The State of Blogs in 2022: Is Blogging Dead?

Something I’ve heard a lot from the digital marketing influencers is:

“Blogging is dead”

With the growth of social media over the last 10 years, many argue that the offering of blogs is obsolete – I mean why go look at someone’s personal blog, when there are a multitude of platforms available which will get more eyeballs on you work.

Do I think blogging is dead?

The fact I’m still here should give you, your answer – blogging still has its place in 2022.

In this post I will explore why people are writing the blog off, and why starting or running a blog is still relevant.

Let’s look at why people are moving away from blogging:

Blogging is dead because it’s harder to get eyes on your work

When blogging started in the 90’s there wasn’t much competition, to start you needed to be a nerd who could code, because there was no software giving you shiny templates you could type into.

And because nerds owned this domain they talked about nerd topics like computers, video games and Star Wars.

Let’s not even get started on the infrastructure, where you had to wait to be dial into the phone line, and had to end your session because your dad told you off as he was waiting for an important call.

Over twenty years things grew – a lot. Publishing platforms like WordPress came along where the entry level was being able to provide an email address.

This opened up the possibilities from the untapped creatives to the air head narcissist to share ideas.

Around the same time there was a growth in websites that allowed you to connect with friends, and other like minded individuals – people started referring to this as ‘social media’.

A new generation going online for the first time would never understand the frustration of waiting five minutes to download an image of a girl.

Data speeds are now so advanced you can access the internet through a ‘smartphone’, a strange, distracting device that can fit in the palm of your hand and be taken anywhere.

With all these options there is an increased competition for your mind, even the legacy media such as TV and newspapers is losing the battle to the likes of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

For the household blogger we saw the opportunity from these social platforms, because it was a medium we could promote our work. But social media didn’t like the thought of attention being taken away as that meant less people looking at adverts and that meant even less money.

So changes were made, platforms moved away from showing information in real time, to showing you content ‘based on your preferences’ to keep you looking, and with it look on unfavourably of those who always share links – you can’t outshine the master can you?

This resulted in creators coming up with ways to be looked at positively by the algorithm – YouTube creators put together long winded 20 minute videos to explain a 2 minute concept.

Twitter exploded with threads, the most tedious way of writing a blog article using the 240 character limit chained together – all because you’re looked on as a ‘good influencer’ to keep people scrolling.

Because bloggers are common link sharers, social media doesn’t support you to be seen, missing less eyes on your posts, and less clicks through to your latest article.

Digital markets conclude that blogging is dead because staying onsocial media offers more opportunities for your ideas (and products) to be seen.

But wait… there must be some reason to keep blogging?

If you had a book to sell, a traditional method would have been just to share the blog article on social media, get the click, get someone to read to the bottom, then click through at the end to the relevant sales funnel.

With loose attention, that’s a lot to do just to get to that final step.

A good Twitter thread can get hundreds of thousands of impressions, give you kudos from the algorithm for maintaining viewer attention, and if you attach a product direct to Amazon,, a decent amount of sales.

If you can get everyone to read your ideas, or buy your product via social media, why do you need to pay to host a blog?

 I’m going to share some counter viewpoints why blogging is still a good option.

Blogging lets you keep your own brand

No social media platform since the days of MySpace has the offering to customise the look of your landing page like a blog.

Although unlike MySpace, a blog doesn’t subject you to someone else’s God awful music taste, you can put your own personal brand to a page. You can have your own colours, headers, customised menu bar, about page – the list goes on.

And if you register a domain like perfectmanifesto.com then you’ve got a name people will remember and be able to input from anywhere.

When creating content, blogs offer a rich amount of functionality meaning your article can have as many images as you like, you can do basics like bolds and italics, and write an unlimited amount of words.

Social media sites have limited functionality for branding style, and without following, most profiles created are forgettable.

If you just want to get straight to sharing your ideas, social media is a good option,, but if you take pride in having your own personal identity, blogs are worth it.

It’s hard to find anything on social media

You might be able to create viral content, but after a few days/weeks, where does it go?

 If I forgot to bookmark it how do I see it again?

What if I can’t remember the author to find it? And even if I do find it, are there any guarantees I’ll be able to locate it from the millions upon millions of content posted every day?

Managing an influencers social media account, I find it difficult to find a post from a month ago.

If you use a search engine you need to know the exact name of what you wrote to have a chance of finding your content (that is if the social media site even allows Google to display it).

