Asking the real questions here. Don’t throw me bananas just yet.
I will admit it: this blog post has been a long time coming. It has been sitting in my draft, looking like a mess of ideas and rants for over two months now… I don’t know, I guess I finally decided to write this down and hope that you will appreciate it and not throw bananas at me. Sorry. I just really hate bananas (but you can throw me books. I’d be okay with that. Slightly hurt, probably, physically, but mentally happy, because books. anyway).
After having held this blog up and afloat the best I could and with all of my heart for the past three years, I had to start noticing something. Changes, if you will. Growth, maybe, or just a divergence in the young adult blogging community. I don’t know how to call this so, please bear with me.
Before, I only knew book bloggers on book blogs, writing blog posts about their favorite books, interacting with each other through comments, follows, likes and so on. Now, it seems like the community has developed and, if you ask me, even switched a little bit to other platforms, less blogging-y, more social-media.
Yes, I am talking about bookish twitter and bookstagram.
I could also talk about booktube, but to be completely honest with you, I don’t watch booktube at all, so I’m not going to mention it too much… but still, it’s a pretty big thing, too. And I don’t know how that works so I’ll just, not.
I subscribed to twitter with an account, linked to my blog, in early 2015, a couple months after I started this blog and it felt like discovering a whole other universe. When I started blogging, I did not know that there were so many book bloggers, I didn’t know there were so many book bloggers reading and loving young adult books as much as I did. But, really, it’s when I first got on twitter and since then, navigating its murdy, messy and dramatic waters everyday, that I got and still get amazed by how MASSIVE the book blogging community is, diverse, fun, amazing, yet very complicated, too.
Just like any social media – strike that, more than any other social media -, things are moving at the speed of light there. Get off twitter for a day and you’ll miss the storm of the year happening in the bookish community, or you will miss the latest hype book that everyone is talking about – heads up, this is probably a book that’s not being released for another five months or so. Yeah, does not help with the confidence there, I’ll admit it. On twitter, it is so easy to feel out of the loop in five seconds.
Yet, twitter also makes it super easy to reach out to your favorite bloggers, have a quick conversation, see what’s happening and what they have been reading and so on. Twitter makes interactions quick and easy, twitter moves fast, shares all of the drama and so on, while blogging is at a more… relaxed pace, I’d say. Your comments will be waiting for you and things are a bit less hectic. Or at least, they feel this way for me.
Yet, things are strange when it comes to book blogging, book bloggers and statistics and so on, especially in this new era.
I didn’t know before how big and influencers book bloggers can be – now you see over on twitter they have like 5 K followers and are spending their time screaming about young adult books and important issues. while you’re just, not. just because you feel more comfortable typing out your thoughts on a sunday morning on a platform you feel more at ease to.
Book blogging takes work, too. I am not under-mining anything here or saying that being on book twitter, doing threats or and bookstagram does not take work. I honestly admire everyone doing this. yet I feel like book blogs are more often than not disregarded, while influencers chatting all the time on twitter or with the artistic ability to make incredible pictures are more boosted. in terms of… I don’t know, publishers, seeing as influencers and “big” in the community and so on.
Sometimes, I just don’t know how book blogging fits in everything social – media anymore.
People check out blog posts that we tweet, but they share their thoughts via a tweet or retweet them, conversations happen a bit less over on blog posts sometimes, while some blogs are brilliant, appreciation is shown elsewhere and in a different way. People write twitter threads about the book they are reading instead of blog posts, they write threads about why we should read some books, about their most anticipated reads. People write long captions on their instagram pictures, sharing their latest thoughts on the book they are featuring and so on. People don’t write blog posts anymore, or not as much. Maybe. I don’t know. I just know that these things, somehow, tend to take more and more place in this community. And influence, too.
I can’t even mention how many times I wanted to buy a book because I saw it all over social media.
…Instagram and Twitter everyone screaming about it and hyping it up. It seems to work. It seems like these new social media influencers have more impact and weight than book bloggers. It seems like it matters more when you are vocal on a twitter thread than when you are writing a lenghty blog post about your feels.
I like twitter and I’ve been grateful to chat with amazing people there, I’m also really thankful for everything I can do there and trying my best to… well, do like everyone else. But I’m not that kind of person you’ll see screaming about everything. NOT because it does not matter, but because it’s not in my personality and it makes my anxiety sky-rocket more than ever, to even write down one damn tweet sometimes or / and chat with people I am so afraid of. I’m not scared of commenting on blog posts, not anymore, while I am terrified to even like a tweet of some popular influencer over on Twitter. I don’t feel at ease on social media all the time, and I feel like, for that, I am not a relevant figure in the bookish community.
DON’T GET ME WRONG here.
I am not saying that I hate everyone on twitter, on bookstagram, that I’m mad that they are taking more space in the book blogging community, space that book bloggers use to have and use to influence everyone. I am just saying that I’m seeing a switch here, in things. In how books are recommended now, how people are talking about books overall and spreading the love. Changes in what seems to matter, in what seems to make someone an influencer in the book blogging community, to me, as well. Bookstagram, Twitter, social media overall is a huge influence in our book buying choices, in our lives and everything else, too.
I don’t know where I’m going with this – just sometimes, I feel like work on book blog is disregarded a little bit – or I just feel like book bloggers working a whole lot on blog posts should and need to be appreciated more. Twitter, Bookstagram, everything social media takes work, but it’s also super hard to write a blog post like this and hit publish without looking back. Designing a blog, writing blog posts, formatting everything, trying to spread the bookish love, it takes a goddamn lot of work and… book blogging is important, too. I want it to stay the very same. I want social media and book blogs platforms to both thrive and for everyone to find their places wherever they feel most at ease. And most importantly, don’t feel like they’re missing out or not doing anything right because they are not on bookstagram (my feelings right now) or on twitter or anything else.
Whether you’ve been blogging for long or are new to this scene: did you notice the growing importance and influence of social media when it comes to the bookish community?
Are you on social media? Which ones, and do you feel like you have more influence there? Do you feel like it matters more to shout on twitter than to write a blog post? Can you juggle well between social media-ing and blogging?
Are you also influenced to get a book because everyone mentioned it on social media? Does this influence you MORE than seeing the book on book blogs, or not, or the same? I would love to know your thoughts on this topic, so feel free to let me know everything in comments!
I’ve joined a community of fanfiction writers on Twitter a couple years back and it was fun, but it could also be toxic and taxing because you need to be on Twitter all the time to be in the loop, like you said. Now, I’m really new to book blogging but I find that having just a blog and Goodreads is more than enough for me to get my thoughts out! I already have enough interactions on my personal Twitter (which I use for non-bookish stuffs) and don’t even log on Instagram every day as it is, so… yay to book blogs.
Yay, I’m happy to hear it! I think we all need to find the platform, or platforms, that we prefer, the ones that makes us feel at ease and not too overwhelmed or anything 🙂 <3
Thank you so much for your comment! <3
I think blogging will always be relevant in ways because reviews are always going to be needed– plus those tweets and photos get buried in a span of hours, where as reviews are something that will come up in a google search or on a Goodreads page.
I am defintiely not one of the people who seamlessly made the switch– I mean, I have a twitter and instagram, but I much prefer talking about books on my blog, and always will. Honestly, I kind of hate the drama of book twitter on social media– it’s always some gossipy thing that people want to pile on about, and it just feels like high school most of the time. I try to just stay my course of sharing books I love and ignoring/not getting time sucked into the black hole of social media!
Oh that is a good point. If twitter and instagram and everything moves fast, there is maybe something more permanent written on book blogs? I like that idea 🙂 x
I think you are doing great and definitely have the best way of thinking, when it comes to bookish twitter. It can be brilliant at times, but also very overwhelming and it is important to just… not get sucked into anything and do whatever we prefer, I guess 🙂 x
Thank you so, so much for your sweet comment, Michelle <3
I am on social media I guess but I don’t really get in there. I read blogs and I blog more than any other platform out there. I really hope blogging doesn’t become obsolete because I love it and need it in my life. I do see what you are saying though. I see it too.
I’m glad you noticed it as well 🙂 I guess there is just… well, some things are changing and social media is taking a massive part out of everything, but I hope that everythin will just co-exist, in the end and always 🙂 x
Thank you so much for your comment!! 🙂
I do the twitters, a bit, but I don’t get carried away. 🙂
YAY that’s great! I feel like it’s so easy to get carried away, it’s important to pay attention and… just take care of ourselves and do whatever we are the most at ease with 🙂 x
Thank you so much for your comment!! 🙂
I get what you’re saying. I’m pretty active on both my blog and my Twitter and honestly I like being able to express shorter thoughts that maybe don’t deserve a whole blog post, and I even find that sometimes that little seed of a single tweet or a back-and-forth discussion with someone else will eventually grow into its own blog post (if I have time to write it). What I’m saying is that I’m personally pretty comfortable with both media and I think the two accounts integrate each other pretty well, but I also know it’s not easy and it’s definitely not something that should be required if you only want to have a blog.
I think you’re right that things move quickly on Twitter, but trust me that there’ll always be people who like to use both, and even those who would rather only keep reading posts instead of trying to catch up on the whole Twitter frenzy.
Sorry I’m rambling, I guess what I’m trying to say is that the way I see it, blogs are becoming an accessory to other social media, whereas before it used to be the other way around. But keeping your social media as your accessory and your blog as your primary thing is also perfectly valid and needed, because there’s so many things that just don’t come across the right way on Twitter. So YES, I think blogging is still very much relevant! Sorry if this got long lol I like talking about this stuff!
Oh please don’t apologize, thank YOU so much for taking the time to write this comment, I am so glad that you enjoy talking about this and appreciated my post, thank you! <3
I think it's amazing that twitter, and conversations happening then randomly, just like they could happen in real life, can turn into a blog post. There are always relevant conversations, things happening, in the moment, there, and I think that's pretty amazing, too, even if sometimes it's hard to follow.
You make such an interesting point about the whole accessory thing! I feel exactly this way – before, social media was something, on the side of your blogging, now it has become something major, something almost, necessary? I don't blame it, I enjoy social media, too, but I think personally I will always feel like my blog is something primary, as I feel like I can express myself better on there and… I just feel more at ease overall there, while… I am terrified to speak on twitter sometimes, or just to answer to someone, even if it's … to say something sweet or random ?
Thank you so, so much again for your sweet words Silvia and for taking the time to write this down! Sorry for the long answer haha <3
You’re so welcome! I honestly enjoy this type of posts a lot so I got carried away ahah but I’m glad you didn’t mind ?
Well, feel free to get carried away anytime, I love these kind of comments <3 <3
Ooh, yes, I think I’ve noticed this in regards to who they give ARCs to, mainly in regards to the U.S. Iv enitived that the bigger, more hyped ARCs will go to those with big followings on Instagram and Twitter over bloggers that mainky focus on their blog (and if they do, usually that person has been in the blogging scene for years and years). And it sort of sucks because I’m just not a social media savvy person, therefore I out more effort into my blog, and I like it more! I rarely use Twitter for anything bookish and I like Bookstagram for pretty pictures and that’s it! ? I personally stick with blogging and that’s how I keep up with everything as well!
