Me at the height of my blogging, circa 2010.
I’ve got to be honest with you, a lot of the motivation behind this post is self-brought-on anxiety based on the fact that I haven’t really put up anything all week. I tend not to like ‘filler’ posts but I haven’t got one solid ‘story’ idea and several half ones, so this will have to do to alleviate my non-posting guilt.
Lately I have been thinking a lot about this blog, why I have it, what I get out of it, what I put into it. It’s been 5 and a quarter years since I started it and I’ve gone from posting 3 times a day to 3 times a week if I’m feeling good. Why is that? I think a lot because there are a tonne of blogs and websites out there now with the same kind of thing I am writing about. I also have this feeling that if I know about it, I assume everyone else already knows about it too, so why write about it unless I’ve got something specific to say?
Back at what I would say was the ‘height’ of my ‘blogging motivation’, I was checking my RSS reader every day (RIP Google Reader), I would wake up early and check up on all the news, just so I was on top of everything, I would check other people’s blogs and I would pre-plan posts late at night for the upcoming week. I don’t do that at all anymore and I don’t feel like anyone else does either. Or maybe it’s a case of assuming the way my circle of friends acts, is the same way that ‘everyone’ acts.
I don’t think I spend less time on the internet now, but my output is a lot lower. It recently occurred to me that if I don’t give a shit about what the majority of bloggers out there have to say, why would anyone give a shit about what I do? The amount of pictures of myself I used to post. Holy hell. Is this the natural progression of a blogger? Information out, information out, information out, then a few years pass and for some reason it’s now nicer to keep a few things private? Do their blogs still garner the interest they used to? Is it just me? Did I just fall out of love with the internet? And if so, why am I still here? What’s keeping me here? Will this pass? Tavi moved on, I feel like I haven’t heard from Bryan Boy in a minute, let alone Rumi Neely. I mean, what happened to all those #menswear bloggers from 2011? They all got real jobs, started writing for bigger publications, quit the menswear game, became photographers.
So that leads me to my final question: does anyone even read blogs anymore?
I read this
Amen.
Trust me, people read blogs. So we’restill out here, lurking.
Post quantity doesn’t matter. Quality is what’s important. Don’t worry, you’re doing great!
Of course I still rea you blog! Your bling ha made me start my own, although it’s not a fashion blog it’s a baking blog. Don’t stop writing!
I do, enjoy your postings all good if there not frequent gives me something to look forward to when they do show up in my bloglovin feed. However agree about shift away from internet, I try to minimise time spent on it due to trying to follow a simpler life.
I think people do fall out of love with blog writing mainly because at the beginning it may be an outlet for you to express yourself (and I hate saying that cliche) . It fulfills you because but not limited to a) its a place to showcase your writing b) you now have a semipermanent space to write about things you have opinion on but is different to facebook or tumblr c) garner some sort of following.
I love reading your blog though. I love seeing the projects you get up to, the photos your put up, esp highs and lowes where I can find out about random stuff and feel more intelligent because of it haha.
But if you do stop….or if you slow down on the writing, I understand. I only wish that you will find whatever you want to do, and do it at the best ability you can, whether it be photography, freelance writing or stalking models.
I used to follow the college prepster (pls forgive me) religiously- she posted everyday, I always had something to procrastinate with. But now she posts menial things such as one photo of a scalloped hem and a caption. If this was tumblr it would be different. But I do not read blogs to just to get pretty photos and discounts and r style links.
I agree with Jessica above. hell you can write 1 post a year if it meant you wrote something you actually cared about.
If you just can’t be bothered then have a break. Take a holiday off.
We will still think you’re awesome (cringe cringe sorry)
x0x0 bae
I do! I always find you’re doing more stuff than you tell me about! Ha ha! Dad
I will always read this. Quality over quantity, and there really aren’t that many great blogs in New Zealand anyhow, well that I know of.
x
I just started reading your blog this year and I love it!
I read this. But, from reading 50+ blogs a day two years ago, I now only read you and a few select others. I appreciate that you actually have your own views and thoughts and creative ideas.
Agree – I read a lot less than I used to.
I now see blogs as online magazines, so I’m only interested in good quality content that involves good photography, new products, upcoming stuff, etc. It doesn’t matter how often you post because I follow enough blogs to always have something to read from someone. But if you’re posting boring crap I probably won’t follow you (PS that was the general ‘you’ and boring crap does not equal your Highs and Lowes which I’ve always loved!)
