Why Facebook Needs Blogging
Wednesday, June 27th, 2007 at 8:00 am
I think it was just a bit more than a year ago that I got into the all-consuming world of social networking. I set up a MySpace profile and for the first month didn’t really know what was cracking or how to go about making friends, until someone sat me down and showed me the ropes. From that day onward I was hooked. This was probably also the first time I got introduced to the art of blogging. Most of my friends made use of the built-in blogging facility, informing each other through bulletin posts when new blog entries had been written. The majority of MySpace blogs I read tended toward the more poetic side of things, at most ranging to travel updates or the occasional humorous anecdote. Here and there people put up photos and – more seldom – delivered some newsy social commentary. When I felt inspired and brave I would publish poems or song lyrics. Other than that I didn’t venture much further into the blogosphere.
A year later, my MySpace account has been nipped in the bud by the mass migration to new mega social network, Facebook and along with that my reasonably regular blogging habit. When I moved across I set up a Blogger.com (Blogspot) account, but unfortunately not much has come of that, as I hardly ever seem to find the time to sit down and write something interesting, humorous or meaningful.
Somehow with a MySpace blog the pressure to perform seems a bit less
Somehow with a MySpace blog the pressure to perform seems a bit less and you are guaranteed of having at least a few readers within your ‘captive audience’ of friends.
With Blogger.com there’s no guarantee of people reading what you’ve put so much effort into writing. If you want a larger audience, your only option is to put major effort into publicising your blog. In one of their weekly articles on blogging, North x East gives ‘10 free ways to gain exposure for a young blog’, some tips worth looking at if you have a personal blog.
Although Facebook has proven to be a lot more user-friendly than MySpace, the lack of proper blogging facilities really does get to me. There is the “Notes” application, which allows what you’ve written to be published on all your friends’ mini-feeds. In effect I think this is meant to work as a substitute for blogging, but unfortunately mostly seems to be used it as a bulletin board of sorts. Apart from this it doesn’t have the typical blogging format allowing readers to scroll through previous entries, greatly affecting the reach your writing could have. It is, however, interesting to note that MySpace has recently been making a greater effort to adopt more of Facebook’s user-friendly feel. There is the ‘Mood’ facility, which seems to be a mixture between the status tool and moods application found on Facebook. MySpace has also made things a lot easier by installing a search bar to find a friend at the click of a button, similar to Facebook’s easy-to-use friends list. Apart from these two changes, it seems as though MySpace has really been shaping up to serve as worthy competition to the powerhouse of social networking. Unfortunately, it may be too little too late, as even some of the more die-hard MySpace fans out there have been setting up Facebook accounts to stay in contact with friends across the networking spectrum. The first step to full conversion?
Writing is the one major creative outlet I tend to indulge most often.
there is definitely something charming and exciting about your words being made available to more eyes
Although personal journals and university essays do provide a certain amount of release, there is definitely something charming and exciting about your words being made available to more eyes than only those of your closest friends, family or lecturers.
Looking at it this way, blogging could certainly serve a purpose on Facebook, making it that much easier for wannabe bloggers out there to get started, gain an audience and possibly even spread their wings into the wider blogosphere at a later stage.
Biscuitrat Says:
August 10th, 2007 at 9:47 pm
Although it is possible to import posts from your blog directly into Facebook — I use this method all the time, to great effect
SB Says:
August 20th, 2007 at 10:36 am
Facebook has a new app, called Blog Friends — it’s not a blogging platform; what it does is pull your friends’ blogs into your facepage, and yours to theirs. Even better, it adds a few posts from ‘friends of friends’ blogs.
You must click through to read the entire post, but I’ve been enjoying this a lot. It’s my favorite Facebook app, and I assume it will improve with age.
Nadia Says:
August 20th, 2007 at 4:05 pm
awesome! finally an application with a real use… hehe!
thanks for the info! haven’t blogged in a while, but might have a bit more incentive to do so now.
Ryan Says:
September 10th, 2007 at 12:58 pm
WordBook is a good way to place your WordPress posts directly into your Facebook news/mini-feeds… You can keep your Facebook friends up to date, but also have the flexibility of a proper blogging platform.
Blogsolid Says:
September 10th, 2007 at 2:16 pm
Thanks for the link, Ryan. It doesn’t seem to be working right now, so here’s a link to WordBook on the WordPress Plugins page.