I stumbled upon an author website a couple of months ago, one that has a personal blog that's surprisingly regularly updated. The author writes a hodgepodge of things, from free short stories to her writing process, and even introspective accounts of how she's handling the pandemic. I couldn't help but feel like I was sitting down and having a cup of tea with her, this stranger whom I don't know, but was able to put me at ease during a day when I felt a bit overwhelmed.

I miss this. I miss when personal blogs were where people formed connections. Perhaps I'm just viewing the past through rose-tinted lenses, but I remember reading people's LiveJournals and they were about the most mundane things! People wrote about their pets or their garden or the dish they baked. Knitting was a big thing there too, if I remember correctly. Very few posts were written in an outstanding way, and most of the pictures were ordinary. But I felt a sense of camaraderie with these bloggers anyway. Not to mention, LiveJournal actually had a pretty decent commenting system, and I used to have lengthy conversations with a few people there.

I'm not saying LiveJournal was the perfect platform, or that social media apps these days are not. But I do think there's a difference in the content people used to post then and the ones they do now, and that perhaps the shift in medium contribute in some way to that difference. Although I've done well in cultivating a presence on Tumblr, I don't think I ever really felt as much connection in microblogging as I did with long-form blogging. I admit that at some points, my usage of Tumblr and Instagram were quite high, but scrolling until 1am doesn't necessarily translate to meaningful encounters. Sure, I have made a few friends from Tumblr, but they seem to be more of an exception than the rule.

Many people might blame "algorithms," and how they promote the type of viral content that people can engage with really quickly but don't leave a wholesome, lasting impact. But as someone who works for a living developing "algorithms," I don't really think they're the root cause. Algorithms are a tool. It's the company's values that determine what algorithms ultimately promote, and they can always be optimized to promote a different type of content.

So at the end of the day, we need a new social media platform that prioritizes long-form content, but I don't see that on the horizon. Medium has done well so far, but the types of content I come across from there tend to be tutorials or casual journalism. I'm still hard-pressed to find a platform that really caters to simple everyday musings. And perhaps there's just no money to be made from that kind of content, and hence there are no companies jumping at the chance to serve this niche.

It's strange to me how blogging has now taken on a marketing role in cyberspace, whereas it used to be the place where people just journaled about their thoughts. I googled "How to write better blog posts" some time ago, and all the results were about how to use your blog as a marketing tool for your company. Make top ten lists. Make comparison posts with your competitors. Select keywords that people are searching for, and write a blog post about how your product is related to those searches.

Some people are of the opinion that the days when one can simply write their thoughts on their blog is long gone. If your posts don't provide value, nobody will click on your page. There are thousands of other websites to go to. Fair enough. But what are we considering valuable here? The blog which I spoke of at the beginning of this post was valuable to me.

It just makes me question. If I'm a reader looking to find more blogs like that, where am I supposed to look? If I'm a writer who wants to write blogs like that, how am I supposed to share it? If all the popular social media platform these days limit your word count, or manipulate your feed, or surface hateful content, or feeds trolls; and if blogging is supposed to be marketing oriented, where can people actually make meaningful connections online these days?

(And yes, before anyone tells me to get off my butt, stop staring at the screen and go out, I do have friends in real life. This post isn't about my non-Internet life. This post is about the opportunities I once found online to be part of communities, opportunities that I am increasingly and ironically struggling to find today despite the plethora of social platforms we have. And sometimes you're looking for people who share interests with you that are not easily found in your own local neighbourhood.)

This is a little bit before I began spending time online, but apparently, hosting your own content actually used to be the norm. Which makes sense, I suppose. I imagine that once upon a time, if you really want to put content on the Internet, you have to host your own server (or rent space from someone else). People who want to subscribe to said content then used RSS readers to build up their feed. This is still somewhat popular within tech circles, and I'm curious to see if this catches on to other areas. RSS seems like it can provide better controls over both the content you put out and the content you consume. Imagine having consistent voice and branding over all your content. Imagine not having to feel pressured when a new platform becomes viral and opportunities move away from where you've established your presence.

Others are not so convinced that RSS will save the day. RSS is a good way to subscribe to somebody's content, but first, you already have to be aware of their content. In other words, RSS doesn't give people exposure. That's why we still need social media. Because even though we complain a lot about "algorithms," they really do have the ability to separate certain folks from the noise. The downside is that many times, what ends up in the spotlight and what ends up as noise aren't aligned with what we personally want.

Over the past few months, I've signed up for several author newsletters. I initially thought they were just a way for authors to keep their readers updated about new books (and because I'm not on Twitter or Facebook, this was the best way for me to keep tabs on those), but I was pleasantly surprised to find that the blog voice and feel that I'm looking for seems to have transferred over to newsletters. They're casual, usually a collection of tidbits people want to share, some personal, some related to their work, etc. Perhaps people are now reserving their more intimate thoughts for those whom they know truly are interested in what they have to say.

I don't know if long-form blogging will ever be a thing again. Nor do I really want to romanticize the blogging age as "the good old times," because I'm sure lots of drama still cropped up even then. A quick google of fandom wank will lead you to old blog posts and book communities where much tears have been shed. But I'm still holding out for a new platform or a new framework where blogging can be personal and community-oriented again, as opposed to strictly commercial. Social media platforms rise and fall all the time, so maybe some code whisperer out there who might feel the same way as me would step up and decide to serve this niche.

By the way, if you're curious about the author I talked about at the beginning, she's Laura Weymouth, and you can find her website here. (This is not sponsored, I promise! I really did enjoy browsing through her blog.)