There are many advocating that blog is a social media. 

When you search “is blog a social media” on Google.

You’ll get bloggers telling you that blog is where social media happens.

Copyblogger thinks so, and Kate the Professional.

Are they right or wrong? Is blog a social media? 

Let’s find out.

What is social media?

Let’s define social media:

noun

[uncountable, plural]

​websites and software programs used for social networking

social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter

Companies need to invest in social media to make it work for them.

Social media are changing the way people communicate, work, and shop.

[source: Oxford Learners Dictionary]

Now, what is a blog?

(also less frequent weblog)

​a website where an individual person, or people representing an organization, write regularly about recent events or topics that interest them, usually with photos and links to other websites that they find interesting

[source: Oxford Learners Dictionary – blog definition]

A blog is a website. 

And, you can use a blog to network with other bloggers and readers.

Let me explain…

What is social networking?

​communication with people who share your interests using a website or other service on the internet

[source: Oxford Learner’s Dictionary – Social networking]

Essentially, when you are interacting with people on a website, a blog, a forum, you’re social networking. 

And social media means a website or programs used for social networking. 

Therefore, a blog is indeed a social media. 

Blogs in the past

Blog paved the way for social media giants such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and a slew of others we know today.

In the early years, techies used blogs to network with like-minded individuals. Probably discussing what they had for lunch, dinner, or specs of their computer.

That’s still the same today. 

Blog is controlled media

It can be any form like this blog, Blogzn.com. Also, it can be a forum where people join and discuss a topic they like.

I can turn on the comments section, and you and I can banter about whether a blog is social media. 

The problem with that is I have control of what you say in the comments section.

Why do I have control?

Well, if you’ve been blogging for a while, you’ll know that automatically approving comments on an article is asking for trouble.

There are bots and people who will leave their links to a spammy website in the comments section to gain some link juice (Pagerank).

That link will get you, the publisher, penalized by Google. 

Here’s Wikipedia weighing on the subject:

…The ability of readers to leave publicly viewable comments, and interact with other commenters, is an important contribution to the popularity of many blogs. However, blog owners or authors often moderate and filter online comments to remove hate speech or other offensive content…

[source: blog as a social media by Wiki]

As you can see, a blog can be social media. However, in today’s world, using your blog as a networking tool may not be as effective as using social media giants like Facebook or Instagram, where people spend most of their time.

When you have a new blog and no traffic coming in from the search engine. Who’s going to read what you have to say?

Social media as a blog

Using social media as a mini-blog is an excellent way to attract people to your site. 

But, that can be a very time-consuming task with a low return on investment.

You could have sculpted the perfect little article and put together engaging images only to get a few likes. 

It’s disheartening.

When that happens, don’t worry about it. Push forward. 

Not getting any likes on your post doesn’t mean that each individual who saw your post hated it. 

No, they were just too lazy to hit the like button.

Or, they forgot. 

And, likes do not equate to your bottom line anyway. “Likes” is a vanity metric.

Concentrate on creating valuable content that can help people. So, you can build a brand and sell like crazy in the future.

I believe social media is for brand building, not necessarily for quick sales. 

You can, but you’ve probably seen many who spam the comment section with their affiliate links. Did you buy from them? I’m guessing no.

Or if you’re on Instagram with unengaged followers. Who’s going to buy from you without building a dedicated fan base?

So, can blogs be social media?

Can blogs be social media?

Without overcomplicating things like the other blogs, you’ve read about blogs being used a social media. 

The simple truth is, yes, a blog is social media. It has been from the start.

Since its inception, blogs have been used by coders to talk about codes? I don’t know what they talk about. I’m making it up.

But, in the mid-2000, publishing platforms were built and allowed non-coders to write their thoughts on the internet without knowing an ounce of HTML. 

Previously, only techies, hackers, coders can write on the internet. With the advent of web 2.0, anyone from grandpas to moms and kids can speak their mind on the world wide web.

Conclusion

To sum it all up, there are many forms of social media, and one of them is a blog. 

Others are the following:

• Micro-blogs
• Wikis
• Social networking sites
• Photo-sharing sites
• Instant messaging
• Video-sharing sites
• Podcasts
• Widgets
• Virtual worlds
• and more

[source: Introduction to social media]

Is blog a social media? 

A loud resounding YES!

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What do you think? Is blog social media? Or, you don’t see it as such? Leave your 2 cents below.