I’m so glad you have noticed this, too, Mikaela! I feel like it’s even harder when we are not… really into social media, or just not AS into it as other bloggers :/
I know I am working on my blog much harder as well, but I feel much more at ease there, so… I think what matters is that we stick with the things we love the most 🙂 x
Thank you so, so much for your sweet comment! <3 <3
You may not feel like an important member of the book blogging community, but I have to say that you are probably one of my favorite book bloggers, if not my favorite. I always love your recommendations, and just your thoughts in general. At the end of the day, I know you have one huge fan 🙂 xx
Melina | http://www.ivefoundwaldo.com
Oh wow, Melina, thank you so, SO much for your sweet words, this means the world to me <3 <3 <3 You're the best <3
This is such a wonderful post!! I felt the same way – I’ve been on weeklong twitter hiatuses for over a month and i feel so out of the loop, but also i’m much happier and carefree irl so??? i think i like this more??? idk if it’ll be permanent but i definitely feel happier daily without twitter and all of it’s drama. i will always love blogging more than any social media. it’s just what my heart loves the most but i do love the extra connection social media brings to the mix.
Oh thank you so much, I’m so happy you enjoyed it!! <3 <3 I know I need to do that more, as well… thing is, I really enjoy being in the loop ?, but sometimes it gets very stressful, too. I'm so glad your hiatuses are working well for you! <3
And yes, no matter what, I think I will always love blogging more than anything, I just feel… better there 🙂 x
Thank you so, so much! 🙂 x
Haha yeah, being in the loop always feels nice because you are more aware of what’s going on in the community. Blogging forever and always <3
YES, blogging is the best. <3 <3
Interesting topic, Marie! I’ve only been blogging for about two years, and in that time, I’ve seen bloggers come and go, and I’m honestly still surprised at how big the book blogging community is. I feel like every week I come across new-to-me bloggers. But I do feel there is a push towards social media, and sometimes that makes me feel like a dinosaur. I don’t do Twitter, and I don’t have Instagram (although I would like to someday). But for me, blogging is still tops – I feel like social media is quicker, shorter – it’s hard to explain – but like I can get more in-depth in a blog post than I could in an IG caption?
OH yes, I so get that feeling, every single DAY I am surprised by how many book bloggers I find out about. It just never ends ?
I have to agree with you on here – if social media, whether it’s twitter or instagram – allows us to chat quickly, I think we always can get more in depth with everything, book reviews, thoughts, discussions, with a blog post. I’ll always love reading blog posts for that, <3
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on this, Angela! 🙂 x
First off, I have to thank you for writing such a thoughtful post, I’m really glad that you decided to post it, because it really made me think about the topic! ♥ (sorry that this comment is so long, I got really carried away)
I haven’t thought about this a lot, but now that you mention this, I can definitely see that things are changing in the bookish community. I personally don’t really use Instagram so I cannot speak about Bookstagram, but I’m on Twitter. However, even there I’m not a really ‘active’ user, I usually just reteweet stuff and chat with bloggers that I know from here on WordPress, because I’m too anxious to post a lot of tweets myself. I definitely feel you: Twitter is really fast paced, a lot of things happen that you can quickly miss – sometimes I wake up in the morning, just to see that something has happened while I was asleep. I personally like commenting here on blogs, because it’s a bit more relaxed, while on Twitter everything is often too fast for my liking. I do like Twitter, but it does have its downsides.
I also watch a lot of Booktube, so I can say that I sometimes feel like Booktubers are a bit more appreciated than bloggers. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that the people on there don’t deserve to be appreicated and don’t do as much hard work – I love watching their videos and think they do great work. I just feel like they get a lot of attention, most Booktubers have at least 50-100K followers and even the smaller Booktubers have 10-25K followers, while I haven’t seen a book blog with as many followers. That makes me a bit sad sometimes, because I love blogs and want them to be appreciated.
When it comes to influence, Goodreads, Blogs and Booktube tend to have the biggest impact on me, so bloggers do tend to influence me a lot too. However, I definitely see that social media has become a big influence for a lot of people that seems to take over a bit, because it’s so fast and everyone seems to have an account.
This also seems like a good time to say that I love and appreciate your blog ♥ ♥ ♥ I’m so grateful for you and every other blogger who puts a lot of work into their posts! Whenever I can, I try to blog hop and spread the love, because blogs really are a safe space for me and and have begun to mean a lot to me. I’ve only been on WordPress since October 2017 (I blogged for 1 1/2 years before that but on a platform with almost zero interaction), but it’s already the best decision I’ve made! I definitely love reading your posts and always appreciate hearing your opinion on a lot of interesting topics ? ??
Oh Caro, thank you so, so much for taking the time to share your thoughts with me about this, I appreciate it SO much <3
I feel the same way about twitter, commenting and spending time on blogs feels a bit more relaxing to me, and I feel like, whateverer I miss, I can more easily catch up ?
Oh thank you for your thoughts on booktube, I have to admit that I couldn't add that to my point, since I don't watch a lot of it – that's so good to know. I feel like there are much more followers there, but also, maybe there are more… video-consumers than there are blog readers? I wonder ?
Social media has become such an influence for me lately and even if it will never replace my trusted book blogging friends, I know that it tend to influence me more and more, too. I guess that's how things change, too? ?
Oh thank you so, so much Caro, this means the world to me, you're the sweetest <3 I'm so glad you said this, blogs feel like… a safe space for me as well, that's exactly how I feel about it <3
Thank you again for everything, I appreciate all of your comments and our conversations SO much, you're such a wonderful blogger and I am so happy you started blogging; Didn't know it was so recent, you're blogging like a pro! 😀 x
Girl I needed this! I’ve been feeling like for a long time that people just like my stuff and don’t comment much. I also feel like Twitter blows up so often that I don’t have much to say, or just don’t want to join the unnecessary trash fires. It also kinda sucks that review books sometimes are hard to come by with not having a huge following; I feel like it needs to be mostly the quality of the book reviews than just how many followers you have to get review books. *That can be a whole other subject* But I’m glad you posted this 🙂 I agree on so many levels.
Oh thank you so much, I’m glad you could relate to this post! I feel like it’s easier, quicker maybe, to interact on social media than on book blogs and I know myself that it’s true, but I appreciate blogs so much more, because… I don’t know, we take time to do things, here, too? If that makes sense? ??
Thank you so much for your comment! <3
It makes sense to me 🙂
Even though I see books on Instagram and Twitter, I get the books that interest me. I may have a glance at the titles I have seen on social media (blogs included) but it always come down to which book I will buy with my money – and that is often a book I would gravitate towards anyway.
And you’re doing the right thing, that’s for sure! In the end, it’s up to us to pick the right books and… it’s up to us to know whether we feel like it could be for us, or not. We always should trust ourselves no matter what 🙂 x
Thank you so much for your comment!! 🙂
Wow, great discussion post Marie! I’m pretty new to the blogging world but I’ve noticed many people do have bookstagram and Twitter. I agree though! I feel like if I’m off Twitter for a bit, I miss a bunch of stuff (eek!). I currently have a Twitter (and sometimes forget I do have it, oops) but I feel like posts/Tweets on both blogs and Twitter are equally important. And yes, I’m a hundred percent influenced by the books mentioned on social media. Again, it might be just me, but I’m influenced equally on book blogs. (Yay for equal everything, haha?)
Oh thank you so much, Kat, so happy you enjoyed this 🙂
I feel like everything co-exists and I am just hoping that it will continue on co-existing, and that something (that something being… social media, haha) won’t take over everything, especially our hard work on book blogs, too. I like that social media brings something new and different to the table and a new way to talk about books, but also book blogs are amazing 😀 x
Thank you so, so much for your comment! 😀
Great topic for the post. I think you are right in saying that there are more places where it’s quicker and easier to talk about books and it’s only right. Changes are rather fast nowadays when it comes to anything, really. I mean, look at the number of models a phone company puts out every year. I completely agree that this change is here and perhaps here to stay but there’s also another side to this.
With social media like Twitter and Instagram, you can only talk about a certain thing on a limited level, yes, you can spread awareness about it (it really is faster and cleverer) but if anyone wants anything deeper than that then more than half the times, these platforms fail. Even with it’s 280 characters, Twitter will still fall short of an actual post on a blog where thoughts can be more structured and deeper. Even if Instagram allows a lot of characters in the captions, there comes a point where people don’t really read the captions. Then, that becomes a problem, too. I think places like Twitter or Instagram are absolutely perfect at making sure that people are aware of a certain thing or a topic but if one wants to delve deeper then there’s still place for book blogs.
I think there will come a time (hopefully, soon) when both sides of the topic will co-exist successfully because I feel, they do both need each other to even it out.
I hope I made sense. 🙂
Oh you totally made sense, I love what you’re saying here. You’re right, social media and everything are bringing out the information quickly and easily, but whenever we want to dig in a little deeper, for now, blog posts aren’t replaced and I really like that, too 🙂
I am hoping that both can and will co-exist for a long time, because you’re right, they definitely complete each other well 🙂 x
Thank you so, so much for sharing your thoughts on this! 🙂 x
Oh, Marie, I love this post! I don’t have a Twitter or Instagram account, but I occasionally look at friends’ accounts and things like that. There are so many threads on Twitter, and I think those are cool, but yeah, it doesn’t seem like blogging is being used as a platform for speaking up about things anymore. And I’ve seen a lot of those Instagram posts with huge captions, they’ve become their own little blog.
I honestly don’t feel much affected by this “switch”, as you called it, since I’m not on any kind of social media? (Besides Goodreads.) I like on Twitter that you can get a few short thoughts out and you don’t have to write a whole lengthy post on it, but… I don’t know. I definitely feel like there’s been some kind of shift. And I think that one reason social media is a big influence is that there are so many people — in blogging you just have a little circle of whoever follows you (and perhaps some new readers as well). I think that blogging is still a pretty big thing, but I feel the way we use our voice is seeping into other platforms, and that’s okay!
That was a huge mess of a comment so hopefully you understood a little of it?? ? I love this post, Marie!!
Oh yes, over on Instagram, captions just get longer and longer, they’re their own little blog posts, when you think about it 🙂
I guess that each platform is different and bring something new, new and different ways to talk about books, I just hope everything can co-exist and that… these social media won’t be privileged while book blogs will lose attention and everything else 🙂
Thank you so, so much, May, I’m so glad you enjoyed this 😀 x
I absolutely see a switch. I have my hands full with my blog alone. I wanted to try and keep up and do twitter and Instagram, but it’s so much to do!
I still have my Instagram but I stopped trying to be like other Instagrammers with trying to have perfect photos and props.
