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!
The Kitchen's Garden 
55 responses to “Is there a difference between Blogs and Social Media?”
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.