Why Bother Blogging in 2025 AD?
Why would anyone bother blogging in the 25th year of the 3rd millennium? “Because I want to” is a sufficient answer as far as I’m concerned, but I can say more.
- I started this blog over 10 years ago. Like many scholars and academics, I read constantly in grad school. Not everything you read will make it into a paper, a class discussion, or a research design. I would take copious notes about the details that were of interest to me, made me gasp, laugh, think, whatever, and eventually I put them in a blog. Not much has changed. I still take in an obscene amount of information, and I want to share it sometimes.
- There’s life beyond algorithms. Our social platforms are so heavily curated and controlled. They rapidly descend into echo chambers, cater to trends, and thrive on irritation. I love a good social media platform, staying connected with friends, learning new things, etc., but I also find the alienation, misinformation, radicalization, anger, bullying, and the culture of uninformed hot takes deleterious. Algorithms can act like blinders, feeding our baser instincts. Blogs are spaces where writers can still control the entire experience. A friend recently described them as “digital gardens tended by human hands rather than optimization engines.” I like the idea of contributing to information beyond algorithms; cultivating and nurturing a community with specific shared interests.
- Anthropology and science communication are generally complex. Long form content allows for nuance, complexity, and context in ways that shorter formats simply can’t accommodate.
- Community Building! The specificity of my blog serves as a gathering point for building a community of practice and passion. This goes for lots of fields. Professionals and experts can use blogs as external memory systems, documenting processes, learning quests, sharing and saving resources, synthesizing ideas, and creating a space for discussion. That’s efficient, right?
- Cuz I want to!
While blogging may seem a little passe, it seems that in the last two years, the blog as a digital content tool has gotten a bit of a bounce. The rise of platforms like Substack has revitalized the blogging ecosystem as creators and writers look for new, specific ways to connect with audiences. I would also argue that the increasing fragmentation and volatility experienced on social media platforms like Instagram, X, TikTok, etc. have more people longing for richer, more cohesive, and unified spaces and experiences.
Here are some stats:
- In 2022, there were over 600 million active blogs across the internet. (Growth Badger, 2022)
- 76% of bloggers publish educational content. (Orbit Media)
- While producing blog content is becoming more difficult, those who spend more time creating quality, readable pieces are yielding better results (Orbit Media)
- Blog posts remain the most popular content format, with 9 out of 10 marketers using blogging to achieve content goals. (HubSpot)
- 80% of internet users interact with both social media sites and blogs. (DemandMetric)
Long story, not short enough, there are great reasons and sufficient data to suggest that blogging in 2025 on Beyonce’s internet is a great idea.