Whereas a post I wrote 8 years ago, I can find with a loose definition of what the article was about. Blogging has a definitive advantage if you want you (and others) to find your past hits.

Blogging is future proof

Remember Vine?

What happens to all the content you’ve spent years creating if a platform closes?

If the worst happens to WordPress, I can download my blog and setup elsewhere. I don’t see an option on any social media sites to do this bulk transfer.

 What happens if you say something a mob disagrees with and it gets you banned?

The tolerance for freedom of speech (whether you agree with an individual’s views or not), seems much higher than those on social media, which seems to be ruled by those with personal agendas.

Even if you play a pretty safe social media game, someone may take offence to a reply you made in jest, and you find yourself falling flat with a ban!

Social media is like occupying someone else’s house, a blog is like owning one – you can’t be thrown out unless your pushing the boundaries of what is acceptable.

Blogging is the most fun you’ll have creating

I’ve used Twitter to write threads, LinkedIn I’ve created blogs, Instagram I’ve shared short videos, yet none have provided the same satisfaction to my wellbeing like the nine years I’ve been running a blog.

If you’re talking in terms of “impressions” or “going viral” then social media might be the better place, nothing beats running a blog when it comes to enjoyment.

Should I keep blogging?

You may be indecisive whether it’s worth continuing blogging. To finish I thought I would share my thoughts on the mindset to keep going:

Focus on being creative

The reason I started blogging was to express myself. You could say I’m motivated by my creative side.

The flipside to using it for artistic expression is to sell a product. People who do it for these reasons, are motivated by blogging as being a tool for marketing

Neither side is wrong, but the biggest naysayers against blogs are marketers, they measure their value and success by getting numbers and shifting product, so I get why they think blogging is dead.

If you’re a creative, then keep focus on being a creative, use the tools that help you express yourself, and if that happens to be a blog keep going for it.

If you’re a marketer, go with what is getting you the most numbers.

Break the rules

I read a lot about the algorithms on social media. I’ve also seen a lifetime’s worth of tips on boosting engagement.

Bloggers have similar concerns:

• How can I get on the front page of Google?
• What’s my DA score?
• How do I know I’m using the right keywords?
• What’s a catchy blog title that the search engines will favour?
• What’s the ideal wordcount for search engines to love my article?
• Am I using the right images?

It can be stressful over thinking all this, the advantage of your blog is you can use it’s creative freedoms to break all the rules you heard.

If you:

• think using the blog title “7 Rules To Achieve XYZ” will cheapen the integrity against a less clickable title of your next post, don’t use it.
• want to write a reflection piece that has little value being found by a search engine, but your want to write it, then go for it.
• want to write long paragraphs, or 10,000+ word blogs with no images or titles breaking it up, then do it!

Advice has its place, but choosing to do your own thing is also good. Why? Because if everyone does everything the same it gets boring real quick, and the ones who stand out are the ones who do things different.

Respect blogging for what it is

In my old role as a project manager my mentor would say to me

“Sometimes you have projects where they’ve built a Ferrari engine, when what the customer wanted was an engine that is capable of pulling a lorry”

The point being each platform has it’s intended purpose – some is to go fast and look flash, others are more slow but get the job done.

I see blogging for it’s familiarity and ability to express yourself, building relationships with those who comment on your ideas.

Don’t dislike it for being something it isn’t

Is blogging dead? To answer that ask “Is punk dead?”

I use this comparison because I like blogging and I like punk.

Aside from my personal tastes, they do have similarities – both were founded on the DIY ethos, to create and express yourself without having the entry level skills to be accepted.

Both grew because mainstream culture doesn’t offer a platform for certain thoughts, groups and interests.

And both offer the empowerment that you are free to express yourself, even if it doesn’t follow conventional norms.

It seems apt with these similarities that people make the same statement about the two because I grew up hearing the statement “Punk is dead.”

For those who went through a phase of teenage rebellion in the late 70’s of mohawks and safety pins, perhaps it was.

But for those of who embraced those ideas, it moulded around the 80’s New Wave scene, by the 90’s it had a summer vibe, fitting around the skate scene, giving fond memories of the sound for anyone who played Tony Hawk skater, and it continued to evolve into the new millennium all the way to this day.

Blogging isn’t dead, like punk it just grew up into something new, and as long as we the people still have something we want to say, long will it remain.

Wishing you the best in your success.

James @Perfect Manifesto

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