Kath, I checked your blog this morning to see if you’d posted anything new & was sad that you hadn’t haha. I definitely stopped reading a lot of blogs once google reader died, and I have yet to find anything to fill that void. However, there are a few that I have personal attachments to, with a unique voice that I keep checking on, and yours is one of them. It’s the same with music blogs, there is one rap blog I will always check, not because they are the first with songs, and not because they post music that no one else does, because often they post up a lot of the same music as everyone else – but I will check to see what they have to say about a song because I want their unique, and thoughtful take on it. You may not be the first to post about certain things, but your perspective is one that no one else has. :) In short, we still read blogs, but perhaps we are more selective than we once were.
i read this and not many others – idk why? – it’s more new zealand fashion, originality, practicality & less diptyque candles and so on (i mean they’re fine just not that interesting)anyway i would miss this if you stopped posting altogether!
I still think there’s an audience in New Zealand for a fashion-y online magazine with multiple contributors a la Rookie or Man Repeller. So Tavi basically left her blog but started an amazing, wider-covering feminist mag for teen girls. Leandra continued with her blog but brought in more writers to share the workload and broaden the site’s content. Are you inspired to do something like that Katherine?
I read blogs as well, I’d say I spend more time reading them than I should. Recently I have noticed though that from the hundreds of blogs I used to read, only a few have managed to stay interesting through the years. Those few blogs are the ones that talk about other things than what today’s breakfast was and how great it felt to go to the gym. They talk about books, films, fashion, give their own opinions on things that are going on in the society and share their thoughts on life in general. They don’t try to prove how cool, perfect, hip and happening they are, but write their blogs from with a more authentic tone of voice, talking also about the not so great things in life.
I certainly do read a selection of blog regularly (subscription) like your blog and few others! I think for most of the repetitive blogs I’d just find them through google and I’d read a post of two ,bookmark them and forget about them. Blogs that post too often about nothing are boring; It’s better to have it this way, your way :).
We give a shit about your blog because it actually looks good and you don’t have all this really annoying advertising. We also give a shit about it because you write good content. Say if you did a blog post everyday, that’s great, but the content might not be. I’m always looking at your blog because it’s interesting and really fun. I really like the simple layout and yeah, your writing style is great.
This! I’ve been asking myself that very question for a few months now and even ended up writing an insanely long 2000+ word post on it.
I feel like there’s only so many times one can say something along the lines of “omg you look so great in *insert clothing item here*” to a blogger before the very frivolity of blogging (fashion blogging in specific) begins to eat away at the gray material of one’s brain. Before blogging really blew up and became a “thing,” I think it really served its purpose as a means of communication for a lot of people who may not have had that sort of audience before. Once people realized the possibilities for blogging and began getting greedy about money and whatever else, I think blogging lost its appeal. Anyone can now blog so it seems that you have to introduce something new or special to the equation to get even a fraction of the attention you want. Is that a good thing? Who knows.
I feel like there’s so much to say here about humanity and greed and all these other things but I don’t think you necessarily want to read some huge rant.
Long story short, yes, people do read still read blogs but maybe it’s time for the next big thing to start introducing itself.
yes
I stopped reading blogs when Google Reader died. Too hard now.
Mostly lurking, still reading.
I attribute the downfall of blogs to the closing of Google Reader. I’ve never found another system I feel comfortable with, so I’ve slowly started to stop reading blogs.
Also, a lot of them read as super self indulgent and unrealistic, so maybe I’ve just grown out of caring about others as much.
There is still another platform that is similar to google reader, which is feedly.com. I use that to subscribe to blogs that I read, but still I don’t read blogs that often anymore. Most of the bloggers I followed are not that active anymore too.
I’m guessing you noticed traffic and ad revenue was down? Doing porn could probably fix that.
Re: Sean – LOL.
I read this, so I can confirm that at least I (and the 24 other comment authors above) still read blogs.
I also prefer quality over quantity.
I also prefer reading your blog in particular because you have your own opinion, a sense of humor, are often tongue in cheek and generally seem like a real person unlike a lot of bloggers these days.
Very good question! Yes, I do still read blogs, and love discovering new ones with similar/complimentary interests to my own.
Went through similar about a year or so ago with my own blog, and asked myself 2 hard questions: – why I start it in the first place? (to create a digital vis diary for MYSELF); – why was I disillusioned with it? (trying to please others/be more like others). By returning to the original plan, (and ditching the “likes” etc) I’m enjoying blogging again, and the creativity is flowing!
It just gets old…I was a huge Internet addict and had multiple websites from probably 1995 to 2004ish…I ran irc servers and highly participated in message boards, had livejournal, etc etc again…it just got old I haven’t made a post in 2 or 3 years. I barely even post on fb. I can’t be bothered to put my pics on flickr. …try writing a book or having a real art show…take up playing piano…etc…should give u a challenge at least.
i think people still do, especially in searching for information…
In the almost 2 years since this post, I believe blog reading and writing has further decreased. The sole reason I came across this was because I googled “Do people write blogs anymore?” .. I have been trying to resume writing for over 3 years now. I have a lot to write about considering I changed countries.. cities.. in that time but the more i know the more i feel i know too little to write something.. :\