Tuesday 7 October 2014

The Changing Blog World

I've only been blogging for a couple of months now, and before that I really only read one blog. The very famous work of Sherry and John at Young House Love (which my sister got me into)! But just this last month, they decided to take a blogging break (which has left so many people with a huge blog sized hole in their heart, including me). And more recently, a New York Times article discussed the issues with blogging these days. The blog world is evolving at a rapid pace.

For many like me, we just type away for the viewing eyes of our friends and family. And maybe the odd stranger. But for the most part, it's a tight circle of people we know who read our work. But for some, their audiences reach far beyond people who know them into the greater world wide web. And hit after hit, people who the writer knows nothing about read their intimate words. Then with increasing popularity comes the attention of corporate eyes looking for some word of mouth promotion. Plus, once you've got that kind of reach, you are no longer randomly writing a blog here or there. And you have to fork out thousands of dollars to pay for webhosting to support that kind of traffic. So you need cash flow. Let's just say that everything gets more complicated as soon as people start reading your blog.  And this is what's happening now, not to me, but for some blogging is becoming a business and it's amazing and it's complicated. Really complicated.

Now that I blog, I read more blogs and am watching the corporate culture inclusion. For example, Manhattan Nest's new house purchase, or Vintage Revival's Nugget sponsored by the Home Depot. There are endless promo entries in the blogs I read and I'm cool with it. It's not this that I'm actually bothered by when it comes to blogs growing in popularity. My bigger issue is people's comments.

When I first started, I thought maybe my friends would comment on my blog. But more often than not, they just comment on my facebook. Well, expect for that one time my friend Kate actually commented on my blog (Thanks Kate!). And honestly, I felt a bit discouraged. Doesn't anyone care that I've laid carpet tile for the hundredth time! (lololol). But then I got to thinking about how hurtful some of the comments I've seen on other blogs can be. And how the comment sections of the web are filled with jerks, meanies and others just trying to get people rilled up. And I'll give people the benefit of the doubt, that sometimes things come out wrong in writing. But really, truly, I'm thankful for the silence, as I don't think I could manage if the world started having an opinion on what I do in my home.

And that's where I take my hat off to all those that have popular blogs and manage to keep their sanity while the world chimes in. And I hope, so hope that this week or next, Young House Love will return, and not be consumed by all the negative energy that has come their way. I hope they will hear the love of the internet and all their fans. Bigger than that, I hope we all find ways to let the negative slights that try to take over our hearts, be silenced by all the love that the world is truly speaking to us.

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