Blogging today
Blogging today is both more complicated and less complicated than in the past. What do I mean by this? Technically, there are more choices than ever before, which makes things both simpler and more complex. Options like WordPress, Google's Blogger, Bear Blog, Micro.blog, Hugo, Write.as, Scribbles, and many more exist today.
The less complicated part is actually writing. Not that the topics themselves aren’t complex, but once you pick a platform, there’s little to no setup. In the past, setting up a blog required a lot of effort. Then Blogger came along and made it easy. Then Google bought Blogger, and Microsoft launched Live Writer. That’s when things went downhill for a while. Live Writer is gone, and Blogger has stagnated under Google. I often wonder where Blogger would be today if Google had never acquired it. I like to think it could have been the dominant force in blogging, constantly innovating.
Then social media platforms came along—Myspace (I never used it), Facebook (I quickly saw what they were about and left), and Twitter. Now Twitter was my jam. I loved Twitter before Elon. I even owned a few shares of the stock at different times. I was hoping they would fully flesh out their idea of offering extra features to stockholders. But now, blogging is making a comeback because billionaires, never satisfied with what they have, have ruined those platforms.
As I continue my blogging journey, I’m trying to escape what I see as the coming collapse of WordPress—yet another unhinged millionaire wanting to become a billionaire. I’ve signed up for Scribbles, Micro.blog, and Write.as while abandoning my self-hosted WordPress site. I’m keeping Blogger as a backup (it’s my longest-running blogging platform). I’m not sure where I’ll ultimately settle. I might keep all these services, but right now, I’m leaning toward Micro.blog, Blogger (since it’s free), and Scribbles. I’ve read a lot of good things about Scribbles, and I really like this editor.
Which brings me to my last rant—why do all these services have great iOS and macOS apps while Android and Windows users are left behind or given inferior versions? I’d love an Android and Windows app that lets you write once, add media, format your post, and then publish to multiple platforms at once.