I’m glad I’m not the only one, ahah. I get that, it is so hard to keep up with everything, or try to. We’re humans after all and we can’t handle everything 🙂 As long as you’re happy with what you manage to do with your instaram account, that’s what matters. Putting pressure on yourself to try and be like others on there will only bring stress 🙂 x
Thank you so much for your comment!! 🙂
I completely understand what you’re saying Marie and I agree with you about seeing a shift in the community. I think even three years ago, the blogging community on Twitter wasn’t as massive (but I also didn’t have a Twitter then so I don’t know how accurate I am). I also relate to feeling shy and anxious about tweeting about books because social media just feels different than blogging. It feels more public, I guess? But that doesn’t in any way mean you’re not relevant in the community, you have an awesome blog and we all know how hard you work at it. I also agree that bloggers can be a bit underappreciated, writing one concise post can take hours sometimes and not everyone understands that. I’m with you on hoping both platforms thrive.
I think both social media and blogs influence me to read a particular book but it usually just depends on whether or not I trust the person’s judgement.
I have to agree with you here, social media feels a bit more public and… there are less words or just less time to express or correct yourself when you tweet out something and that’s scary? I don’t know, haha, things just blow up pretty fast and it’s scary, too. I guess that all social media bring something new to blogging and to the way we all talk about books – I just wish and want them to co-exist with book blogs, and not book blogs to be underappreciated, because everything is much quicker to do – to say – to react etc on social media. IF that makes sense hahaha.
Thank you so, so much for your thoughtful comment, Shouni! <3
I agree with so many of your points! I feel you can’t ‘get anywhere’ in book blogging if you don’t have social media as well as your blog. So many interactions happen outside of book blogs, and whilst social media is good for finding other bloggers and books, it can be quite daunting at times!
Oh yes, there are so many interactions happening elsewhere, outside of book blogs, it’s crazy. It’s amazing to be able to connect with other bloggers this way, quicker, but I just love the interaction and long conversations that come with blog posts, as well <3
It really gets daunting, at times, I have to agree with you on that – I guess we all need to find whatever works, or does not work, for us 🙂 x
Thank you so, so much for your comment, Rebecca! 🙂 x
Wow, what a lovely post, Marie! 🙂 I really enjoyed reading this. I personally only have personal social media, not any for my blog, so I have stayed off of the Twitter/bookstagram book blogger community. Since I haven’t been active there, I didn’t realize how much of influencers they are until reading your post! After reading this post, I definitely understand a lot better.? I’m sure being on social media and being super active takes a lot of time, but I definitely feel bloggers deserve a lot of recognition for all the work they put into their blogs. I hope that blogs don’t get pushed to the side as the community grows, because they don’t deserve to be put on the sidelines. Anyway, great post!?
Oh thank you so much, Olivia, I’m so glad you enjoyed this post 🙂 I get that, it’s kind of hard to imagine how book bloggers and the bookish community is on social media, when you’re not on it yourself. It’s GIGANTIC, really, I am forever amazed by that ahah 🙂
Thank you so much!! <3
Wow, @ me next time with the “People check out blog posts that we tweet, but they share their thoughts via a tweet or retweet them..” I am very guilty of this because if I know the post has gone up recently and am in dire need of sharing with them, and I know that the person who posted and I are well connected on Twitter et al., I tend to just go there and converse. That’s probably a poor reason but meeeeh.
At the end of the day, I think they’re all different platforms each with its own merit. I guess you could say that there’s a shift in what types of information ‘sells’ but I find there’s still a market and community online (so long as you do it online and it’s not in strict print form). That’s a whole other thing entirely.
For me, when it comes down to it, I’m appreciative of social media platforms acting as an extra limb for my platform. Another nudge of my voice, if you will. But can it replace my blog entirely? No, mainly because my posts are always extremely long and I could never write a full review (with brevity) in a confined space like Twitter.
Case in point: the use of blogs and social media and youtube and instagram are all different mediums of expression and I think it’s in the nature of identifying what kinds of content you would like to make accessible for self consumption. They’re all alright.
ivomittoomuch.
Cheers,
Oh I completely understand that – I see it happen often, people starting up a conversation about a blog post, but on twitter, instead of on the blog itself. I guess sometimes it’s easier and way quicker to chat this way, too 🙂
I love how you think that the two co-exist, I am with you on that for sure. I’m trying to be active and bookish and chat a little bit over on twitter, but I talk A LOT as well -this long blog post and all of my other posts really show that haha-, so I could never… JUST do whatever I do here on twitter, or on any other kind of social media.
They’re definitely all alright and all different and complete each other well, that’s for sure. I guess it’s all a matter of finding whatever works for us and if / how we can juggle everything, too, something I’m always having a bit of a hard time with 🙂
You never vomit too much haha, thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on this, Joey!! 🙂 x
I LOVE THIS POST SO MUCH ALL TO LOVE TO YOU THIS IS INCREDIBLE AND SO WELL-WORDED MARIE ❤️!!
Social media is so fast and all over the place and while I respect every single person that CAN manage something like that (it’s an ART let me tell you my bookstagram took so much out of me it takes time and preparation too) it hurts when some of my fave bloggers are left a bit out when they put a whole lot of work in too!! I wished all of you had as many followers as one has subscribers on they youtube channel but alas.
Twitter makes me anxious too!! I get so sick sometimes and check obsessively for typos and if my tweet is even coherent. When my mental health is bad I can’t even open any apps. I wish I was confident enough for that but I find blogging calming and a really grounding proccess. I don’t care if it goes out of fashion I like writing a messy wordy blogpost. So I’ll stick to what makes me happiest regardless.
(But I’m still sad some of ya’ll don’t get the recognition and opportunities you deserve ok I’ll always be a bit salty about that mhmm)
I’m so glad you feel the same way – sometimes I love how twitter is quick and fun and everything is easy, so many news fly and you feel so IN the loop, that’s great, but also…. it’s quite stressful, while blogging, even if it has its stressful sides as well,… makes me feel grounded, too and a bit more, calm and relaxed. I’m so glad you feel the same way!! <3 <3
You're the sweetest, thank you so, so, SO much for your sweet comment <3 <3 <3
I agree about social media being more in the loop, especially Instagram – especially because, well DUH, it’s PRETTY 😀 I can’t do that. I just can’t really do bookstagram. It’s not me 🙂 I won’t be able to become special there, so I just sort of hang out – and that’s fine too. But I don’t agree that we don’t have influence! It seems to me you’re missing one important thing – the way I look at it – our influence isn’t momentary. A tweet basically just floats away into the abyss. But that review you added? Okay, maybe not on your blog – but on Goodreads or Amazon? If you ever stop blogging, there will be people basing their purchases and next reads off your review YEARS later! It’s kind of like an “I was here” on the wall. Now tell me that isn’t influential? That’s something other social media can’t have – it’s in the moment. But the reviews of books you leave are there to stay. I like to think of it like that 🙂
This is such a great way of looking at things, Evelina, you’re so right, that’s beautiful – that’s what I want, too, ahah, people to rely on my recommendation and want to get a book because of a review I wrote or something. That’s the goal <3
Thank you so, so much for your positive insight on this! <3 <3
Happy to! 🙂 what is this community for otherwise, ahaha 😀
When I first read the title I was like *gasp* how could you, Marie? But this was such a fantastic post so I’ll forgive you 😉
I think it’s a conversation that is really worth having because, as you and others have said, there are so many different formats to do this now. I personally find it so overwhelming. I usually tend to stick to WordPress for my book-related posts but do share my posts on twitter and my personal facebook. Sometimes I’ll do mini-threads on Twitter and if I feel confident enough I’ll do an Instagram post, but I tend to not really utilize social media as a book blogger and often feel left out of a Big Thing. No matter how much I tweet about being a book blogger or book-related tweets, I have never had a conversation with a stranger/fellow blogger, I get way more interaction on my blog so I never feel like I need to join in on twitter anyway. And I find Instagram quite hard on my anxiety. I already spend a lot of time feeling like I’m not good enough, and when I see beautiful photos on Instagram that have been clearly taken on good cameras with lots of accessories and bursting bookshelves it just makes me feel like an outsider because these aren’t really things I can afford!
As someone said above, it’s also annoying because people who have huge social media followings are also the ones who often get physical ARCs and all the most anticipated reads whereas people who tend to stick to blogging (for whatever reason) seem to get bypassed a lot and that sucks!
OH good, you had me worried for a second, I’m glad you forgive me haha, I apologize for scaring you! 😛
I’m glad to hear I am not the only one finding this a bit overwhelming. It is fascinating, too and it’s great to see how many ways there are to chat about books, boost them and everything else, but… it’s also very, very stressful, because it always makes me feel like I’m not… doing enough? Because I’m not doing everything? Like, I am on twitter and I like tweeting sometimes about what I read and sharing some news, but some other times it just makes me anxious. I’m not on bookstagram because I lack the patience and just… well, time to do it, also, cameras and bookshelves and talent and hahaha a lot of the things here. sometimes, seeing all of the things people can do to boost books on social media makes me feel like book blogging isn’t enough or just not buzzworthy or something.
That is totally random though and probably not true, as someone mentioned in my comments that our blogs, our reviews and everything, are more timeless than social media where everything really is, in the moment. I like that idea. 🙂
I have given up on trying to understand how bookish marketing works on that kind of thing, but social media really seems to have a huge influence for publishers.
Really, I just hope that we feel enough with the work we do on our blog and worthy and relevant, even if there are tons of ways to talk about books 🙂
Thank you so, so much for your sweet and thoughtful comment! 🙂 x
I totally get what you’re saying and was just thinking about this. I started blogging a little more than a year ago and the first thing I did was make a twitter and instagram to go along with it. The bookish community on there is HUGE and very vocal. I know social media can be positive when it comes to connecting with like minded people but it comes with a buttload of pressure and I’ve always felt uncomfortable on there as opposed to just blogging (my introvert nature comes out in full force). For some reason I get more stressed talking on social media as opposed to my blog posts.
I do see how the social media bookish community is now a bigger thing because of the immediacy and how short/small it is. You can read and reply to a tweet a lot faster than reading a blog post. I’m not a huge fan of social media in general and am more of a lurker rather than an active participator and often forget it exists sometimes and periodically use it to tweet out a new post I put up. Bookstagram is a whole other beast I could spend hours talking about and this comment is already too long :). Anyway, this is a great post and no bananas are being thrown by me! 🙂
Oh I am EXACTLY the same way haha, I get a bit more stressed talking on social media than I do on my blog, it feels more like a safe space here and I prefer it 🙂
I agree, social media, twitter and everything is just way, quicker and everything can happen in the blink of an eye, reading a blog post and taking the time to comment just like you did, takes much more time. Thank you for that, I appreciate it SO much! <3 Thank you <3 <3
Marie you opened a very interesting discussion once more! I’m on Twitter but I don’t like twitter as I can’t express my thoughts like I’d like. facebook plays an important role in growing my community as I don’t seem to grow a big follower base on WordPress. Why? No idea especially as I put hours and hours into my posts. Anyway I love them and that’s what matters. Instagram is my true social media love aside WordPress. I can creat bookstagrams and let my artistic side go wild! The downturn? The pressure! It takes so much time to follow all my feeds that i can’t do it properly!
OH thank you so much Sophie, I am so glad you enjoyed this 🙂
I get it, following everything is… impossible haha I haven’t figured out yet how to do it and I am just on twitter and wordpress, when it comes to blogging. It’s all so… moving so fast hahaha.
