Wow! I didn’t mean to leave you waiting for so long for a blog post. This that mean blogs are dead? The last 12 months were packaged full with a lot of new projects, most of them handmade, creative or diy projects that I felt I could not stop feeding.
The years of 2020 and 2021 changed me a lot as well as my priorities. I am not trying to redeem myself or excuse me. This went as it should be, and one thing I am now more aware of is of what this blog means to me. Regarding this, I visited it so many times in the last 6 months and really enjoyed traveling through it as a reader. I made so many things through out the years and now everything is crystalized here. I am so proud! It really inspired me. So, in the end the last year, I took some time to think about it! Here are my thoughts.
“Blogs are dead!”
Many say that “blogs are dead”. Are they really? I read a lot of them, as well as other formats too and I think blogs are the closest to “home” you can find online these days. Other platforms don’t feel as yours as this one. During the last two years I saw many blogger friends turning themselves to Instagram, Youtube, etc and thrive. I am not that smart on social networks. I am not, I struggle a lot posting on social media. Don’t get me wrong: these are awesome platforms and I do consume and learn a lot from them. And I should use them much more than I do. But I am mostly a “word” person and so I feel better blogging, even if blogs are dead.
The online world also changed
Two years ago the world changed and in just a few weeks we directed ourselves online for work, communication, entertainment, etc. Online social media platforms were the intermediators between us, people, economy and even nature… Every single marketing strategy was moving from the streets to online.
Following this, I started to see that I was consuming my favorite content while being pushed to the marketing strategies I have always hated. I am an advertising rebel. I stopped watching TV and listen to radio many years ago. Just because the quality rate between advertising and actual content stressed me out: the sound, the colors, the scenes, the lack of creativity and the obnoxious time it takes for so little content (most of the times very poor quality content at least here in Portugal). Don’t get me wrong: I recognize the power of advertising and I thing it can be an awesome thing. But today, most of it, it is not.
A dependence relationship
I could ramble about this for hours but I am not going to. My point here is that I have seen my favorite bloggers, who consciously choose to advertise or be sponsored by products or companies in which they really believe, being hit, by inappropriate dramatic advertising. Most of these products don’t even merge within their content. They take more and more time for the consumer and are literally using the boost of these bloggers content just to making it a lower experience.
Some bloggers and content creators really suffered a lot with this: they got trapped in a relationship that started fine and sane but that is just getting more and more possessive. Some are just cutting the umbilical cord but many others are not in a position of doing that. In addition, people being stuck and devoting many time to online consumerism triggered many trolls and judgmental reactions to other peoples ways of living.
People were consuming everything: the things they love and the things they don’t love without any criteria and literally pushing down anything that was either different from the way they do things or everything they ever dreamed of. Two things were triggering this attitude: difference and envy, even that we commonly chose to read them as “tradition” and “humbleness”. So we judge. It’s the human nature. But as humans, we always get to choose how we read our own attitudes.
What about me?
While being an introvert I typically isolate myself from those type of self expression. I know it does me no good. Any good. I can imagine what it does to those creators that somehow depend on their content to keep a living; I advocate of positive feedback; I choose not to comment if I have nothing good to say; I chose to support them if I can so that they can deliver; I am happy for their success; I learn from them. You see, as humans, the quality of their content often depends of the people on the other side of this conversation. May be it shouldn’t, but It is, as any other type of relationship. Both expect, both sides expect.
The other flippy side of this is this algorithm thing that is just another lucky game: no-one ever knows what is coming. The pandemic showed us that you cannot take anything for granted but also showed us the things in which we can always rely on. Algorithms also show us that you cannot take anything for granted but are unable to catch any type of reliability. Its a constant game with changing rules every minute. As Nature shows us: I thing its not worth the energy. We have limited energy anyways.
Make independence, not war.
These days I see many content creators turning they efforts to a more curated audience and to independent production. I guess they believe that it is more rewarding to expect from their people (people seem to be at least an inch more reliable these days) than random algorithms. If you love the game, just play it. Don’t ever depend on it. And this is something I am taking for live: dependence is only healthy if you can rely on things no matter what. So, for now, the things I am blogging about will focus independence and self esteem. I will curated my space more, share my thoughts more and provide more to my subscribers. I will keep posting, although more occasionally, about homemaking, skills, tutorials, slowing down, nature connection and create an independent living and a space in which we can all rely. Let’s move on.
