Here’s an observation: Is it so that media, including bloggers and vloggers, are more about quantity than quality? Meaning the quantity of updates, blogs, vlogs, articles, references and most of all: the quantity of readers and the money that can be made through these readers. This is quite a negative view, but I am seriously concerned about it.
And I get it: in order to be financially independent one needs to generate income. Writers and vloggers would like to earn money through doing what they love. My problem is that I don’t see the big picture anymore. I wonder: how many people are writers, social media managers, bloggers and vloggers these days? And how many people are willingly reading or viewing their products and for how many people does this actually contribute to their well-being?
The mentioned ‘producers’ aim to contribute to the lives of their users, but it occurs to me as if that aim easily becomes secondary to the aim of gaining readers and followers and obtaining personal benefits like money, certain privileges and ego-boosts. This results in more and more rather empty posts and updates and less high quality content.
Is it okay to feed followers irrelevant or empty content?
This disturbs me because I regard time and energy as valuable. Many ‘producers’ seem to assume that it’s okay to feed their followers very irrelevant or empty posts. Doesn’t this lead to an internet full of junk? And to worn-out and numb followers with a mind full of irrelevant stuff? (Often posts are about physical stuff one can buy but does not need. There posts generally contribute to feeding our cravings and making us unhappy, really.)
And doesn’t this lead to worn-out bloggers and vloggers?! I learnt that 2018 will be the year of the vlogger burn out. They get burnt out because of the high pressure they sense from YouTube. Seriously.
I know that I am very critical and a little cynical, but it is a simple observation. Do you observe the same? Do you regard this as a problem?
Moreover, are there solutions to this? Can a solution be to group together and produce content from communities instead of per individual? So instead of having personal blogs, to have community blogs – or blog communities? This way there’s less pressure on individual writers! (Kinda like good old newspapers and magazines!)
With so many bloggers around, it would be great to have blog communities!
I think that readers and followers can also be more conscious of how they spend their time and of what they expect from bloggers. No? I personally do not follow blogs, but I used to when I was a teenager. I remember to like it when bloggers posted often. But now that there are so many bloggers and blogs around, much more than ten years ago, maybe it would be quite easy and nice to have ‘rotation systems’ or so.
This would totally lead to and require a different mindset, though. Which would be great too! Less competition and more community, hooray!
About my blog: it has the general purpose of contributing to increasing reader’s consciousness and well-being. Most of my blog posts are written with this clear intention! I prefer to not pressure myself into writing or posting stuff regularly, but instead to let it come naturally. However, I do sense some pressure to post at least monthly. Also, I regard writing here as a good practice for my writing skills and general personal development.
Share your blogs!
Here’s a request: Please – if you dare!- share your own blogs and the ones you follow! It’d be great if you could write why you like certain blogs, or what you seek in a blog. I’d like to learn more about readers and bloggers and to get to know more like-minded people’s blogs! Maybe we can start a blog community. 🙂
Also, I just used the hashtag #consciousblogging. I may just have invented it!
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