I’ve been active in the blogosphere for 9 years now. 7 of those 9 years I’ve been with Nuffnang.
To say that things in the blogosphere have seen some change in the past 9 years is an understatement. Think about it… 9 years ago the iPhone wasn’t even invented yet. The blogosphere has changed as much in the past 9 years.
Never before though have I seen change happen so rapidly except for the past year. Here’s what’s different.
1) Facebook is the new newspaper
It used to be where people would read blogs by opening the browser on their computers and typing in the URL of the blog to see if there was an update. Times have changed.
Today we spend more time on our mobile phone than we do on our computer or any other device. Our mobile phones aren’t just used to communicate with one another, they are now used to consume content. To watch videos, read your friend’s Facebook updates and yes read articles whether they’re news articles or blogs.
Ask anyone where they read most of their news today and while some would say Flipboard or Google News, the mass majority of us get our news from our Facebook stream. Facebook is now the new newspaper and this has disrupted all content sites not just blogs.
No longer is it a habit for most people to go to Thestar.com.my to look for news to read. We look at our Facebook feed for the ones worth reading as voted by the shares our Facebook friends make. Think about it, have any of you read an article on Buzzfeed before? If your answer is yes, my next question to you would be… do you know what the front page of Buzzfeed.com looks like? Your answer will most likely be “No”, because you’ve only read Buzzfeed articles on your newsfeed.
So the big audience that all content sites need now is on Facebook. The main currency to getting this content is Facebook Shares which brings me to the next point.
2) Bloggers need to write what’s SHAREABLE but most of us aren’t doing just that
This is harder than in sounds. Why?
Well in Malaysia and SIngapore, most bloggers are “lifestyle bloggers”. We write about our lives and our whole following on our blogs is driven by the fact that somehow we have group of readers that want to follow our lives.
So say I write a blog entry about my trip to Tokyo Disneyland with my wife and my son Fighter. Will my most loyal readers want to read it? Most likely yes.
But will any of them share it on their Facebook with all their friends? The answer to that is most definitely… NO.
Why? Because it’s not relevant to their friends. It doesn’t bring any specific value to their friends. It doesn’t make them laugh or it doesn’t tell them something relevant and interesting that any of their friends would want to know. So if nobody shares your link on Facebook, you almost never expand your reach. Never. Your blog gradually dies.
I’ve tried this on my blog recently. Actually it was by accident. Because I started blogging about my daily life on Dayre I realize that I didn’t have that much more to write on Timothytiah.com. So I started writing more thought pieces or stories that I thought would be shareable. It is of course hard to get a viral hit but I got a few. Eg my Mercedes salesman story with 12K shares and The Sacrifice My Filipino Maid Makes at 48K shares.
My traffic has since gone through the roof.
3) The Rise of Commercial Bloggers
9 years ago if you asked bloggers why they blogged, they’ll give you all sorts of reasons and money or perks is never one of them. Never.
Today there is a rise of commercial bloggers. Bloggers who have blogs not necessarily because they’re passionate about blogging but because they like the perks attached to being a blogger. Being invited to events, getting paid for jobs, getting products to review and the list goes on. Admittedly Nuffnang has been instrumental in providing these opportunities to many bloggers.
Now all this is fine within some level of moderation. Many readers of today are understanding of that. But when you have a blog that has commercial content far outweigh the original content then your blog will never take off. Which is why many of these commercial blogs don’t really get very famous or high in traffic. They just stay where they are because people don’t always want to read just about events. Besides there aren’t that many interesting events to want to read about. Sure we’ll love to read and share an entry on Apple’s new iPhone launch announcement in Cupertino but how many more launches are like that?
I asked my wife Shorty about how she balances all these commercial content with original content and she tells me of the sense of responsibility she feels towards her readers to moderate it. And even if she writes sponsored content, she puts just as much effort in there to make it entertaining for her readers as she would in her original content.
4) Lifestyle bloggers who grow with their readers stand a better chance
9 years ago most popular lifestyle bloggers were in their 20s. They lived really happening lives going for parties, having meetups and going for the coolest events.
Then as they all grew older age kicked in and they split into two general groups.
One group got married and then had kids. Their blogging content changed from partying and drinking to wedding plans, raising kids and even cooking recipes.
The other group continued 9 years on doing what they did best. Going for parties and events and all.
I asked a small informal focus group of readers who used to read blogs about which group they still follow. Most still read only bloggers of the first group. Not the second. I asked why? And the common reason “I’m married and have kids now… so I can’t relate to all the partying and events content anymore. What interests me is weddings or kids or well.. cooking or whatever I’m going through in my phase of life now.”
The twenty-something party goers of today now follow a new generation of bloggers who go for happening events and parties.
Like it or not, the bloggers in the first group evolved without knowing it and that’s why many of them still remain so popular and well-read. Look at Vivy Yusof or my wife Fourfeetnine for example.
But how can you tell if a lifestyle blogger is still influential or not?
Well if you don’t have access to a blog’s traffic which most people don’t, then one good indication is there Instagram following. If someone is influential, then people would want to follow him/her on Instagram right?
Normally from a general Malaysian advertiser point of view, for someone to be considered influential, he normally needs at least 20K followers on Instagram.
The benchmark for female bloggers is a little higher at 30-40K above because there seem to be lots more popular female Instagrammers who have a high following than male.
There are a few important points to note though:
– Some niche advertisers don’t look purely at reach when looking to engage bloggers. They look at brand fit and content fit for example parenting brands and mommy bloggers.
– Note also that I say Instagram instead of Twitter cuz Twitter isn’t super popular in Malaysia and Singapore now and most followers there appear quite inactive as opposed to Instagram. You can see how inactive Twitter is by the number of RTs or Favorites each tweet gets. In other countries where Twitter is still really popular though this would be a good measurement.
– Most advertisers know that Instagram followers can be bought. So advertising folks also look at engagement rate and likes. Anyone who has 30K followers on Instagram but 50-150 likes per picture gets red flagged for having fake followers. And anyone with less than 1,000 absolute likes falls below what an advertiser might consider as someone influential.
– Instagram as an indication of influence applies for lifestyle bloggers but not so much for specific content bloggers like food bloggers or celebrity news blogs. Take for example KYSpeaks or Beautifulnara… both still very popular bloggers today. They don’t necessarily have high Instagram following but they don’t need to because people read them for their content. What they sell on their blogs to readers is good content. Not their personality. Both of them still have good traffic to their blogs today.
5) Many blogs still aren’t mobile compatible
In this mobile world we have to accept that if we want to be big, our blogs have to be mobile compatible. If they aren’t then at least have it be easily readable with one double tap.
That’s a straightforward point but look around and you’ll be surprised how few blogs are. Heck even my wife’s blog isn’t yet.
With this in mind here’s where I think blogging is going to go in the next couple of years:
The next generation of popular bloggers aren’t going to be lifestyle bloggers. They are going to be bloggers that have a lot of creativity, skills for research and write well. It’s not going to matter how well they look or how good their selfies are. All that will matter is how well they write stuff that people want to share. We bloggers have to stop thinking about our blogs as this narcissistic space for us to talk about ourselves and for people to follow us. If we want that then use Instagram or Dayre or Facebook.
Look at how blogs in the US have evolved. They’re now bigger than ever churning out great content and many have become full blown news sites. Think Huffington Post or Mashable.
If we bloggers wake up to this and evolve…. there is a chance we will cash in on the next gold rush.
If we don’t…. we will fade away into the past and being invited to events or product reviews is as far as we will ever go.
Timothy Tiah – Co-Founder of Colony, Kuala Lumpur Co-Working Space