Social media and blogging are different animals.
I query “blogging tips” and “#bloggingtips” through X, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Multiple trending updates confuse social media with blogging. Some add the #bloggingtips hashtag X-related content. People believe that publishing updates to social media is blogging. It is not.
X is a micro blogging platform. But bloggers own their sites. Social media users own nothing just like free blogging platform users. X can close your account down without warning. You are the product. Users create social media wealth.
Blogging Is Different
I own my WordPress Dot Org Blog.
Compare my X profile to Blogging From Paradise Dot Com.
My X profile is a commercial for X. Blogging From Paradise Dot Com is standalone. I run the blogging show here. I monetize how I wish. I set the rules.
Blogging is different from social media. I obey no algorithm. I do what I want. Billions do not compete with me here. I distribute new posts. Readers find my content.
Social media posts get buried under millions of posts. My new posts appear on my front page. My updated and republished posts appear on my front page.
Pinned social media updates get stale. Not so with blog posts. I serve new content consistently here.
Why the Confusion?
Social media users believe that creating content is blogging.
X looks like blogging to social media creators. But it is not. Nor is Facebook a blogging platform.
YouTube and Instagram are social media sites not blogging platforms.
What Makes Blogging Unique?
Bloggers:
- own the content
- customize without shackles
- brand according to specific tastes
- build topical authority as a one-of-a-kind solution
- update old content as much as they wish
- publish new content as much as they wish
I queried “what is commercial bias” to see my post at position 5 on page 1 of Google.
I beat out government sites.
My topical authority tells the Google algorithm that Blogging From Paradise Dot Com has weight. I appear to be a light heavyweight; for a while I cared less about Google traffic until AI citations came on the scene.
Nobody consistently ranks on Google for keywords using X or Facebook. Why would Google prioritize one Facebook user over five billion Facebook users? The massive user base dissolves topical authority. Facebook owns it. How can you be a topical expert publishing content on a site that you do not own? Authority signals singularity. Five billion people ain’t one, honey.
Blogs are different. Detailed content plus a seamless user experience rockets bloggers to the top of Google.
The Tricky Part
Bloggers rocket to the top of Google after years of publishing detailed content on a single topic.
I found this process to be difficult but doable. This is a marathon not a sprint.
Hold your blogging vision. Do quality work for a few readers. Good things are on the way.
Practice in private. Shine in public.
Let Reason Replace Temptation
Now you may be tempted to “blog” on Facebook for its 5 billion member base.
Let reason replace temptation.
I just showed you that running your own show for a long time helped a single blogger like me outrank trusted government agencies. Use this logic to defeat the temptation of chasing a global audience with a flawed system.
My post was three positions down from the National Library of Medicine.
This is the power of covering one topic for over a decade while almost every one else in the niche quits.
Social Media Is Users Updating Social Media
Billionaires who own social media profit because users update their site at a dizzying rate.
Users do not generate billions. Social media owners generate billions.
Imagine if 30 million people with user login credentials updated your blog today. Would that help the users? Barely. Would it make the blog owner – aka you – filthy rich? Hell yeah.
Owners profit. Users generally make scraps, save a few savvy entrepreneurs. But even those smart people would be wise to own a blog.
Landlords make fortunes. Renters hand money to landlords who earn serious income.
Social media is free to join but at what cost?
Be the landlord not the renter.
Be free.
Be truly helpful.
Be sharp.
Conclusion
I will add the #bloggingtips hashtag to this post on social.
Let’s educate the masses to make empowered decisions.
Ryan Biddulph is the owner and creator of Blogging From Paradise Dot Com.