I’m so glad to hear instagram is working out well for you, yay! 😀
Thank you so, so much for sharing your thoughts on this 😀
I’ve been thinking about this a lot as well, especially since I’ve just started blogging again. It seems like most of the original bloggers who I started following back in like, 2007 have quit, and a lot of the bloggers I follow now are new and/or international. I feel like bookstagram is a really big influencer, which makes me sad and stressed because I don’t have the time/energy or skill to do that kind of book photography. I think booktube is also really taking off, and booktubers have a lot more of a following than book bloggers nowadays.
I’m honestly not really sure where bloggers fit in, but I think it’s important that we all keep at it because there are people who still love reading blog posts somewhere, and it’s important to offer bookish content in a variety of different ways. Hopefully I can remind myself of this when I’m feeling down about my blog.
Oh I am so glad to hear you are feeling the same way, makes me feel less alone <3 I also have to agree, I feel like bookstagram has become such a massive influence, with incredibly BIG accounts on there posting every day, it's insane. I appreciate all of the work they do and these stunning pictures they take, yet it also makes me feel a bit… sad and not good enough? Since I could never have the skills and time to do that?
You're so right, we should and have to keep at it, because blog posts are still appreciated and are an influence, too, or so I want to believe. I know I read blogs A LOT more than anything else and they're the best bookish media I like to go to to get recommendations and chat books <3
Thank you so, so much or sharing your thoughts on this! <3
Fantastic topic, Marie. (Kind of a scary one, too…not one I’m ready to face.) I honestly stay off of Twitter a lot these days, but that’s mostly because I cannot handle that it’s not in reverse chronological order anymore. I feel like I don’t see anything that I actually want to see, and it’s all a big mess. I do like bookstagram, though. There’s so much talent there. And bookstagram does take time, but it’s nothing like writing a blog post. I think it is probably going to replace book blogging in the long run, but I like to treat them separately for now.
Oh thank you so much Emily, I’m so glad you enjoyed it. It is a scary topic ahah, I was really hesitant to publish it, but I’m glad I did <3
I agree, everything, whether on twitter or instagram, isn't in chronological order anymore and it's all so messy and hard to follow? that's so annoying.
YES I have to agree with you on that, there is so much talent on instagram and I admire it SO much. I hope that it won't replace blogging, though, because for me they aren't really alike, but I can totally see it taking more and more place into the community. Blogging can still be there, but images and talking about books this way is certainly on a massive rise. I wish I had talent to do that hahaha. 🙂
Thank you so much Emily 😀
I so get what you mean. It’s easy to see how the nature of book blogging has shifted into a more social media influenced set up. I think social media, in general, is a great way to basically do “shotgun” posts and promotions, and it’s so easy to feel out of the loop sometimes. I always call myself a social media browser. I’m active on social media, but I tend to browse more than I do contribute. I can see all the merits of utilizing social media as a blogging platform, but it’s equally as daunting because it’s like it shines a direct spotlight on everything you say that can easily be misconstrued and scrutinized. The way I treat social media is basically the same way I treat the blog, I contribute when I want to because forcing myself to use them when I know I’m much more comfortable using my blog will just take my enjoyment out of social media.
Oh yes, I am a browser as well – I scroll a lot on social media but I don’t contribute as much as everyone else. It feels a bit scary sometimes and intimidating haha 🙂
You’re so right, it is such a great way of thinking about this – I really want to do the same. Though, on the blog, I find it easier to take breaks – since everything happens so fast on twitter, missing out even one day makes you feel like you missed out on some BIG things and… that’s annoying haha. Still, it’s also very anxiety-inducing.
Thank you so, so much for your sweet comment, Lois! 🙂 x
Interesting and honest post. I started out intending to write seriously on my blog, and noticed I didn’t make much progress until I increased my social media presence. I love the bookish community on the whole, though I steer clear of the drama.
Oh thank you so much 🙂 I agree, social media and blogging seems to go together quite well in order to grow 🙂 x
I relate to this post a lot, because a lot of my hobbies and passions (not just books) are migrating over to Twitter and Instagram and it makes me so sad because I …I JUST DON’T GET IT. I’ve signed up for both and never done anything with them because they are so confusing. For starters, I HATE typing out on my phone, it always feels messy and jumbled. But even on my desktop I couldn’t figure out how Twitter works. Instagram, I guess it just doesn’t “click” with me. Sure, I like pretty pictures, but I want discussion too, and it just doesn’t seem set up for that. I dislike photography and I’m terrible at it, so I feel like I can’t participate because who is going to care what I have to say if I don’t have beautiful photos? I don’t know, the whole thing makes me feel so old. I’m used to old fashioned forums, and blogs like WordPress are right up my alley, but they definitely seem to be falling out of favor.
OH I’m glad you feel the same way about this <3 I have nothing against twitter, or instagram or any other form of social media, I like to chat on twitter and sometimes, when it doesn't make me too mad haha, to tweet every once in a while. I like to post pictures over on instagram, but they're personal and not really bookstagrammy…. When it comes to… really book blogging, talking about books and everything else, blogs are always my favorite platform. I love reading blog posts and interacting on them, having conversations, etc. I feel like, today it's probably easier to send out a tweet or an instagram picture with a lengthy caption, but my heart is with my little book blog haha 🙂 x
I want to believe that blogs won't fall out of fashion and that social media and blogs will co-exist, as they both bring something different, different ways to chat and show off books? 🙂 x
Thank you so, so much for your sweet comment! <3
(first off…how can you not like bananas??) ?
I really appreciate it when you write these types of serious posts Marie! ?The walking into a party with pizza but there’s a fire GIF is so relatable. Twitter is amazing because we’re so connected, but it’s honestly soooo overwhelming. I feel like I need to be on top of all the books and everyone’s business to be relevant, and it’s just not realistic. It’s something that’s hard for me to also acknowledge because we’re constantly finding the balance between having a community but have our own geunine space. I noticed that with Twitter I’m so much more obsessed about relevance and followers, but with my blog, I can take my time and just do what I want. At the same time, there’s this weird negative? energy from my Twitter that extends to my blog. (IDK if that all made sense?)
Anyway! I really enjoyed this post, and I hope you continue with it!! <3
Oh thank you so, so much Tiffany, I’m so happy you enjoyed this post <3
I'm glad you said this, I feel exactly the same way. For instance, I haven't bought nor read Children of Blood and Bone just yet, which is okay since it was released like, A WEEK AGO? Yet I feel soooo unrelevant since everyone is screaming about it and seems to have read it already over on twitter haha it's insane.
It is so hard to find the right balance between what we can do and what we should do, for ourselves. Just to have our own space and take care of ourselves, too. I feel like with social media taking a lot of place, it's getting harder to take time for ourselves, as we are constantly under pressure with new info?! If that makes sense haha.
Thank you so, so much for your sweet comment!! <3
I feel the exact same with Children of Blood and Bone!! I feel this pressure to be reading it, yet no one’s putting that pressure on me other than myself? But the pressure’s there because of FOMO! I want to be reading it, but I don’t really want to spend money when I don’t HAVE to and after spring break, I won’t really have the time either! It’s a constant struggle. :/
Oh I’m so glad, I am just… I don’t know, I’m so impatient to read it, but I CAN’T buy it right now and I also have this terrible pressure and fear of missing out, that’s such a struggle :/
I’m not really active on social media that much. I have a Goodreads account and one day I’m hoping to actually create a Twitter account, but even I’m aware of how social media seems to be a massive influence in the book blogging community and when it comes to publishers as well. There’s so much interaction happening on Twitter and even without having a Twitter account I’m aware of some of the controversy that’s happened in the past. I guess it’s just so much easier to communicate with people through those sites than it can be on WordPress. 🙂
Still I’m hoping book blogging is still relevant and will still always be relevant. I love posting my reviews and posts and love commenting and receiving comments so I never want to lose that you know?
Great post Marie. 🙂 <3
OH I understand that and I never want to lose that either <3 <3 Twitter and social media makes it easier and quicker to chat with blogging friends for sure, but I love how I can express myself on the blog with long blog posts and rants and everything else haha 🙂
Thank you so much, Beth 🙂
Ha, yeah when it comes long blog posts and rants nothing really beats WordPress (and I don’t think anything will ever beat WordPress!) 😀
That’s all right. 🙂 <3
I am so glad you hit publish on this post! You know my feelings on this topic. Some days I just want to delete all my social media because it is so taxing on my well being and even borderline toxic on others. But it also gives me a platform to just share random outbursts of emotions and chat with my friends (like youuuu <3). Nonetheless, i don't feel as up to date and I have noticed that paradigm shift towards social media influencers and away from blogs. It makes me sad, because I'd like for both to thrive side by side instead of feeling like this medium is becoming almost antiquated.
Oh thank you, Kat, I’m so glad you enjoyed this, you know how hesitant I was to publish it.
I so agree with you, some days I just want to delete everything, too, but then…. I just can’t NOT be able to come to you to scream about all the things over via twitter DMs hahahaha. <3 <3
Great post Marie! I must admit, I love bookish twitter and bookstagram, but as more of a “lurker” than a real participant. I mean, I do check those media every day and it’s so much easier to like a tweet or bookstagram or even to quickly interact with a fellow blogger. I can see why they are so huge. But for me, personally, I feel more at home on a blog. Like you said, I also prefer to just sit down and take the time to write out my thoughts. Social Media feels so rushed and I adore how people build up such a big following and do so much great creative stuff, but it’s not the ideal platform for me. To lurk yes, but to post my thoughts, no. I do try to use it though, since I recognize the importance. But I do think blogging will always stay relevant as well. I mean, there have to be more people out there like you and me, who feel more at home on a blog, right? At least, I hope so 🙂
Oh thank you so much, I’m so glad you could relate to this <3 I agree, blogging and having this little platfom makes me feel a bit more at home than on any kind of social media, even if I enjoy posting there, too, it's just… it's not the same and it doesn't give me the same feeling? I just love blogging so much haha 🙂
thank you so much! <3 <3
I’m the same Marie, I NEVR watch booktube, I’ve tried but it’s just never appealed to me. I also am hopelessly uncreative so bookstagram has never appealed to me that much!
I also completely get the going of twitter for a day, usually something dramatic happens when I do that and I end up spending a week clueless trying to catch up on everything that has happened, the book community on there is crazy and moves SO fast – I don’t know how anyone copes and stays up to date on there xD
I feel like they are so different, I can do a tweet in a minute max and it’s gone, a blog could take me hours to think up idea, writes them, make sure it all looks good with the formatting thing and you do feel a bit meh when your post on blog get’s 2 likes but the one on twitter mentioning the post get’s 20???
