Are Blogs Still Relevant? // Discussion

Hello everyone! I thought I’d do a slightly more open discussion post today about a topic that I think about quite a lot! Are blogs still relevant? Simply, my answer is yes, they’re still relevant. However, the platform is a lot smaller than it used to be, and with visual mediums becoming more and more popular I can’t help but worry that blogs won’t be able to stand the test of time. I’d love to hear your opinions on this one, so don’t forget to comment down below! Is this something you’ve thought about much?

Why am I asking this question?

With the rise of more visual platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and Youtube it sometimes feels like book bloggers are being left behind. I post on Instagram quite regularly, and to be honest, a quick photo will get a lot more interaction than my blog posts (and take way less time). Obviously interaction isn’t anything, and you could make the argument that although there are less people in the book blogging community we tend to interact thoughtfully with each other’s posts. At the same time, it’s still noticeable how much smaller our community is. Sometimes it seems like unless you’re a very large blogger, or someone with a dedicated group of friends, it’s difficult to bring in more people. There’s content we make that’s more easily marketable to casual readers, such as recommendation posts, but growing a blog sometimes feel slow going. To a lot of people reading a book blog is just something they wouldn’t do.

Does it matter if our community is smaller?

One of the reasons I love book blogging is because it feels like such a tight knit community. Most of my closest bookish friends I made through book blogging and then we began to support each other on every platform. I don’t want this post to seem like I’m not appreciative of all the lovely book bloggers out there who read my posts and make amazing content themselves. Even though we’re small, we’re a mighty community of people who really love books. There are so many amazing books I picked up through reading other people’s reviews and recommendation posts. Perhaps the answer to my question is that blogging will always have a small, dedicated community, and that’s just as important.

Are book bloggers underappreciated?

I definitely think that book bloggers are underappreciated. Often people don’t seem to understand the amount of time and effort it takes to run a book blog. We’re constantly reading books, writing content, formatting our websites, formatting our posts, shouting about our content, reading each others content, responding to comments, and in some cases running other social media platforms on top of all of that. It might just be my experience, but I’ll often see bloggers shouting out their favourite non-blogger content creators, but I rarely see non-bloggers talk about blogs. Publishers are also starting to put less funding into advertising through blogs, focusing more on the larger platforms. I’m so thankful for things like blog tours, and I really hope they don’t become rarer in favour of things like Instagram tours. Book blogging might have more popular a few years ago, but we’re still the backbone of the bookish community.

So are book blogs becoming irrelevant?

I don’t think book blogs are becoming irrelevant, but our community is smaller, and more niche than it maybe used to be. Sometimes I worry that in a few years it’s continue to dwindle down, and people who prefer to write about books rather than make videos or photos will find themselves lacking in opportunities. I believe there will always be a strong book blogging community regardless of how large it is, and I hope we all continue to thrive together. In the end, if we keep supporting each other, we’ll never become irrelevant.

I’d love to hear your opinions on this discussion! Is this something you’ve thought about? Have you had similar experiences to me? Do you think blogging is becoming smaller? Do you worry about our platform being left behind?