At the turn of the millennium, there were only 23 blogs online. Fast forward 10 years and this number has increased to over 150 million. With this figure always growing, it is not surprising that blogging has become a massively powerful form of modern media. As blogging becomes more popular than print magazines and newspapers, it is becoming harder to ignore. It’s time to realize that the age blogging is now and it’s here to stay.
So why the sudden increase in blogs? There are so many reasons why people start blogging, such as having space to talk about things that interest them or to document things that they have done, outfits they have worn and places they have been to. A blog is the perfect medium to write about personal topics. Blogging is also a way for people to independently publish their own work and hopefully share that work with an audience who care about it. Blogs differ greatly in topic. Beauty and fashion seem to be the most popular subjects, but no matter how obscure your interest, I guarantee that there is definitely a blog dedicated to it.
However, with the multitude of blogs that are appearing around the web, it is becoming increasingly difficult to get noticed. The blogging world seems to have been taken over by a few, such as Zoe Sugg and Bethany Mota, for example. Blogging or vlogging, in their bedrooms has launched huge careers for these two young women, proving how valuable and profitable blogging can be, if you can get noticed, that is. Nowadays, it seems as though mostly everyone has a blog, which is a topic that has divided opinion.
I love how popular blogging has become. I love that people enjoy writing and feel confident enough in their own work to put it out there for the world to see. Sure, you probably won’t get much recognition for it, but if your main intention is fame or followers, you’re not blogging for the right reasons anyway. For me, blogging is a way for me to improve my writing and photography. It's also a way to gain experience writing articles.
Whether you like how popular blogging has become or not, there’s no denying that it’s a powerful and credible form of media. It’s important to read about the opinions and views of "real" people. By "real" I mean people you know haven’t been paid to write; people who write because the believe in what they’re writing about. Blogs, particularly lesser known blogs, tend to write with no affiliation or bias, so you know there’s truth to what they’re saying. Finally, blogging is a way of democratizing the media, which can never be a bad thing.