Looking at some other blogs recently I started to wonder about age profile of blog writers and blog readers.
Blogging was once THE THING. We were the trendy new innovators. We were ahead of the game, writing and publishing our own stuff on the internet and getting responses.
However change has not just got faster, the pace of change has got faster. It is an acceleration. Social media has become so diverse. I won't even begin to list the options. But on some of those you cannot post certain BDSM content. Tumblr has just closed down lots of sites. Facebook profiles with nipples, even if they are national art galleries, get closed down.
Younger people use other options more. I don't know much about some of them. Twitter can be good though I tend to use it for BDSM and vanilla purposes mostly for publicity. However for many people Twitter and Facebook may be their main news gathering sites.
The point is though - are we bloggers mostly of a certain age? Are younger people posting shorter, pithier and perhaps more interesting things with fewer words elsewhere? It is good to be able to write at length. However, perhaps we would make contact with more people, and a greater range of people, if we used fewer words on different types of sites.
So are there any younger readers of this site and younger bloggers out there?
Any of you under 30?
Under 40...?
Under 50...?????
And NO, I'm not telling you how old I am either!
;)
"But why?"
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12 comments:
Of course each platform has a different demographic. But one thing remains the same for everyone, and it is the need for in-depth, organized and reliable information (yes, about kink too). As the countless social media scandals and fiascos keep proving, you cannot entrust fiddly overlords with that kind of information, so I'd say personal websites/blogs will stay strong for a pretty long while yet.
Yes, it will probably be us over-forty folks taking care of them while the kids cavort on Fortnite or whatever until they need that information. And then they will grow up too, and some of them will take our places and carry on curating.
That's not bad at all, when you think about it.
The thing I like about blogging is the exchange of thoughts an ideas. If I am on Tumblr I can read some very interesting things, but I can only say a few words, and 'liking' or reposting is basically the thing to do, not comment.
While leaving lengthy comments isn't my 'goal', I very much enjoy when people offer a bit of their lives on my blog. Over the years, particularly when we first started 7 years ago, better than the post was the discussion in the comments after. I was private for years and recently 'came out' LOL. I don't have a large reading base but I LOVE that people still feel comfortable talking about themselves and their point of views in my comment section. The other platforms don't seem to offer much besides self promotion and one way sharing.
willie
Ps. I am not 50 yet- but I can see it. LOL
48 here! Yikes! Slightly depressing but since I pass for mid 30's without surgical enhancement, I'll take it for now! Wish I had time to blog. Love reading blogs of all kinds, but you are my favorite by far Pygar. For the record, I find you delightful and inspirational, no matter what your age may be 😘
Thank you all so much. I think I am in agreement with all of you. Your replies support my claim that the best bit of my blogs isn't what I write - it is the comments. Though in truth what I like about it is the discussion.
Blogging gives that platform for the in depth discussion some of these issues need. However there is a place for the other sites. There are many who use Twitter for serious discussion. At times it can be good to force us to express ourselves concisely. Though I don't use it in that way myself.
Regarding age it is interesting that Ayzed and myself, two men, do not give our age whereas DM does and willie almost does. Isn't it usually supposed to be the other way round?
Me?
I'm 29.
Or was that a typo?
Perhaps 39?
Or something like that...
LOL
(If only...)
Like DM though I am sure I pass for fifteen years younger!!!
;)
P xx
*shrug* I'm 40. There, I said it. lol
P, I like blogging, because for me. It's not about who I reach, though I always do hope when I share something hard, that it will touch someone else going through something similar so they don't feel so alone, but I write the blog for me. I don't really have time to process a lot in my life. But blogging, it forces me too. I write down what I'm thinking, what I'm feeling, and then I think of my readers, and give it one more go over to try to show them what's in my head, since they're not actually in there getting a front row seat. ;) And because of this, I've learned a lot more about myself than I would have if I didn't blog. If I didn't dig deeper. If I didn't take those paragraphs to get to the heart of the matter. I have a small reader base, but even if I have none, I hope I keep up with my blog just because of how much it helps me learn about me. :)
EsMay
You may be right that we'd reach more, but I suspect we'd be saying less.
And frankly, I'm too ornery. While one can be precise in tweet-speak, few bother... and I don't need put my blood pressure through that!
Thanks Esmay. You speak a lot of sense for one so young!
In discussions with those who write to Uncle Agony I often point out that in writing down their concerns they have gone a long way to finding the answer. Taking the thought and time to rite things down makes one clarify things in a way that often helps one understand the issues better. It is interesting that you are saying very similar things about how you find blogging useful. I am sure it will hep many others in the same way.
Good luck, and keep blogging
P xx
We certainly don't want to cause any difficulties with your blood pressure Jz!
Though your comment at 172 characters was only a little above the old Twitter limit and well within the new longer limit. So the occasional Twitter may be possible without any adverse effects!
:)
P xx
The young are in love with the power of images.Pics are what drives them, so that is what they gravitate and groove to, for now.
There will always be a place for words. No doubts!
Yes Princesse, I think there is a strong interest in pictures and video on social media. It was what partly helped Facebook become established and has led on to tumblr, Instagram, Pinterest, etc.
However it is interesting how words have fought back into the pictures. There are large numbers of pictures of quotations, motivational sayings and poems to be found. A number of Instagram poets have become well known.
So yes, there will always be a place for words. Thank you Princesse
P xx
I'm in my mid-thirties. I find that the youngsters (it's strange to use that term when I'm young myself) use Instagram and Snapchat... pictures and videos and media that can be consumed quickly.
They used to like tumblr... and maybe many still do after the ban. I haven't been back there. There's a huge community on reddit, but I think lots of them are older as well.
My younger cousins won't use Facebook. That's for "old people". My brother who is not even 2 years younger than I, won't use it either.
Thank you Lea. Your comment reminded me of some comments in an email recently from a friend. (Reminder - MUST REPLY!) She is about your age and made some comments that certainly overlap.
However she feels also that attitudes to relationships and the ways people brought up on social media react to others has been conditioned by the different nature of online relationships.
For instance she wrote,
"And I feel like people have forgotten how to deal with real human interaction, especially the slightly more difficult ones. The amount of cowardice I encounter among people who have grown up with social media is just shocking to me."
There was lots more in that vein.
Where as you suggest, people only react to responses that can be consumed quickly the no longer have the patience for deeper thought and an interchange - so lose out on closer and more fulfilling comment - and even relationships.
P xx
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