For my last 'official' class blog I wanted to explore what we have been doing in the classroom, and that is blogging! Now, we have examined multiple educational avenues that steer us toward 21st Century Learning but for some reason when thinking about what to write for this topic my mind kept on racing back to blogging. The main reason why my mind has done that is because of the questions that I posed to myself throughout the course, EDUC 5P42. One of the questions (which is the theme for this blog) is, "Is Blogging Still Relevant?" I thought of this question when some of my classmates were presenting on new innovative 21st Century Learning practices. There have been so many new and interesting online avenues that allow you to express yourself other then blogging so I wanted to turn to some scholarly articles that speak to this issue. I will then give my personal opinion on the question!
Clayton Lainsbury (2012), the Founder and CEO at Crowd Content, a content marketplace for clients and high performance writers, says "Blogging has dominated content marketing in the past with most businesses looking to improve their SEO performance. Lately, however, it seems like the traditional blogging approach has been forgotten about". This seems kind of true to a certain extent. You never turn on the TV and see corporation/business commercials advertising "Hey, check us out on our blog". They always refer to Facebook, Twitter or even LinkedIn (shout to Marisa!!!). It almost seems that blogging is less appealing to the other 'quicker' online forms of expressing yourselves. When thinking about this, you would think that blogging is on the decline but in reality, it's really not.
Lainsbury (2012) crunches some numbers regarding blogging and it's quite staggering, "While generic social media gets all the attention, blogging still attracts massive amounts of traffic. For instance, Tumblr gets 355 million unique visitors every month and a good 400 million page views per day. At present, 81% of online users trust blogs when making buying decisions. Clearly, then, quality content is still a big draw if you know how to leverage it". Please continue to Tumblr's website if you are unfamiliar with it: https://www.tumblr.com/. So, Lainsbury brings up some pretty impressive numbers; Blogging must still be relevant and pretty trustworthy.
He also provided a new point that I really never thought about before. Lainsbury (2012) stated that, "It’s also important to note that 24% of the top 10,000 blogs online have Facebook integration, which means that the line between blogging and social media is blurring at an increasing rate". It's interesting to think that blogging and Facebook are now blurring the lines. (Side note, it shows you how popular Facebook is...I just typed in Facebook with an "f" and it said that it was wrong; it needed a capital! Is Facebook now in Webster's Dictionary?!). It's kind of old meeting the new, and working it out together.
Now I know everyone has been aching to hear what I have to say in terms of answering the question, "Is Blogging Still Relevant?" I would have to answer that question with a Yes! Although Facebook and many other avenues are still out there for expressing yourself I still believe that blogging is number 1 in terms of letting people know what you're all about and they actually don't get annoyed (hopefully not). For example, if I were to post this blog and my other ones onto my Facebook status bar I am sure that it would not be well received and this long (important) blurb would be taking up everyone's News Feeds. For that reason, I am sure I would get a lot of 'unlikes". Neil Patel (2012), the co-founder of KISSmetrics, an analytics provider that helps companies make better business decisions, says it perfectly, "A blog allows you to build a fuller picture of who you are. Most people will meet you through other places…but if they like what they read on Twitter, then they’ll follow you back to your blog and find out more about who you are. You better have a lot of content to give them". As I mentioned before that quote, you really do get to be creative and let people know who you are through your blog writing!
I now pose the same question to my readers, "Is Blogging Still Relevant?" Let me hear it!
TO BLOG, WOULD BE THE ANSWER!
Cheers,
James Stewart
References
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Lainsbury:
http://www.crowdcontent.com/blog/2013/02/12/the-ongoing-evolution-of-content-marketing-is-blogging-still-relevant/
Patel:
http://www.searchenginejournal.com/7-reasons-why-blogging-is-still-important-in-2012/39225/
James,
ReplyDeleteYou raise some excellent questions and opportunities to reflect on the relevancy of blogging. There are so many social media outlets available, I too have wondered about relevancy. This activity in 5P42 is my first experience with blogging and I am a "rookie" in this respect. I have learned the value blogging can offer although I do see some limitations. For one, blogs are quite comprehensive and although they offer insight into new ways of learning, thinking and doing (especially in learning from my "blog peers"!), they are time consuming. I have enjoyed this process and learning from my colleagues with respect to this topic area although I doubt that in my own practice that I will make time for following others' blogs outside of this course.
