Didn't Know I'd Lost it: Reacquainting Myself with my Social Blogging Voice!
I have really enjoyed my return to social blogging, here on Steemit.
However, as part of getting back into this kind of daily writing, I've also come to realize that it feels like I am having to re-learn a "language" I once knew, but haven't used in a really long time. Which-- in turn-- made me realize that my writing "voice" changed considerably when the original version of "Social Blogging" died with the rise of Facebook.
Red Lily
Blogging was very different, 15 years ago.
It wasn't just about writing, or conveying information, or pitching your books or workshops and seminars. There was almost always a sense of community involved; bloggers followed other bloggers and often we were linked together according to interests in what used to be called "blog rings."
When the "social" was skimmed off by MySpace and Facebook, the nature of blogging changed.
Bloggers became more like independent journalist/researchers with specialties. We were sold-- even if not convincingly-- on the idea that if we wanted our blogs to survive, we had to have niches... with the arrival of Facebook, "nobody cares about general interest blogs, anymore."
We had to become "serious." Blogging "for fun" was for losers.
Even if we created top notch content, read by thousands.
And-- while blogging stopped being about community-- the writing styles also changed towards a more formal "third person descriptive" voice.
A "Social" butterfly?
Of course, I got Facebook along with everyone else... but soon felt a bit disgruntled with the fact that it was (and remains) a lousy writing venue. But I do enjoy the kitten videos...
I also became a niche blogger. Very serious business, that. I even got pretty good at it... but informative is not the same as interactive.
I've missed the interactive part.
Truthfully, the "secret sauce" for the success of social blogging is PEOPLE who come together to build COMMUNITIES. On a small scale, the entire social blogging site is the community-- on larger sites (when active contributors number in the hundreds of thousands) the overall community starts to divide itself into sub-communities, still within the fold of the overall venue. But it remains about people, as much as it is about words.
Even though I have only participated here for a couple of weeks, I am feeling very hopeful about Steemit becoming one of my primary writing "homes" on the web... it seems to fit a certain niche perfectly, in between the fluffy (but social) nonsense of Facebook, and the serious quality content writing (but lack of social) of a WordPress or Medium.
In the meantime, I am re-learning my old social blogging "voice!"
And what exactly is that, you might wonder... well, it means writing to invite discussion and interaction, not just writing to inform.
I love that last sentence. It's something I need to be more aware of and strive toward. Thank you.
Hi @denmarkguy, I just stopped back to let you know your post was one of my favourite reads yesterday and I included it in my Steemit Ramble. You can read what I wrote about your post here.
@shadowspub, thank you!
Good points. Hope you are liking it here on Steemit. Facebook is a pay to play site these days. Great for advertising or so I am told, but perhaps not so good for community.
I found the artist community is very nice, the best I've found on the net for generating ideas and inspiration. There are a lot of really good writers here too! Even with the bots I have a nice mix of people stopping by to say hi!
@reddust, thanks for your comment... I've had a really positive experience, so far. Actually "community" is a rarity these days, so I hope it keeps growing.
I've been on the net since 1995, online communities are so fluid, the only thing that holds social platforms together is community.
I hope so too. I think working to support this new platform really helps. After the platform gets out of beta, I hope the community is strong enough to survive.
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