farm this year. I told her she should visit you instead. You’re the littlest big farm!
The Littlest Big Farm indeed. I bet your daughter will have a great time! Have lovely Sunday Gayle!
I’ve been blogging for almost 14 years. I don’t monetize my site, I don’t pay attention to SEO (not even quite sure exactly what to do about it) – and the drop in traffic I’ve had in the last 2 years is nothing short of dramatic. I add new content twice a week, try to keep it varied in terms of what gets published – little details like never two bread posts in a row, spread the baking with the savory stuff, etc. Keep the posts short, there is essentially no scrolling down until your wrist cramp – I keep blogging because I love it. It is a record of my life in many ways, and I even started a cookie blog (without recipes) to document my adventures with this obsession of mine… 😉 Would I like my blog to be more popular and get back into the 1K page views a day? Yes. Would I like more comments and interactions? Yes… but truth is I blog because I love to write and will continue doing so for as long as it makes me happy. I still feel a thrill when I hit “Publish” even 13 years and 10 months later!
You hit the nail on the head Sally. We blog because we love to write! I think that traffic is always inclement – it ebbs and flows. I really wish I was a planner but I simply am not. I jot a few ideas down and then something happens on the farm and they are obsolete so fast!
I look froward to popping over to visit later in the day! Preferably with a Sunday glass of wine!
I agree with everything you wrote here. I loved the community of like-minded horse people that I connected with through my blog. When work got to the point where I had no time to blog, and when I stopped riding, I stopped blogging. Then I retired and now I have time again. And I miss blogging. I miss the connection; the ability to go deeper than an Instagram or FB post. I tried to do it there but was always left feeling like it was not enough; just a snippet. So, as you know, I’m setting up a new blog. This one will be about sustainable gardening; about biodiversity; about the love of gardening — and I am so so SO hopeful that I will connect and have conversations with like-minded folks again.
I am sorry. I answered this Annette but my reply did not stick – I love the idea of your new blog! Make sure to keep us n the loop and let me know when you launch! I want to be in your first wave of comments!
Annette make sure to keep us in the loop! I want to be there on launch day! I know a lot of us just love to read about gardening almost as much as doing it! Do you still have the horses?
I love reading your blog as it is so personal and about living a life on the farm whereas I live in an urban environment. My sister connected me to your blog and also wrote a story in your bookLetters to my Little Sister. Connections is what life is all about! I too have many blogs for cooking coming into my email as that is one of my passions. Lastly I have a blog of Letters to Americans by an American historian. I have learned so much about the history of the US and It explains so much. So your blog is a part of my life and your ups and downs show us a life outside our own and I appreciate your time writing, creating and sharing. Thank you. Hugs Del
You are always welcome Del! I did not realise your sister wrote for our wee book. I still have a few copies left! Letters to Americans sounds interesting – I might find that one! Thank you!
I’m always around to correct my sister…afterall she is my baby sister. Lol. Poor thing. It is called Letters from an American. Author is Heather Cox Richardson. It does have a political vein though but steeped in history. I knew hardly anything about American politics before I read her blog.
It is fun to be back to reading your blog. I stopped for a long while. I would love to make bread like that! I love making quick beads like bannock, improvised by me and soda bread and scones! My sister has just retired so now the two of us will have more time to chatter here.
This is so exciting – having both sisters here to chatter! I made a quick soda bread the other day! https://thekitchensgarden.com/2023/03/17/easier-than-irish-soda-bread-make-irish-soda-farls/ i I am now totally addicted to these little breads! I am not called the impatient baker for nothing!
I am going to find this blog – we all should read as much history as possible!
The author is Heather Cox Richardson and it is quite fascinating.
I think blogging probably is a type of social media and the only type I want anything to do with! Believe it or not, I had to be talked in to starting a blog, over 12 years ago.
I would have loved to be a fly on the wall to hear that chat!! Many of us started blogs at the same time -I guess the algorithm had something to do with that?
I blog for the community, for the space to write and show what I love, for the encouragement of really amazing, genuine people. People regularly ask why I don’t do IG, and it’s because I need space for the words. 20 years ago, I maintained a weekly bulletin for friends and family I’d left behind when I emigrated to Australia. And then at one point the mailing list got stupidly large as more people asked to be added, and people wanted photos. So I took it online, and the rest is history. The stories of our lives are built into the fabric of the internet now, we are jewels on the shell of the hermit crab! I find it very interesting that 90% of my spam comments now are ‘people’ offering AI services to write my content. The assumption is that I’m busy selling stuff and don’t have time to actually write my own blog. How strange… The very thing that attracts us, the authentic voice, is well on its way be being elbowed out by generic content generated by an algorithm based on the lowest common denominator.
Huh! Where are my AI offers!? (Snort)
We must make sure our voices are authentic and linked to the proof. (Our past posts). I still maintain that we will have a niche as personal blog writers.