Twitter is the only social media (book wise) that I actually have but when it comes to getting recommendations I do get most of mine from the blogging community and Goodreads. I haven’t been blogging for long so I can’t really comment on how much it has changed but social media sure plays a bit part in most things nowadays! 🙂
Oh I’m glad I’m not the only one haha, I don’t know why but I just never really started watching booktube, and I think I prefer reading blog posts? 🙂
I think no one ever really manages to follow up with everything happning on twitter or any social media, really, it moves too fast haha 🙂
Thank you so, so much for your comment!! 🙂
I’m very new to both book twitter and book blogging, but I feel a very different vibe on both platforms. I feel as if they’re both important but both viewed in different ways. I am loving my first month blogging and really hope it doesn’t lose its importance! All the best lovely xxx
Yes, I think they should complement each other well, hopefully they will continue to do that 🙂
Thank you so much!! I hope you’re having fun blogging so far 🙂 x
I hope so! Thank you so much, loving it!! Xx
I don’t totally know what to say but I agree with everything you’re saying! Book lovers seem to be more important on social media than on blogging platforms. And I’m not the best at using Twitter because I’m not super clever or witty in short spaces and on the fly, so in a way I feel like I’m missing out on opportunities to grow my platform.
I get your feeling – I feel like there are so many opportunities to get if you’re active and just manage to get the hang of these social media platforms well.. but we can’t all do that, it depends on our personality, photography skills and so on :/
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on this! 🙂 x
I can honestly say that I have no opinion about Twitter, I can a twitter account but I never use it. I tried I just can’t seem to get into tweeting I think. I would rather watch a booktube video or read a blog post, but maybe that’s just me.
Oh no, I’m sure you’re not the only one feeling this way! 🙂 x
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts! 😀
I’m certainly influenced by book blogs, BookTube and bookish social media for the books I want to read, but I trust blogs more than tweets. Some of that has to do with how easy it is to find those blog posts again whereas they tend to be buried on Twitter and Instagram.
I think blogs give more space to have full length discussions or essays about a topic. It doesn’t require you to make a thread of tweets.
OH yes that’s such a good point – everything gets quickly… buried, like you said, or forgotten, while they feel a bit more permanent on a blog post and yes, there is more space here too to write lengthy reviews and so on 🙂
thank you so much for sharing your thoughts! 🙂 x
Hi Marie! I started my blog about two and a half years ago. I created a Facebook page a coup,e of months later and redesigned my twitter account to be solely book bloggish. In the last year I have started posting brief notes on Instagram about a book I’ve read. BUT my plan is to drive everything back to my blog. So I use all of those other mediums to make people curious about what I’ve written so they will go to my blog and read it. I think I’ve mentioned to you that my chosen career is in advertising sales? I’ve learned that it’s really important to be consistent. In this case I do believe the blog is working! I get the word out by feeding my blog through social mediums. It all circles back to the blog though.
As far as being influenced by bloggers in my book choices? Hell yeah! I can’t even count the number of times I’ve read a book because of a great review. Some are current books and others are a little older that a blogger has just discovered. It’s opened my eyes to authors I would’ve never read. I LOVE that!
Great post as usual! Oh, BTW you’ll see my post for Crooked Kingdom come out this week. That leaves only Star Touched before I can send you those books. I have to gear myself up to read it though! Lol.
This is such a great thing you’re doing – and I agree that it is important to be consistent. Yet, I only use twitter for now and I feel like just tweeting blog posts isn’t enough to feel part of the community on twitter, you also have to put more of yourself out there, with pictures, conversations and so on. It gets hard and stressful at times hahaha 🙂
OH yes I have to agre e with you, book blogs are probably what influences me THE MOST to get a new book, I love that so much and have discovered so many incredible books thanks to them <3
Ohhh I am eager to read your blog post, I can't wait to see what you thought of the book!! Hope you'll enjoy Star Touched 😀 You're the sweetest thank you so much!! <3 <3
You’re right about that on any social site. You have to put in the effort. Just like you do with other bloggers on WordPress. I’ll admit, I do that only occassionally on both Twitter and Instagram but have made a small effort!
It takes efforts but, whenever we can have great conversations and meet amazin people, it feels worth it for sure 🙂 x
I joined twitter about a month ago, so don’t have a lot of experience with it. I don’t actually spend that much time on it, just browse for interesting blog posts to check out and retweet other posts i like. I haven’t actually joined any discussion yet. That platform just seems to messy and it’s tiring to try and follow what’s going on over there… 😀
Oh I get it ahah, it is very tiring – and impossible, haha – to follow everything happening on here! I’ve given up and just try to catch up a little bit every now and then haha 🙂
Thank you so much for your sweet comment, Norrie! 🙂
I so know what you mean here, Marie! I do think that ‘hot takes’ on social media are somehow a lot more compelling that genuine considered heartfelt content. Or easier to consume. and I use Twitter, as you know, which is great in a lot of ways and terrifying in others. In terms of the relevance of book blogging, I think that in some ways book blogs are echo chambers, where you just hear the same thing over and over, and everyong listens to each other, but not external voices so much? Like I don’t know how much they impact sales to people who aren’t book bloggers. And being an influencer isn’t easy…but it definitely sometimes puts popularity before actual considered thought or even just passion about books. I’ve seen so much empty hype where I know a book is *popular* but I don’t even know what it’s about.
Oh you’re making such an interesting point. There are so many “empty hype” thrown around, like, book titles and everything else, yet before reading a proper blog post about it or anything else, well..I don’t really know what the hype is all about? So in that way, I’m guessing – I want – that blogging and social media complete each other well? 🙂
Thank you so, so much for your sweet comment, Shanti <3 <3
I mean….I hope book blogging never stops being relevant! But I definitely see where you’re coming from here, and honestly it pains me how book blogging is sort of dropping off?! Like my blog has grown and grown over the last 5 years, but I’m actually getting less comments now (still the pageviews tho so I guess people read but don’t comment?!) and less interaction with my bookworm friends. Life gets busy and it’s just quicker to post a tweet than make a nice blog post, I guess. I do understand that. But I miss blog posts! I think also twitter is frustrating with all the threads because it’s SO easy for one to get missing, context to get lost, and people to start replying before someone’s even finished what they wanted to say. Plus no editing your thoughts. I feel like we’re missing potential to have meaningful, well-thought-out discussions on blogs now. ??SO YEAH! I mean I love social media and I’m on twitter aaall the time and Instagram is where I get a ton of recs, but I miss back in the days when blogging was THE thing. ??
Oh I’m so glad you’re feeling a bit of the same way – I agree that it is quicker and easier to type out a tweet than a blog post sometimes, but it’s also so easy to mispell, misunderstand and just for everything to go wrong haha. I also LOVE the genuine, long conversations we can have with blog posts, while everything seems a bit more messy over on social media. I do miss when blogging was THE thing, too, haha. I hope that blogging and social media will just co-exist and that thoughtful discussions will still happen on here too 🙂 x
Thank you so, so much for your sweet comment, Cait 😀 x
To me, social platforms are the sidekicks of book blogs; they are a gateway. I follow people on their social accounts / if / I love their blog. Also, I’d like to say that social platforms are not helpful when you are a newbie blogger– blog hopping is what makes people travel to my blog, it’s more a way for more established bloggers to stay connected with their followers.
I use my social media to connect my blog essentially, share things too small for a blog post or that I’d like to see buried in the next minutes or so. ? Twitter moves so fast that you blink, you miss the apocalypse! That’s why I love blogging, it’s slow. It’s also a cosy medium because if you think about it, it’s like going to someone’s home; they have their own wallpaper, their own way to make you a cup of tea. Blogging is cosy, social platforms are apocalyptic! In any case, they’ll never have the same power for making me buy books than blog posts do. ?
OH I love the way you see blogging, Morgane, it’s so beautiful and I have to agree with you – blogging feels like a little home and it’s cozy, much more relaxing than social media ever is, too, haha 🙂 <3
It's definitely not easy as a new book blogger, or even an older book blogger, to feel at ease with social media, it moves way too fast and feels more of a way to catch up with people than to really drag people to your own blog. Blog hopping works better for that, I think 🙂
Thank you so, so much for your sweet comment! <3
The accuracy of this post is murdering my book blog-loving heart. 🙁 I started blogging wayyy back in 2013, five years ago. Back then, there were already a solid number of book bloggers, and the ones who were “popular” were really the biggest influencers. Things have definitely changed. I see bookstgram accounts with over 10k+ followers, and their followers are fawning over their photos, buying books they see on there.
Maybe it’s also because of the world’s shortening attention span? Now, everyone’s looking for short-but-sweet content, and LOTS of visuals. They aren’t willing to read 10 minutes worth of a blog post anymore, I guess, which is really sad considering the amount of time we book bloggers put into WRITING these said posts.
Personally, I still love being involved in both blogs AND social media–both influence my book-buying decisions. When I see a book mentioned a lot on Twitter, I buy it. When I read an in-depth, glowing review for a book that gets me interested, I buy it. I’m not sure other people still feel the same way, though.
Thank you for this lovely, eye-opening post, Marie! (And I do hope you never feel irrelevant in the community! I love all your amazing discussion posts and book reviews. <3)
– Aimee @ Aimee, Always
You’re making such an interesting point here, Aimee and I think you’re absolutely right – the world has such a short attention span and is always looking for visuals, something I personally love, too, but suck at making, so it’s a struggle haha. I have to agree, that makes me sad, too, because I love writing blog posts and ranting and… well, pretty much everything I did here haha and I feel like bloggers, writers like that on book blogs, should be given that attention and support too, because damn, it’s a lot of work to write words, too, even if they’re less… visual and longer to read haha.
Thank you so, so much for sharing your thoughts with me on this, Aimee 🙂 x
Awesome post. I feel like there are these cycles. Blogging was huge, but then Facebook was the thing, but oh, Twitter was king, and it seems Instagram is becoming the hot place. Social media just keeps evolving and the “popular” outlet changes. I like reading well thought out posts, but that is my preference. I think Twitter has its place for shoutouts and plugs, but when I really want to discuss books, it’s not going to happen on Twitter. I like to go to a blog or Goodreads for that. Instagram is for pictures. You can tell how few people read the captions by scrolling through the comments, but the pictures are beautiful and some bookstagrammers have an immense amount of talent.
Yeah I have to agree here, it feels like things are changing and it’s only.. well, it’s human nature to turn towards the new, “hot” social media and so on. I’m just like you, I like discussing, really discussing over in blog posts and reading blog posts more 🙂
I have to admit that I do love the pictures on Instagram, but I don’t read them too often either ahah, I admire the pictures 🙂
Thank you so, so much for sharing your thoughts! 🙂
This is such a cool post, Marie! ❤ I feel like you’re always saying all those things that we’re all thinking, but chose to ignore out of fear/comfort. Because I really hope that book blogging will never die and still stay relevant, especially since I hadn’t had the whole experience yet ? But I totally see your points, everyone is very interested in bookstagram these days, bookish Twitter is cool, but can be quite overwhelming at times.
I hope people will never stop appreciating the hard work bloggers like you put into their posts, you dedicated entire years in your beautiful book blog and you deserve all the recognition possible no matter where the trend goes. ?