With that said, I see a huge value in blogging for an individual's own professional growth and development. The process of reflection appears to be lost in so many ways with the "immediacy" of today's social media and digital world. Blogging as a means of reflection (and offering feedback) seems quite valuable. I am just not so sure that people really care to know my in-depth thoughts on any particular subject matter (even if it IS LinkedIn!).
Blogging can also offer an opportunity to practice an invaluable skill - written communication. With so many quick, limited character avenues for providing information, blogging offers a space to practice more in-depth communication - outside of academia (for those of us in this world) and in "real life". I find many students have difficulties in writing introductory e-mail messages, cover letters, etc. We don't often practice written communication and I see blogging as another way to practice this skill. Knowing that your blog will be posted for the world to see (potentially) also may result in having an individual re-read their post "one last time" and catch errors, etc. that may have originally occurred.
Anyway, somehow I went off on a tangent there although I agree with your assessment that blogging is still relevant. As referenced in your post, I also accept Lainsbury's notion that social media is blurring. Through my own experience in 5P42, I have seen the value in creating a professional brand (as an educator and practitioner) and ensuring that your blog(s), twitter, LinkedIn (and maybe Facebook if I ever get on it!) all blur together to create a digital impression of who we are.
Thanks for another great post James!
Marisa
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteJames,
ReplyDeleteSimilar to you, I was not sure how relevant blogging would be. Before beginning this course, I have never written a blog nor did I ever really read other people’s blogs. However, that did not keep me from wanting to learn what blogging was all about! I was hesitant at the idea of blogging as part of our assignment. My main concern was for others (besides our classmates and Dr. Drake) to read our thoughts and opinions. In relation to a video posted from Brett’s latest blog post, James Cameron discusses failure as an option, not fear. I had somewhat of a fear that I would either say something that someone might not agree with, or they may say something inappropriate that I would most likely take it personally. Besides being a “noob” to all this, I believe my sense of confidence in what I produce has increased. We have to fail sometimes in order to learn from our mistakes. This blogging thing has sure taught me to take risks on expressing my opinions. So what if others do not agree with me? We need to express our voice one way or another. In a positive sense, blogging can allow students to share their thoughts and let the world hear it. We want them to be expressive, creative and take part in connections that they may never thought possible. By connecting to other blogs that share similar thoughts and ideas, it leads them to be collaborative. Isn’t that what we want in a 21st century learner? Just like you, I say yes to blogging as well!
- Tien
James,
ReplyDeleteNice post! I appreciate the statistics that you were able to provide, in order to substantiate the relevancy of blogging. I didn't just have your opinion, but solid data to help me understand the true impact of blogs at the present time. In addition, tying in blogging as a support tool to other forms of social media (and vice versa), is a great way to make the connection between the depth and breadth of blogging and newer, higher speed, small bit of information-style social media tools.
Personally, I appreciate having the opportunity to learn from someone who has real value to add to the lives of readers. In other words, if you've got something that I can learn from, react to, discuss, admire, or simply be disturbed by...I want to follow your blog!
I'm excited, and pleased that we had the opportunity to begin blogging through this course, and I look forward to continuing this practice.
Thanks for your insight, sense of humour, and solid research that went into each of your blogs James. They were a pleasure to read. Keep up the great work!
Take care,
Brett
Nice final blog and i am glad you came out on the side of blogging. I don't think there is much to
ReplyDeleteargue about really. I have seen careers blossom through blogging. Teachers who blog become part of a PLN. Some people who blog actually do it full time. And it has become part of news reporting. Interesting that people trust blogs and not just refereed articles!
I really like your writing style, great information, thankyou for posting.
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I would like to say that this blog really convinced me to do it! Thanks, very good post.
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