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The Digital Reader is Now on Instagram and Pinterest

It belatedly occurred to me this evening that I’ve never announced that I’ve expanded my bloging to include Pinterest and Instagram.

As a result of an epiphany about blogging I had a few weeks back, I am now micro-blogging on Pinterest and Instagram (also Facebook, Twitter, and Google+). What I realized was that the common conception that blogging is dead is not exactly true. Yes, blogs are dead in 2018, but blogging is still alive and well – it’s just that the activity formerly known as blogging is now carried out on social media. This is why we see 30-tweet chains on Twitter and 500 word rants on Facebook; for all intents and purposes, the social networks are also blogging platforms (this includes Youtube).

Once I figured out that blogging had moved to social media, I decided that I should follow the crowd and try micro-blogging on the various networks.

That decision was my first step in coming up with the idea for my daily #TechForAuthors micro-blog posts. These are tweet-length tech tips that I have been publishing on FB, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest since the middle of August.

The posts consist of a snippet, a screensnap of the text, and a tag. They look something like this:

I’m still working on making the posts more useful and appealing, and I would appreciate any feedback you can provide. I want these posts to be helpful, and I’d love any suggestions that could bring me even one step closer.

 

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Comments


gbm September 14, 2018 um 9:26 pm

Have no interest or intention of ever using those spyware sites–for that is all that they care about is spying on you.

Nate Hoffelder September 15, 2018 um 6:17 am

as I see it, that point is meaningless – all sites are spyware sites now


Art Kavanagh September 15, 2018 um 4:34 am

There’s also Medium, of course, where you can post regularly without having to set up a blog of your own. And Micro.blog, to which I’ve recently moved from Twitter. Not a blogging platform but a good way of sharing your posts is MIx.com, the successor to StumbleUpon.

I enjoy Pinterest but I think it’s a bit of a distraction. My impression is that it’s not easy to build up a following unless you’re prepared to put a disproportionate amount of time and effort into it. (And it’s not clear that a following on Pinterest is any more valuable than one on Facebook.)

Nate Hoffelder September 15, 2018 um 6:56 am

I don’t know that I would call Medium a social network – it’s also not really a good fit for my posts, which consist of a screensnap and a snippet of text.

But now that you mention it, Tumblr might be a good fit.

Art Kavanagh September 15, 2018 um 12:16 pm

I don’t think of Medium as social either, though it has clearly social elements: follower count, approval/applause and vanity metrics. But I was thinking of it for me rather than for you: a platform for regular posts that aren’t (necessarily or usually) micro, yet doesn’t require me to maintain a blog.

Nate Hoffelder September 15, 2018 um 12:34 pm

good point


Will Entrekin September 15, 2018 um 5:02 pm

Nice to see you evolving and using other platforms. I’ve long held the belief that "self-publishing" shouldn’t be called that because that’s basically what the entire internet, and now apps, do. I’ll have to find you on Instagram. I don’t use the others mentioned.

I will say that I think it’s still important to consider the format of each platform. I hated Twitter threads, e.g.; that’s what websites are for.

But, then, I gave up Twitter/FB and haven’t much missed either. I wouldn’t exactly call them spyware, as mentioned above, but for sure agree that if you’re using a free platform like FB/Twitter, you’re the product and not the customer. At least for those two I’m happier not using them, though unfortunately also aware that FB owns Instagram.

Nate Hoffelder September 15, 2018 um 7:07 pm

Thanks!

And yes, I’m using Pinterest and Instagram in a completely different way from most people. I ran the idea by a few social media experts and they said they hadn’t seen it before.


Ros Jackson September 19, 2018 um 8:52 am

I got rid of my Pinterest and Instagram accounts in a recent purge of social media accounts I don’t really use. I think it’s important not to spread yourself too thin.


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