I agree. We humans can be flexible, reactive and genuine, and I think readers can tell the difference.
Blogging fulfills several needs for me. It is a journal of things I found interesting enough to write about and it is all in one place. I was a former classroom teacher for 38 yrs. I am still a teacher and write about things I think others would find interesting. But, first it has to be interesting for me. It makes me dive deeper and learn much more. Blogging keeps me connected to people who reliably visit and comment. They come from all over the world. It is good to have those people in my life.
As for social media, it is lacking in many ways. It keeps me in touch with a few more friends who aren’t within my blogging circle. Most people don’t invest much time and effort into what they post. Much of it is stuff passed along from elsewhere.
One of my pet peeves. People posting quotes they found on Pinterest as though it the last word in a sane humanity.
I love inspiring quotes as much as the next person but this constant barrage of perfect sound bites is becoming annoying.
Oh C, you have no idea how I relate to this! Joining a second blog as a contributing writer and being rather overwhelmed by quote after quote is too much to bear at times.
But Celi, I love quotations and usually choose one on the subject of which I’m writing that day. It’s not something I found on Pinterest but something from one of my many books of quotations that I’ve collected over the years and written in the notebook because I think someday I will be able to use it.
Thank you for this superb post…..I definitely prefer blogs to social media, although do use FB and Twitter to show paintings and keep in touch with people. The blog community is a solid one. I have made some lovely friends over the years and learned so much from them. Janet 🙂
That is a really good point Janet. As hosts, we love to learn too… the conversations that pop up on the lounge of comments are definitely as much fun as writing the post!
I started for my kids long ago. An online diary of sorts. That has morphed to a private space at this point, just for the 4 of us. My regular blog has no pattern, just a place to ramble about when I feel inclined. I do think blogging is a form of social media but in a good way because of the deeper connections, although I have never been about having great numbers of readers. I don’t promote the blog really, just let folks stumble in if they like.
Sorry for the double post!! Oops…
I’ll fix it when i get into my computer. Thank you!
I was not a member of The Farmy in 2016, so I read your link to that ‘being an Immigrant’ post. I still have quite an obvious Australian accent even after 50 years, and I get a little distressed that I don’t “fit in’ anywhere. Of course I get questioned here in the US., but when I go “home”, heads also turn, even though I just wish to be an Aussie!!! And I have to state, “yes I was born here- in fact, 3rd generation” which is no small thing for a town that saw its’ first European in 1835.
There is a lot to being an immigrant that many people do not know.
It is hard to told every single time I go shopping or call someone – oh I love your accent – where are you from. Even in NZ they think I am British!
I totally understand what you are saying Kerrith! Totally get where you are coming from – if you will excuse the pun!
I have enjoyed your blog over the years. At first I wanted to be like you – move to the country, grow more of my own food, have some chickens, etc. – but eventually had to accept that scenario just won’t work for me. I started a blog last summer, http://www.theoccasionalpoem.com, and am seeking the sense of community you reference at the beginning of your post. I put up a new and original poem every Monday but, quite frankly, I’m having trouble attracting new readers (although my friends are loyal and true!). You continue to be an inspiration . . . thank you!
You are doing the right thing Joe! Go out to other poetry blogs and comment. Do you know Misky? She has a poetry blog and a large community of commenters.- maybe pop over to her place! –
Thanks, c. Joe, I’m at misky.uk if you’d like to pop by.
Wonderful topic and discussion.
I love having my own blog, owning it and paying for the privilege of controlling the content. A space to place some my thoughts that get written down, a diary of sorts. I like the present-time community and I like that months, years later I’ll get a new comment or see readership from the stats on an old post.
I like Instagram similarly and I guess if it ever evolves similarly I’ll pay a subscription fee if my community of followers/people I follow/friends do so also… it really serves to bolster my day-to-day.
While Facebook serves an entirely different purpose connecting me with irl family & friends, it doesn’t feed my soul but takes the place of print/news media & magazines.
So, imo all are social media; just horses for courses.
Along with the community what keeps me blogging via WordPress and Insta is these wise words from one of my favourite writers… “Don’t try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say.
It’s the one and only thing you have to offer.” Barbara Kingsolver
And that is the difference between us and AI.
I do love Barbara Kingsolver ( what a name) I heard her the radio a while back. And she is right. Many times I have paused before hitting publish then decided to trust the words.
I blog for mostly the same reasons as you. At one point, also to promote a small cottage business that I have now closed. I have very few commenters which is unfortunate and never between each other. I would love more. Though I don’t blog every day, during farming/growing/preserving season, it is more frequent. If any of your readers want to check it out, here is the most recent post thus a link to it, http://cabincrafted.fangorn.space/?p=3600. I have followed you for years, though I didn’t find you as you just began. At some point, my son migrated my blog to his server and I lost several years of posts. Some I had downloaded, but that doesn’t make them available to others. I enjoy finding the email letting me know you have posted.
