I grew up in the golden age of blogging, that glorious time when you could scribble a few thoughts on the internet, hit ‘publish,’ and suddenly find yourself the authority on just about anything you please. Yeah, I remember those days fondly. Back then, the most intense competition was between you and that one overly enthusiastic neighbor who decided to blog about the health benefits of kale in excruciating detail. But sadly, those days are as gone as the dial-up modem.
Nowadays, everyone and their emotional support animals have a blog—or they had one, until they jumped ship for the dopamine hits of live-streaming and vlogging. It’s like we all collectively decided that if our lives aren’t broadcast in real-time, complete with poorly lit bedroom backdrops, then they aren’t worth sharing at all. So, this brings us to the pressing question for today: Is the old mantra “If you blog, they will come” just a relic from a bygone digital age?
Well, like most myths, there’s a nugget of truth in there somewhere. Back when blogging was the Wild West, you could write about your breakfast cereal, and someone, somewhere, would find it groundbreaking. Back then streaming video was still buffering on your CRT monitor, and the blogosphere wasn’t yet flooded with every opinion, recipe, and rant under the sun. In other words, it was a simpler time. You didn’t have the fierce competition of millions of teenagers with ring lights and seemingly unshakable confidence.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Blogging still has its merits. Sure, vlogging and livestreaming have taken the spotlight, quite literally. After all, why read a blog when you can watch someone with perfect teeth and a slightly unsettling amount of enthusiasm explain the same thing in half the time? Admittedly, video is easier to consume, especially if you’re a visual learner or just someone with the attention span of a goldfish. Of course, let’s not forget the allure of the livestream, where you can interact with an audience in real-time. After all, who doesn’t want to be asked, “What’s your favorite color?” by a total stranger while trying to make a point?
Still, if you think vlogging is a walk in the park, think again. For every Casey Neistat, there are thousands of hopefuls who spend more time editing their “um”s and “like”s than actually saying anything meaningful. The competition is cutthroat, and that’s before you even factor in the algorithm that decides your fate — be it on YouTube, TikTok, or whatever platform is in vogue this week.
Blogging, on the other hand, offers you the sweet veil of anonymity. You can write in your pajamas, unshowered, and still come across as a semi-respectable human being. Yet, blogs these days are like digital needles in a haystack. You must be really good or really persistent to get noticed, preferably both, but more often the latter just might work.
So, if you’re thinking, “Maybe I’ll do both! I’ll blog and vlog!”—well, I admire your optimism. Yes, people do succeed at it, and I wonder if they’ve figured out a way to stop time to be able to actually produce all that content. The truth is, whether you’re writing, filming, or talking into the void, the key is consistency. It also means a willingness to scream into the digital abyss until someone—anyone, really—screams back.
So, is “If you blog, they will come” still true? Maybe, but it’s not about them coming. It’s about whether you can keep going, day after day, blog post after blog post, until something sticks. Inevitably, many of us give in to the siren call of video content and spend our evenings bathed in the glow of a ring light, desperately trying to go viral. That will never be me. I will live and die by the weblog. I’m getting too old for all the chutes and ladders of social media and online cred.
In the end, whether you blog, vlog, or do both, the hardest part is starting and the second hardest part is not stopping when nobody shows up. But if you’re crazy enough to try, who knows? Maybe they will come after all. Just don’t be surprised if they show up late and only after you’ve already started livestreaming, just to offer your final farewell to the wide world of content.
~ Amelia Desertsong