Oh thank you so, so much for your sweet comment, Marta. I was and sometimes I am terrified to write a blog post or just to hit publish, I am glad you could enjoy that one 🙂 x
Oh thank you, you’re WAY too sweet <3 <3 <3 I really hope book bloggers will stay relevant no matter what, we all work really hard at what we do <3
I have a twitter account and recently created a bookstagram account but I spend most of my time on my Blog. Social media especially Twitter has taken over the book blogging world completely. I avoid twitter whenever a new highly anticipated book is released because they can’t wait to spoil it for others. Managing a blog is pretty hard and we invest a lot of time on it. I don’t know how people still have time to check out their twitter and bookstagram feed. And Yeah, I also hate that they are taking more space in the book blogging community. I agree It’s a great place to discover new books and communicate with the authors but still I’m not liking how it was taking over everything. Even book publishers are more eager to give ARC galley’s to the people who has more influence in twitter, Booktube, or bookstagram. They’ve kinda become mandatory and having a book blog is not enough for them.
OH I so agree with you on that. I have a hard time juggling my blog with real life sometimes, it’s so complicated to handle twitter, bookstagram and everything else, too, I don’t know how people do it ahahah.
Yeah that’s exactly the feeling I have – I feel like a social media presence is everything to them – well, it matters a lot, that’s for sure, and it makes me a bit sad, because… we can’t have time to do everything AND sometimes we can’t all be at ease with these social media, as well. :/
Thank you so, so much for sharing your thoughts on this, Raven! <3 <3
I am glad that you decided to write this post, Marie! It’s interesting- I feel like book blogging waxes and wanes, goes through this every so often. But I DO think that this latest bit of change has been one of the longer bouts of blogging seeming less relevant. Here’s the thing- sure social media is quicker to consume, but that also means people are getting SO much more information and are not as likely to actually take IN the information. I can honestly say I have *never* bought a book (or even added it to my TBR) because of a mention on ANY social media. Because… anyone can “rave” about a book for a hot second on Twitter, and that person may be the author’s cousin for all I know. With bloggers, I feel like we’re kind of…. vetted? Like- you know the blogger whose reviews you are reading, so you know if they have similar taste as you, you know what genres they’re into, etc. And a review can tell you a LOT more than a tweet or an Instagram caption.
I AM on social media (mostly Twitter, though I used to do Instagram frequently) and I just…, don’t really use it for book promo that much? I mean- I automatically schedule tweets promoting my current/new posts, but that’s it. If a book I LOOOOOVE has gotten some kind of special accolade or is on super sale, I might mention it- because I want my followers to get the sense that I am only going to flail about a book on social media if I REALLLLLLY love it- otherwise, I feel like any influence I may have had is negated if I just go gaga over every book I read, you know? But that’s just my personal opinioN! This is so thought provoking!!
I love what you’re saying here and I feel the same way. If I know that, ultimately, I will be influenced by what people are saying over on twitter, what books they might be reading or hyping up at the moment, what will certainly push me over the edge and make me want to buy it will be book bloggers and their reviews, that’s for sure. There is so much you can say in a review that you can’t fit in a tweet or instagram caption, you’re right 🙂
Oh that’s such a great opinion – to be honest, sometimes I get this feeling that I HAVE to talk more about every book I read on social media, but… sometimes I don’t know, I just feel like I don’t want to over-do, annoy everyone or just… I don’t know how to explain, but you’re right, I just want to really give a proper shout out to the books I absolutely loved. Yet again, sometimes I just feel like I need to be constantly talking and tweeting about books to be relevant, too… such a struggle haha.
Thank you so, so much for your sweet comment, Shannon!! <3
Great post Marie! You’ve done a fantastic job of explaining your thoughts!
I don’t do Instagram. I’m sorry, but staring at book covers among other items of the same colour scheme (while aesthetically pleasing) it’s not something I want to do or look at. It’s just not for me and it doesn’t necessarily entice me to read the book either. But others love it and that’s why people do it.
I think the popularity of those social media platforms is their global scale and a way to measure success on in an easier way. I think most book bloggers agree that their most popular posts are discussions and not necessarily reviews–and that’s what Twitter provides 24/7, constant platform to discuss books and other aspects of reading. It’s quick to read and you often reach a larger audience than just your immediate followers through retweets and other algorithm aspects. I think most of us become bloggers in the hopes of finding those people to talk about books and bookish issues with and Twitter in some ways has that better approach to that sort of stuff because it is continuous.
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on this! <3 I think you're the first person to tell me that you're not loving Bookstagram, haha, it's refreshing to hear 🙂
Oh that's such an interesting point, you're right, people DO love chatting about books hahaha, I agree 🙂
Nice post! Really relevant considering the rise of social media. Made me remember how much I miss freelance reading!
Oh thank you so much! 🙂 x
Hello Marie!
This is such an insightful post which made me think more about blogging and social media. I have instagram and twitter accounts but rarely use them nowadays. I prefer blogging much more, because I like the idea of taking time to drafting each blog post and then perfecting it. I don’t think I am the type to just tweet out my thoughts to the universe- the idea of that stresses me out too!
However, I believe it when you say that there is a massive community on these other social media platforms, and I feel like I should step outside my comfort zone and explore this a bit more 🙂 Times change and we should adapt, right? 🙂
Oh I’m glad to hear you feel the same way – I’m trying this twitter thing and some days I enjoy it, but I am much more of a book blog kind of person, I think. I do love taking the time to draft my blog posts, writing long rants and everything else haha 🙂
Thank you so much, Sophie!! 🙂 x
I’ll have to get more familiar with twitter. Seems like a slightly different mindset than blogging haha 🙂 However that is encouraging that you are beginning to enjoy it 🙂
It really is a different mind set and universe. I’ll always love blogging more 🙂 x
I definitely get what you are trying to say, I have felt the same thing but I have never been able to put myself out there on any of the social media except on my blog. And I was reading the thoughts of the other bloggers here and I do agree with them, especially about the attention span of the people. However, for me, I still depend on reviews and ratings before I actually buy a book. Bookstagram is a whole other world, I often forget I have an account there but most of the times it feels like would my account even matters because 99% of the people fawn over the beautiful and gorgeous accounts only, what can a broke girl like me do in these situations but yes, even if the pictures are tempting enough, I always rely on blogs first so for me, yes it will always be relevant.
Great post Marie! <3
Oh thank you so much for your sweet comment, Poulami <3 I'm so glad to hear you still rely on blogs and that I am not the only one to do that haha 🙂 x
Thank you!! x
Definitely you’re not the only one. 🙂
You’re welcome!
Awesome discussion post, Marie. I totally agree that things have shifted and expanded in ways that I didn’t even know possible. At first I thought having a website/a blog was already a HUGE deal and then you realize how much you can grow a blog, have followers, likes, comments, etc. It made your platform something that could evolve in itself (like how we went from a .wordpress.com to a blog that has its own domain). But then… twitter, instagram and all the pretty new platforms that help expand your reach.. Holy sh*t. I don’t even know how some people get so much attention on Twitter too. They just type one sentence and their tweets blow up, hence making their blog blow up and the influence comes from EVERYWHERE! Pretty crazy world that book blogging has become. I’m just going to continue having my little voice on my blog and keep on writing for those who are interested in what my mind has to say hahah Hey, again, great post, Marie! 😀
OH yes that’s exactly it. It’s just CRAZY how things can expand and how social media are just, sidekicks to this blogging adventure, but can sometime really get their own little lives, blow up, become crazy retweeted, famous and everything else… it amazes me, hahaha. It really is a crazy world 😛
Thank you so, so much for your sweet comment 😀 x
I’ve actually put a lot more focus on my Instagram lately. I did START there. I had a bookstagram before I had a blog so I’ve always loved it. I don’t go on Twitter at all anymore – it caused way too much stress for me. But just in general terms of blog vs social media – I agree. It’s partly the reason why I don’t blog as much any more, the interaction just isn’t there. It’s much easier for me to have a conversation with someone via Instagram stories/comments/dms. Great post!
Oh I am so glad Instagram is working out well for you. I have to admit, sometimes I really want to do an instagram as well, but…I lack the artistic abilities to do so hahaha.
Thank you so much, Molly 🙂 x
Yay another wonderful, thoughtful post of yours ? I mentioned this before, but I did end up getting a twitter account — and honestly, I haven’t really used it to dive into the big book-blogging community that I know is present there. I just don’t feel the same pull to jump into that community as much as I do for sitting down on the weekends to write blog posts, respond to comments, and blog hop. Going on a person’s actual blog seems so much more… fulfilling, I guess? because blogs are a product of someone’s hard work a effort in sharing their passion to others. I find a blog post much more impressive than a tweet, to be honest, and the same goes with Pins and Instagram posts and Facebook updates. No amount of social media can ever overcome the quality and passions that shines through in blog posts I read, so yes, I think book blogging is still relevant — for the people who care about expressing themselves through writing.
Oh thank you so much for your sweet comment, Zoie <3 I'm happy you enjoyed this post and I think I feel the same way, I always love going to visit blogs and sharing the love there much more than any kind of social media so far 🙂 x
I think there has been a shift, but while a lot of people are moving towards more social media, some of us are moving away from it. I have personally stopped visiting Twitter altogether (I still have my account and my blog posts are automatically posted there, but I haven’t actually logged in and read or posted in almost a year) because of the drama and negativity that can sprout up there. I have found that I am still able to function in the book blogging community without social media (though it severely limits my ability to enter some giveaways). and I’m actually a happier person without it in my life.
Oh that’s such an interesting point to hear – thank you for sharing! There is a lot of negativity on twitter and it can get quite overwhelming at times, I have to agree with you – it feels good to step away every once in a while. I’m glad you’re feeling happier without social media, just with your blog, that’s so great 😀
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on this 🙂 x
I agree with you. I haven’t been blogging for too long and I have noticed that social media does have a big influence. I think Instagram is the biggest one tbh but twitter also has a big influence.
Oh yes Instagram seems to have a MASSIVE influence, it’s crazy haha 🙂
Thank you so much for your comment, Alex! 🙂 x
Lovely post Marie! It’s been almost a year since I started blogging and yes I have definitely felt that change. I am both on Twitter and Instagram but Twitter is the least favourite of mine. I am never able to catch up with it. As you said, it moves too fast. Every time I go there it seems like I have missed a ton. However, on Instagram, you can exactly get the much more information.
While I cross-post on my social accounts, my blog is the first thing I am focussing these days because it is the platform that I am trying to grow 🙂
I really enjoyed reading this Marie 🙂
Oh thank you, I’m so glad you enjoyed this post, makes me so happy <3
I agree, twitter is moving way too fast at times. instagram sounds like a lovely platform, but… I just don't have the time and artistic ability to do that?? I don't know how people do it haha.
Thank you! 🙂 x
Haha yeah I can understand ?
I feel so understood! Honestly, I actually haven’t thought about this before but I still actually agree with you here! Personallu, I’m very active on my twitter (just started my bookstagram 2 weeks ago, not very active just yet haha) and it’s kind of replaced blogging for me since I spend so much time on it. I used to spend that time on book blogging. But alas (im so weird for using this word) that is not the point of this post. I think it also matters when requesting ARCS. I’ve seen publishers care a LOT more about your social media presence rather than your major platform following. And that’s because people are more active on social media than blogging.