Oh that must have been dreadful to lose your old posts.That migration process is worrying me – I have to say. I just won’t do it unless Duane is positive that we will not lose any words.
Thank you for the link – I am glad you are blogging again.
In 15 years I’ve only ever had one or two negative comments on my blog, whereas my Facebook page seems to be a free-for-all for idiotic and indigestible points of view. Facebook has sometimes made me hate my friends. Maybe with blogging, the subject-matter is targeted and the narrative easier to control?
I started blogging because so many people were (and still are) against farmers and farming. (Although, duh, that is where the food comes from in the grocery store. And the feed that goes to animals.)
So, anyway, I decided I would blog about our smaller than the great big guys farming.
How it is done here—on the western slope of Colorado. On our farm.
We are very conscious of how our land is taken care of, how the animals live on our farm, and how the food products produce and grow and are so healthy.
Our customers ALWAYS comment on how pretty our corn (and when we raise pinto beans) and hay/grass is.
We have a standing list of people who want our hay. Rich, deep green and leafy hay.
Another thing, Terry never tries to gouge anyone when we sell — he wants to be a fair to the customer as possible and still make enough money we can ‘keep on farming’.
That is how I found you – our love of farming for the little guys. That and cows. You were such a wonderful help when I was learning how to milk cows!
🙂 And you just the perfect student 🙂
I tightened down the screws on my Facebook account years ago so that only my family (also extended) and a few close friends can see what I’m up to there. It’s not that I’m unsociable – it’s more that I have all the good friends that I want, and I still prefer meeting people face-to-face. I keep my Twitter account active because it’s an excellent method of sorting out customer service problems in a flash, including being bumped off a flight at Heathrow and sorting it using Twitter. I consider my writing blog to be my joyous place, and a form of social media, because it is after all a social gathering of like-minded people. I don’t consider Facebook to be a particularly healthy place to hang out though.
Tell me about using twitter for flights! That sounds like something I would like to know about?
Just send a Tweet to the airline you booked with, explain the problem (publicly), and they’ll invite you to contact them by DM. All sorted in private so they don’t look bad. I also contacted Heathrow’s Twitter feed, and asked them for help. They referred me directly to the airline. Booked on the next flight later that day, plus a voucher to spend on food.
Aha! I am going to do that next time.
What an excellent idea Misky!
I used to write on my blog, but then felt uncomfortable re-reading what I wrote. I think I felt like I was losing my privacy by putting all my thoughts out there and making myself so exposed to the world. Not that I had many readers, but what’s the point if you don’t have readers? I already keep a daily journal on paper to express myself. So I confine it to posts about what I’ve just painted (or other creative efforts) without a lot of commentary.
Facebook is another whole thing. I don’t see people in real life much. I try harder to connect with people on Facebook, people I know, used to work with, or groups. If I see a family member I’m concerned about post on FB, I think “Oh, they are at least well enough to post.” So even if I hate it (generally) I use it.
Thanks for writing this and helping me think it through. I’d love to have a blog where I post what I think and what I’m doing, but I’m not sure my sensitivity could handle it.
Oh I totally understand- there are some things I would never post publicly.
FB is quite useful for keeping up with family or friends whose lives we are not involved with. And especially good in a crisis – we can check to see if they are okay. I think that is an excellent use of FB!
Oh, here’s mine, in case anyone wants to look!
https://jeannekasten.com/
Love that you are back to writing more regularly. As a fellow immigrant, some of your posts really resonate! I started my own blog, AbroadintheUSA.com some years ago — and realized recently my last update was in…hmmm, 2020?! Might be time to get back to it!
Yes! It is time – join us in the personal blog revival. It is our protest against the creeping take over of AI blogs.
It’s lovely to visit your site, Celi, and the photos are adorable. I couldn’t agree with you more about blogging. I do consider it “social” media, but it’s so different than the quick hitter platforms. I love it that we get to know each other, have longer conversations, put more of ourselves into our posts, take care of and support each other, and offer a safe place to enjoy the give and take of human kindness. It’s rather wonderful if you ask me. Wonderful to meet you!
Well that hit a nerve! I liked reading the comments and am in agreement blogging is better for the reasons already mentioned.
And we get to see pigs.
I think pigs are the game changer!!
I started blogging in 2011 along with several others we all blogged every day and in fact I remember one day arriving home at 11:45 pm from the movies telling my friend to make the coffee while I wrote my blog. It was a discipline and I am sorry that I stopped writing daily. I tell myself I will do this every day but so many other things get in the way. I very rarely go onto FB. I find it intrusive, while blogging and reading and commenting on others’ blogs feel safe and comfortable.
Personal Development Blogs are the most popular. Keep going.