Greg PakMay 29, 2023
Been thinking hard about blogs again, as I do every few months. I've had a website since at least 1998 and was blogging before I knew there was even a name for it, hand coding pages with dates and entries in HTML. Still maintain my website at https://gregpak.com. Still think of it as the center of my web presence, a place I completely own and control that a fickle billionaire can't easily ruin. Still wonder what it would take to make blogs take off again.
Greg Pak

Writer of over 600 comic books, including PLANET HULK, MECH CADET YU, LAWFUL, and DARTH VADER

Greg Pak
Show threadGreg PakMay 29, 2023

The obvious first answer is a great blog reader app of some kind. Back in the day, I didn't use an app. I just had a bunch of URLs of fave blogs that I'd run through a few times a day. But I know folks greatly mourn Google Reader. And I've tried Feedly and NetNewsWire, and they're fine! But I don't remember to go look at them everyday.

I'm realizing the real sticking point is that I just don't have that many friends/colleagues who are regularly updating blogs. Hope that changes.

Show threadGreg PakMay 29, 2023
Thinking about all this in part because of a post by @TheRaDR on Bluesky about the possible end of the age of social media. It does feel like it's imploding! The profit imperatives of big social media companies all seem to point toward systems that are loathe to provide the kind of moderation/safety that users really need. And so many companies want walled gardens, preventing creators and organizers from actually directing followers to their projects.
Show threadGreg PakMay 29, 2023
So I keep thinking about blogs. They really do solve a bunch of these issues! Of course, any blog with comments has all the terrible moderation/safety challenges of any of these social media sites. I haven't had comments on my own site in YEARS for that reason -- too much to handle. But as a place where folks own and control their own content, blogs are hard to beat!
Show threadGreg PakMay 29, 2023
But what would get folks to visit blogs again on a regular basis? I'm fascinated by actor/comedian Andrew Daly's return to blogging a few months back. He just started posting the kinds of little jokes he'd previously posted on Twitter on his blog. And it was awesome! But I imagine it felt a bit lonely after a while, without much feedback. https://andydaly.com/blog/
Blog - Andy Daly

Blog

Andy Daly
Show threadGreg PakMay 29, 2023

But what if a bunch of people were doing that and were linking to/referring to each other's posts?

Remember blogrolls? Webrings? Could something like that work again?

Show threadGreg PakMay 29, 2023
.@MakeAppPie has nailed one aspect of this -- the collapse of search engines has reduced traffic to non-link-farm blogs. Discoverability is a big problem! https://techhub.social/@MakeAppPie/110449741452034289
Steven Lipton (@[email protected])

@[email protected] I’ve thought about that too and sadly the answer is honest, decent search engines.

TechHub
Show threadGreg PakMay 29, 2023
@MakeAppPie Most of the traffic on my own website comes from links I post to social media. Which is fine - seems like blogs and social media accounts should work together like this. That's one of the promises of Wordpress joining the Fediverse, right? Fingers crossed that helps.
Show threadGreg PakMay 29, 2023
@MakeAppPie And then I've got some posts that have somehow gotten great rankings in Google results for very specific topics. Like this review of the Canon FTb -- it's consistently one of the most viewed posts every week on my site. Useful content on very specific stuff seems to still draw views! https://gregpak.com/a-love-letter-and-guide-to-the-canon-ftb-best-first-film-camera-ever/
A Love Letter and Guide to the Canon FTb: The Best First Film Camera Ever?

After trying out a dozen great cameras from various manufacturers since I re-immersed myself in 35mm photography this year, I’ve fallen back in love with my first serious camera, the Canon FTb, which might just be the best and most affordable single lens reflex camera for beginning analog photographers interested in the creative freedom provided … Continue reading A Love Letter and Guide to the Canon FTb: The Best First Film Camera Ever? →

GREG PAK • writer • filmmaker
Show threadGreg PakMay 29, 2023
Another way to drive traffic to a blog is to have a newsletter that you send out with links or you set up a subscription system like the one built into Wordpress where folks can sign up to get a notification whenever you post. But as @adampknave points out, the more we rely on email, the more people ignore their email. I'm a big believer in email newsletters for creatives! But how many newsletters does any person really wanna get in their email? https://realsocial.life/@adampknave/110449858999965888
Adam P. Knave (@[email protected])

@[email protected] Also things like wordpress mean you can sub to a blog EASY and just get an email when it updates. I try to encourage ppl to sub and slowly they do if they come back enough. BUT the more you read the more annoying that can get so double edged sword. No one wants 50 emails a day about diff sites updating.

RealSocial.Life
Show threadGreg PakMay 29, 2023
@adampknave I think my way forward is gonna be to continue posting stuff on gregpak.com, my work-related site, and use social media to point folks there. And I'm planning to launch a new blog for personal, non-work stuff, which may involve more general tomfoolery of the kind I'd have posted on Twitter in the past, along with practical political organizing stuff as the 2024 midterms approach. Again, supported by social media posts.
Show threadGreg PakMay 29, 2023
I've got a newsletter associated with my gregpak.com site. Gotta decide if I'll set up ANOTHER newsletter with my new personal site. Dunno about that yet. It's already a lot, isn't it?
Show threadGreg PakMay 29, 2023
Ultimately, I'll keep blogging 'cause I like it. Here's hoping the world cycles around and blogs become as relevant as I think they deserve to be once again.
Show threadGreg PakMay 29, 2023
BTW, if you're still blogging, please feel free to post a link in response to this post so folks can see it!
Show threadAdrian Kosmaczewski
@gregpak blogging once a week at https://akos.ma and one a month at https://deprogrammaticaipsum.com
akos.ma

May 29, 2023 at 4:54pmWeb