15 February 2018

Could social networks put blogs in danger of existence?

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Before the “boom” of social networks began, companies began to launch blogs to try to attract their customers by offering different content. Until not long ago having a corporate blog implied a responsibility and commitment on the part of the company and also an interest in offering relevant content that valued especially the users. But it seems that companies no longer see it this way despite the fact that many other experts emphasize that blogs are still powerful communication tools for these organizations.

Even though his death has been announced hundreds of times, time has shown that blogs resist dying. However, new studies like the one presented recently by Dartmouth, University of Massachusetts, reveals that corporate blogs are not going through their best time, mainly because companies have replaced them with social networks. The main reason that this study refers to is that social networks have an immediacy in the updates that blogs can not even dream of.

If we go back in time we can see how in 2010 half of the most important companies in the world had a corporate blog, but that trend began to decrease in 2011, reducing to 37%. Throughout that year only 23% of the companies continued to update it while about 91% already interacted through social networks.

But why is this happening with blogs? Will it also happen with social networks? It seems that the main reason is the fact that social networks such as Facebook or Twitter are simpler and faster to manage for companies and can generate a faster and more immediate return. Is this immediacy enough to overestimate with respect to blogs?

No, but the truth is that social networks increasingly offer a greater variety of resources and tools for their users and the ability to share photos, videos, surveys, etc faster. This is why this research puts shows that social networks are exceeding not only blogs, but also podcast or video blogging, also highlighting that it is possible that blogs have reached their peak, actually falling for the first time since 2007 among the most important companies of the world.

However, we are sure that these conclusions will not be taken as valid arguments for many other companies and brands that prefer to bet on this type of media as a center of resources and information within their content marketing strategy. And that not everything revolves exclusively around social networks despite its innumerable advantages. Outside of them there is also life and blogs are still surviving.

If we really analyze the tendencies and habits of the users, we will find that interestingly, 70% of the shared contents correspond to information generated through some means or external reference. Perhaps the answer to the dilemma is not to establish differences and depending on preferences, but to join forces to generate greater visibility and visibility, using each and every one of the tools. And most importantly, to be certain that we continue to depend on our own resources, and we have not sold ourselves, leaving our future only in the hands of social networks.

But having said that, could social networks really put blogs in danger of existence?