“Is Facebook killing Blogger?”
During the last years, I've been worried about this
subject and decided now to explore it with your help. Let my give you an example, a kind of starting point: We have in Portugal a
webpage lodged in the Portuguese Orienteering Federation's site,
which is called OriOasis.
It's kind of a “mini-World of O” site, where 23 Portuguese Blogs and Sites are represented. More than a half of them are
completely dead and only six blogs have articles published in
2015. Five of them have 25 articles overall published along this
year. The other one, Orientovar –www.orientovar.blogspot.com
–, has 390 articles published so far. Orientovar is my personal
blog and I know what I'm talking about; but I also have to say
that I have now around 80 visitors each day, while that number,
three years ago, was higher than 400 visitors each day. At the
same time, I can see that the “dead
blogs” administrators, are still quite active on Facebook, which mean,
probably, they moved their attentions from Blogger to Facebook in
an almost definitive way.
So, I tried to listen some top bloggers about this subject, having their feedback about five questions (the same for everyone). Emily Benham, Catherine
Taylor, Mikhail Vinogradov, Lizzie Ingham, Hans Jörgen Kvale or
Jan Kocbach are some of the bloggers that, during the next days,
will leave here their opinions. Of course, you're also free to
participate, leaving your contribution on the Portuguese
Orienteering Blog's commentary corner. We'll certainly appreciate that!
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Looking for the Portuguese example
above, do you feel the same with your blog and blogs around you? Is
this a problem for you?
Catherine Taylor (C. T.) - Of
course you notice that some people post on their Facebook more than
their blog or website or increasingly so. I think it's a natural
thing to happen when there is a new resource available - people will
adapt and use it! I think it's mostly a positive thing to use a
variety of media to promote, discuss and share things to do with our
great sport. It is a bit more difficult for those who do not have
Facebook to follow, though I've noticed WorldOfO does also link to
athletes' Facebook pages now.
Do you have an Orienteering Facebook
page? Could you tell us about your experience in having both a
Facebook page and Blog?
C. T. - I don't have a Facebook
page as an athlete, I keep Facebook with just my personal page. But I
can understand how it can suit other people to use Facebook as well
as or instead of a blog or athlete site.
Is it clear that Facebook is a quick
way to talk about Orienteering, but is it also the best way to
promote our sport? Is the Blogger condemned to be extinguished?
C. T. - The best way to show the
world instantly how beautiful and exciting orienteering can be, is
with pictures and this is why Facebook can work really well - you get
the pictures and then more story/explanation than you can fit onto
Twitter. So it's great for that quick impression.
I don't think blogging is dying out at
all! I think there is definitely still a place for reading longer
texts that can tell a more complete story. Not everyone has the time
or confidence to sit and write a full article but for those that do,
there is still an audience - at least I really enjoy reading some
nicely constructed writing. It feels like you can "know"
the writer and their story a little better with longer posts.
Have you ever felt like stopping
writing? Are you loosing the interest in writing and reading – and
sharing! - about Orienteering?
C. T. - No, I enjoy writing and
that's why I carry on! I haven't written in a while because I'm in
the process of changing my small blog page to something a little
better, but also because I'm not doing anything so exciting at the
moment. I try not to force posts out of myself just because I haven't
written in a while. In the new year, when I'm travelling more, I'll
get going again!
Have you any general ideas about
Communication in our sport that you would like to share?
C. T. - I'd say that if you're
trying to reach more people than just a small audience of keen
orienteers, it's always good to keep in mind that orienteering is
full of complicated concepts that not everyone is familiar with.
Think about how to explain things in a way more people might
understand, or concentrate on the more universal aspects of sport
rather than the technical elements. But it all depends who you want
your audience to be! And some nice pictures reflecting your subject
are never a bad idea :-)
Joaquim Margarido
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