I have a Blogging Facebook but I NEVER use it so haha. Twitter is the biggest one and sometimes I feel i really should step away from it. And yeah, I do feel like If I say something on Twitter, people will care more than If I shout about in a blog post. Which is a PART of the reason why i am demotivated to write blogs. Seeing books on Twitter, I GUESS. But for me strangely, it’s always the hype on Goodreads that gets me?
I have a feeling that this happens to a lot of people – they are posting a lot on social media and spending tons of time there, which leaves a bit less time to spend on blogging and blog posts? I get it though and when you have socialmedia and blogging, it’s easy to just… get into social media because it’s quicker, in a way? I don’t know. I feel like many bloggers are a lot on social media and blogs are just, something on the side. For me, social media are sidekicks to my blog, not the contrary? I feel like I’m doing everything wrong because of that, haha, but I am so much more at ease with book blogging than with social media overall.
Thank you so much for your sweet comment! <3 <3
Great post once again!
I did notice this change in the book blogging community. And, just like your title, I was wondering if book blogging was still relevant. When we know that, because of all the content easily-reachable on the net the attention span of internet readers has greatly diminished (hence people are not actually reading stuffs anymore on the web, just “zapping”), book blogging might seem like something of the past… It seems that people don’t want to dive anymore, they just want to “know about and go”. But just like books didn’t stop being a thing when movies arrived, I think book blogging is still relevant even with Social Media.
I’m personally on every social media but, even though it’s supposed to be my job (digital marketing), I always feel weird on them. I absolutely hate facebook and don’t feel really confortable posting on it. I like “being influenced” on Instagram and follow the personality of influencers I like but I always feel weird acting like one. I would love to be a part of the bookstagram community but for now I can’t… I always preferred Twitter and I love it even more since it has allowed me to meet so many nice people (you being one of them ?) and, for once, feel that my blog was relevant. So I think using both is good, watching stuffs on SM is easy but, it’s shallow, the soul of a blogger can only be found on its blog!
I usually am influenced on Social Media but it’s not because of the platform but because of the person(s). So whether it’s on a blog or on Instagram or Twitter, if it’s someone i give credit for and trust the opinion of, I’ll probably end up buying the book!
(I’m so sorry this long long comment ??)
Oh yes, people definitely are zapping a bit more now – I do it myself, too, yet I appreciate reading blogs and blog posts so, so much still. I guess I also want to be certain that I’m not the only one left feeling this way ?
Are we the same person??? ? social media is (part of) my job as well, yet… I can’t stand Facebook and have given up on it personally, I only use it for my work. I also love Instagram, all the pictures, the influencers, everything they do. I am SO in awe of bookstagrammers and would love, someday, to be part of this community, but I am also lacking photography skills and time to do it all and I’m basically a nervous mess about it ?
Oh this is such a great point – I think that the person influences me way more than the media? If it’s a person I trust, whether she/he/they are ranting over on twitter, instagram or their blogs, I’ll buy the book with my eyes closed haha 🙂
Oh don’t apologize, thank YOU for taking the time to share your thoughts on this, this means SO much <3
Yeah, it’s hard to focus on things these days (especially when you have an attention span like mine…). I want to do some stuffs but in the meantime there are so many other things that I would rather (or as much want to) do.
It seems that we indeed are the same person ?Isn’t that a bit messed up that supposedly community managers and digital marketers are “a bit affraid” of Social Media? (“Affraid” is not the word, it’s more of a disenchantment for the platforms and form of communication but that’s what it will look like to outsiders). But we are really the same for Instagram though! Maybe we could hep each other with that, I don’t know how though ?
And yeah it all comes down to the personality / the person. I would go the edges of the web (and the world?) for a someone I trust. Facebook, Twitter, Blog, YouTube … those are just vectors of the information.
OH I have the same issue – though I know i can get REALLY focused on something (blog posts mostly or my writing at times), I also know my attention quickly gets away, swallowed by social media or notifications or something haha.
It IS messed up, but I also think that, because we know these platforms so much and everything they can (sometimes REALLY creepily) do… makes us feel a bit weird about it overall ? they’re powerful tools, but I think what’s scary is to know just how much they can be? ?
yeeees ahah definitely, well if you get to instagram and bookstagram someday… share all the tips? ?
I guess you are right about that for sure, I’d definitely follow any book recs certain bloggers will give me with my eyes closed haha 🙂 x
Yup exactly hahaha! When you know how powerful is the beast you know what to fear from it. To be honest I think that Social Media are very far from being anything « social » (associal media?) Anyway! Referring to your blog about the book blogging pressures, this is one thing I quite worry about. I stress to much about Instagram and I never think any of my pictures would be worthy enough. I would just like to share my love for reading anyway it’s possible but then perfectionism kicks in and…. I just can’t do anything ? So as you will probably get to bookstagram before i’m waiting for the tips ?
Ughhhh I have EXACTLY the same issue. I have a perfectionnist’s crisis like, twice a week because of these kind of things haha it’s awful. I guess we’ll have to wait and see who gets into it first 😛 x
I AGREE WITH ALL OF THIS. But yet I will still throw bananas at you because it is fun and why not.
It’s easy to see that book blogging is not as popular as social media, mainly because it takes a lot of time to write a post, and then perhaps get so little in return for your effort. Especially if you are measuring your readership via comments or page views. As the audience, it’s much easier to scroll through some tweets or heart a photo, something that’s so much easier than commenting (furthermore it’s harder to comment on a phone, and so it’s preferable to use a laptop while commenting, which is something people may not have on hand all the time).
So yeah, I agree that it’s getting harder to gain blog readership. Booktube is also hard because of all the editing, but it since lots of people use youtube and it’s easy to put in the background and what not, there’s probably more viewership there. Commenting on blogs take focus, and you can’t really multi-task while doing it. SO THERE’S THAT.
This sounds so bleak BUT YOUR POST WAS ALSO BLEAK SO I have no regrets. I do think there will always be an audience for blogging though 😛
Oh yes, I have to agree with you here, I guess commenting and getting an audience is a bit easier on social media, it’s quicker to consume than a full-length blog post, that’s for sure ?
Definitely agree about booktube – even if I don’t watch it, I have to agree that it sounds easier to just, put it in the background, while… when you’re reading a blog post, you can just… well, read the blog post and focus on that ?
Thank you so, so much for your sweet comment, Valerie!! <3 <3
Perhaps social media is more relevant to publishers because those platforms reach more people and those platforms are the ones that news sites will often cite when writing about the conversations happening in the YA book community. But I don’t know that this is new. I have been blogging for seven years and I believe that, for those seven years, it has been common for book blogs to be read mainly by other book bloggers and not by the general public–hence why it’s so difficult to monetize book blogs. We’re not like food or fashion bloggers. We don’t get millions of views per month from search engines. I know that a lot of bloggers have moved to social media since I started blogging, but I am not convinced that their success on other platforms means less traffic to blogs because, again, I don’t think non-bloggers were ever reading the blogs to begin with (not in large numbers).
Personally, however, I prefer to read blogs and don’t follow anyone’s social media accounts. You just can’t have the same type of conversation on Twitter or on Instagram that you can have on a blog where you have more room to write and the focus is on the text and not the images. I also think the speed of Twitter that you mention is a problem. Conversations on Twitter last a day. Conversations on blogs can keep on going.
You are making such a great point, Krysta, and you’re right – I agree that, outside of book bloggers and other kind of bloggers or readers, I don’t feel like our blogs are read by such a big audience and… in that, social media really are important and maybe bring more audience, too, a different kind of audience.
I agree with you too on that – yes, we have different kind of conversations on blogs and social media, I feel like I can really take the time to talk with someone on a particular topic, while on twitter everything moves so fast, it’s crazy. I think that’s why I will always love blogs more and the conversations we can have 🙂
Thank you so much for your sweet comment and for sharing your thoughts on the topic, I appreciate it so much! 🙂
I agree that it seems possible to get HUGE audiences on Instagram and Twitter in way that seem much more difficult for a blog. But, I don’t know. Did book blogs EVER get like 10,000 followers or whatever? I’m not sure that blogs are losing followers or interaction necessarily, just that it’s easier to get those things in different platforms.
I also think it depends what you’re into. I like Twitter and Instagram, too, bu those platforms cater to short content, and often it feels very promotion-y. If I want in-depth, thoughtful commentary, I’m more likely to look at a blog. So I think publishers will often prioritize social media and Booktube because of the large audiences and the ease of getting a quick promo out to tons of people, but as a reader, I guess I just prefer blogs.
You’re raising an interesting question. I already saw book blogs with over 20 000 followers, but this is all-included, meaning, blog followers, no matter the platform + all kinds of social media, blog lovin and so on.
I agree with you that they are different platforms and we definitely have different conversations, too, and ways to tackle them. I appreciate book blogs so much because it’s easier to get into depth with all the topics, to talk about all the books and so on. Social media are such a quick way to get promo out, but I’ll always trust reviews on book blogs more 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on this, Briana! 🙂 x
Wait, there are people with 20,000 followers? They need to tell me their secrets! :p
I know right?! That’s crazy – even with the social media accounts adding up, numbers can get reaaally high. It’s impressive, I want to know all of their secrets as well 😛
* Definately gonna add this post to my « giving love » part of my end of month Bujo. *
I dont know if it’s because I came while it was switching.. but to me both needs eachother. Yes, im a part of booklr on tumblr and aswell as the book community on twitter (not insta yet..) but as blog posting all 7days of the week is not really.. possible, for now anyway, it’s good to speak with, interact, and scream at some things over there in the mean time. It just gives us bloggin people more place to share a part if our world with 🙂 but blog posts & comments are very important still! I make it my rule to bloghop & comment back as much as I can ?
Oh thank you, so glad you enjoyed this post 🙂
I agree that they both complete each other quite well – and it is impossible to blog all the time and be on social media, just everywhere all the time – unless we’re just doing that all day long haha. What I meant is that, I feel like interactions happen a lot on social media and a bit less on blogs, and I do love interactions on both, it’s just… I feel this switch. Social media is quicker for sure, but still I love a good talk via comments as well 🙂 x
Thank you so, so much for your sweet comment, Kristina 🙂
Yes! For sure, I decided to habit track my answering & returning comments, so the days I dont have any is quite eh ? even if there some days it dont has any, I get quite a lot opposed to some who says they never had any! Which wierded me out honestly ahaha I went like « what! Are you serious..? »
It sometimes gets a bit overwhelming, even if we try to follow everything the best we can haha 🙂 x
Marie, this post is incredible. Literally. I may be a brand new face around the book community, but I’ve been silently lurking unseen in the background for a while now; reading book blogs, reviews, tweets, etc. And I must say, I completely and one hundred percent agree with you. To be quite honest, I’ve never felt comfortable in the land of social media (Twitter, Instagram, even Facebook). But writing, I’ve always loved to do. Blogging seems like the place I’m most at ease, if I had to choose, and like you said, we shouldn’t feel inadequate about that. I love the thought of being able to say what I want to say, without having to rush saying it. I can speak my mind in a relaxed environment (aka my blog). Book bloggers put in just as much work as anyone else and deserve to be heard and shown appreciation. I’ve been trying to be more active on Twitter, but mainly spreading the love of book blogs. I prefer not to delve into the murky waters of book politics, etc. Not because I don’t care, but because it isn’t in my personality, as you mentioned. I wish there were some way for book bloggers to band together to make all of us be heard more. This post actually gives me a few ideas, so I may send you an email about some things. 🙂
Oh wow, thank you so, so much for your sweet words and your sweet comment, this means so much to me <3 I'm also glad you can relate to some of this post. If some important debates are certainly happening over on social media, I just am not the kind of person to shout about it. I maybe will use my thoughts to write a lenghty blog post like this one haha.
Thank you so, so much for your sweet comment and your support! Feel free to send me an email if you want ahah, I am curious now about your ideas 🙂 x
You’re welcome! Sounds great! I’ll email you here in a bit! Looking forward to chatting with you.?
Same here! <3 <3
Very interesting topic! I completely agree, there has definitely been a shift away from book blogging. You really have hit the nail on the head with the reasons why too. The cold hard fact is that book blogging takes a lot of TIME. Many people simply do not have the time it takes to dedicate to blogging. I would also say that book blogging takes more effort too… not that other forms of social media don’t, but that book blogging takes more I’d say. People like quick & instant these days. It’s unfortunate, BUT I’m like you and don’t really feel comfortable on bookish social media. I like to take my time and participate when it fits my schedule… social media does move quickly, so it is hard to keep up.
Oh thank you so much, Amanda, I’m glad you enjoyed and could relate to this post <3
I agree, if social media does take time, it's not necessarily the same kind of time we can spend on blog posts, either. I guess there is nothing we can do anyway, it's just the way society gets, slowly but surely… as long as there are book bloggers' readers, I'll be happy haha 🙂 x
Thank you!! 🙂
Oh my goodness Marie I feel this post SO MUCH. Like you I’m not really that comfortable on social media – I wish I could be, but I just can’t easily tweet my opinion like others do. Sometimes I somehow find the courage but most of the time I just tweet silly things here and there, if I’m even on! While Twitter can definitely be fun, it’s not always relaxing and after a (most of the times mentally along with physically) exhausting day, I just can’t look at my Twitter feed. And as for Bookstagram or regular Instagram I just don’t have the energy to keep it up lol. I definitely feel like not being that active on social media impacts my stats/my presence in the community and that sucks, but I can’t just change who I am/force myself to be more active when I don’t want to.
Thank you so much for this post Marie! ❤️
I feel the same way. Somedays I feel okay with it, some others I just want and need for everything to JUST STOP and I can’t follow everything and it’s just too much haha. I feel like, yes, it’s not too relaxing at times and it’s more exhausting than anything else haha.
Thank you for saying that and for the reminder, too – I feel like I could do more if I had a bookstagram, for instance, but… it’s a lot of work as well haha.
Thank you so much for your sweet comment! 🙂 x
I don’t know that I’d say social media is overtaking book blogging, but it’s another outlet. I’m not as active on social media as a lot of people, but I’m okay with that. I play to my strengths and social media isn’t really one of them.
It is another outlet, it’s different for sure 🙂 I guess as long as we play our strengths, like you’re saying and that we are just happy with whatever we are doing, that’s what matters 🙂
hehe I may be a monkey, but I’d never throw bananas at you 😉
This is such an interesting post! I confess, I’m still a bit oblivious to book twitter (and completely oblivious to bookstagram) And honestly I’m not the kind of person to scream about everything either, so I’m with you on this. Tbh I honestly just prefer blogging and so it’ll always be relevant to me 😉 Awesome post!
Aww I’m glad to hear that hahaha.
So glad you enjoyed this post, thank you so much!! 🙂
I’ve noticed in some polls that bookstagrammers put up that most viewers prefer reading reviews on Instagram/twitter over blog, and I’m not a fan. I don’t think all thoughts can be properly articulated on social media like in a blog post and I still prefer reading proper reviews than social media. I trusted social media once, bought two books of the series and ended up really disliking it. It’s true, even I think about whether what I write on the blog matters but in the end of the day that’s what I like doing.
Oh I’m glad you feel the same way – I really prefer reading reviews on blogs, I feel like there is so much more you can talk about there and, I don’t know, I just love it more 🙂
Thank you so much for your sweet comment! 😀
Hi Marie. I really appreciated your post. I just dipped my toe into the blogging world and launched my blog this month. I am having trouble getting traction with it and had started to notice that bookish social media is where all the attention seems to reside. I am coming to terms with what I’m willing to commit to in terms of time and avenue on social media, and reading similar thoughts in your post was enlightening and supportive. So thanks! You’ve made a difference in my day and blogging sphere.
oh you’re so welcome, I am so happy this post was useful to you 🙂 there is a lot of traction over on social media, that’s for sure, but it can also happen on blogs. It’s all a matter of deciding where we want to stand and how we want to live this blogging experience 🙂
thank you so much for your sweet comment 🙂
I still love blogging, but I have noticed the switch also to more social media posts about books and honestly I love looking at all the pictures and learning about books that people love, but I do still like to read blog posts. I’m with you that it seems they aren’t getting as many reviews these days.
I’m glad to hear you’re feeling the same way! 🙂 Thank you so much for your comment, Rachael 🙂 x
This is such a fantastic post and I’m a little sad I’m late to the party.
I think most definitely it’s easier and so much quicker to get a response and interaction about an issue or book on social media, book twitter in particular. I feel like it takes so much effort to build an audience on a blog in comparison, which, yeah, kinda sucks because of how much more work it takes.
I think it comes down to the instant nature of social media. People like the ability to read short chunks and interact with a limited response, because it’s easier, rather than reading an entire post and responding to a more in-depth discussion.
But I guess the great thing is that people who read books like reading! So yeah, I think it’s still relevant to our audience in particular.
Thank you so much for your sweet comment, I am so happy to hear you enjoyed my post <3 I have to agree with you here, I guess it all comes down to the fact that social media is a bit more quick and instant than blogs are :/ Thankfully, there are still people like you and I loving to read blogs 😀
Thank you so much! 🙂
I started book blogging in 2008 under a diff name on blogger because I had no friends who talked books. Then I discovered book blogging and booktube though to be fair back then blogging was bigger than booktube. Instagram didn’t exist yet and people hardly ever used Twitter to promote their blogs however it was a great place to interact with your fav authors and publishers.
I took a break in 2011 and again in 2013 to work for Disney and I’ve been gone since then until now and through the years I’ve noticed that booktube went up and blogging went down. Then I saw that bookstagram was a thing and that took over everything.
Tbh I still love blogging and with the algorithm fuck shit I’m certain that blogging will make a comeback at some point. I feel like creating a community on blogs is much MORE than one you can create on instagram mostly because we read and see what you’re saying here versus feeling ‘rushed’ on IG to like the next photo and the next, you know?
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and insight, it’s even more interesting to see how you saw things evolve, given that you have been blogging for so much longer than I have! I’m glad to see that I am not going crazy though and that you are seeing this switch as well.
I completely agree with you here – social media as a whole really is instant, while blogging is just more… it just seems more constant, somehow. I really hope that it will make a big comeback as well and… that it will never be forgotten or irrelevant ahah 🙂
Thank you SO much for your sweet comment!! <3
I absolutely understand where you’re coming from. I’ve always been blogging at wordpress, but last 2015 I tried bookstagram for my photos, it was doing great. I have to platforms to work on, but then new generation of bookstagrammer came, then they weren’t just taking book photos for the sake of sharing the book, tey were doing all these with book merch and candles and I just dont see the point. They dont even review it anymore, well not all of them but mostly. I decided to drop my bookstagram but I held on to my wordpress. It’s sad and beautiful to see this big of a change on the community.
I guess bookstagram has just a different way of working, I am not an expert and couldn’t really talk about it in depth, but yeah I rarely see full-length reviews or sometimes even thoughts on the books featured. I guess it just works differently? In our world right now, as long as the book is seen, without reviews, even just with a picture, that seems to be enough to work for the publishers? I don’t know haha I don’t understand all of the mechanisms there haha 🙂
Thank you so much for your sweet comment! 🙂 x
I don’t *do* bookstagram – I’m apparently in the minority here, but I really don’t get why you’d want to take soooo many pictures of books…? Like, I know what books look like…? They all kinda look like books…? #JustSaying. #Youdoyou. Lol.
Look, social media is an extension of blogging – not its replacement. It comes down to: do you wanna just talk about books? – Influencers, just social media; perfectly fine, but not for everyone – or do you wanna also create content? – reviews, discussions, etc. – the sort of thing that you promo on social media, but usually don’t write there, because it doesn’t lend itself to in-depth explorations of topics!
And as far as missing-out is concerned? There are so many social media networks now that no-one expects you to be on *all* of them. Pick one or two that suit you best and build them up. If and when you feel comfortable, you can add another to your toolkit, but there’s honestly no rush! 🙂
I agree that social media is an extension of blogging, and I guess everyone can’t be at ease with social media or blogging, like you’re saying, yes, it all depends on what you want to do with your blogging adventure, write in depth blog posts, be on social media, juggle it all or not 🙂
Thank you so much for your sweet comment! 🙂
Old-fashioned (small time!) book blogger here 🙂 I personally CANNOT stand Twitter — bookish or otherwise. It’s too fast and there’s too much drama and after giving it a go for a while, I just couldn’t keep up — and didn’t even want to, honestly. I follow a few Bookstagrammers, but my own account is just for personal use. I think it’s so easy to get overwhelmed on there too, so I’m really picky about who i follow. For all social media, I find the norm of following tons of people — and/or following back everyone who follows you — to help grow your account just to be way too much. It feels artificial to me — how can anyone genuinely keep up with following so many people? I have been blogging for almost 7 years and I still only have a small following and I love that — the connections feel more genuine to me. And that’s the best part of blogging for me. I have nothing against big accounts or bloggers/influencers who have different goals, but I know I could NEVER keep up with it all myself! I keep blogging even though I generally reach only a small group — and when a post has wider appeal or manages to attract readers from a Google search, that’s just a bonus for me 🙂
I completely understand your feeling, it is so very easy to get overwhelmed on social media, it feels a bit more relaxed on the blogosphere and I like that atmosphere a lot 🙂
I really like the way you see blogging and have to agree, genuine connections are important and it is the best part of blogging, being able to chat with people like that and make amazing friends, too <3 <3
Thank you so, so much for stopping by and sharing your thoughts on this topic! <3 <3
I feel exactly the same way! I even decided to quit Facebook and Instagram because they felt like “fast connection” (like fast food). It seems like you are writing and producing something but it’s so short lived and it lacks the effort I am trying to put in a normal blog post. Plus, I love writing and posts on social media can’t really satisfy this need I have to express myself in a written way. I would like to think that things will shift again and people will start appreciating blogs again.
Thank you so much for this post and I’m sending you hugs from Scotland. 🙂
I’m glad I’m not the only one feeling this way! Thank you so, so much for stopping by and sharing your thoughts! <3 Also wow, Scotland, I DREAM of going there someday 😀 <3
You must come! It’s so green and magical and my university looks exactly like from Harry Potter <3
AHHHH REALLY. This makes me want to get on a plane right now hahaha 🙂