Long ago before the advent of social media sites like Orkut and Facebook, diarists and bloggers were a predominant feature in the world wide web. However, with the advent of the above-mentioned sites, coupled with the discovery (by the populace of course) of photo-blogging sites like Instagram and Pin Interest, blogging and journaling took a backseat. Nowadays, diarists are unheard of and a handful of bloggers remain (with the concept of blogging being dominated by corporations and websites who have their own blogs targeted towards their consumers).
I have observed that a lot of friends and acquaintances who write for Facebook and other similar sites get embroiled in controversies. Perhaps because they get a lot more readers than bloggers do. While the popularity is definitely a blessing for their writing prowess, the controversies are definitely not welcome. During the good old days of the written word, writers would often maintain a diary which was personal and would seldom be exposed to the public eye. Bloggers too had this privileged. Most bloggers would write and a select group of genuinely interested people would read their articles (they were not called posts those days). Social media writers often refer to their articles as “posts” and expect instant comments within minutes of uploading their articles online. Quite often these comments are not by genuine readers, but by those who may have a bone to pick with the writer. Very often these comments deal with matters that are not even remotely associated with the article concerned. They may entirely hinge upon an unrelated topic or a pet peeve of the reader. With the writer responding to such comments and in the process trying to defend himself, the importance of the exercise of journaling and organizing one’s thoughts is lost in the process. Hence, writing for social media websites or “posting” is definitely not as effective as writing a diary or a blog. The internal habit of writing for pure altruism and nothing more is somehow lost amidst all the chaos and the cacophony.
All said and done, the need of the hour has changed, times have changed, and the tradition of being a diarist has changed. With blogging and posting being swiftly eclipsed by vlogging and short reels (like those often seen on YouTube these days) the future of the written word is indeed in great dilemma.
So much for now. Till I scribble in the near future. Au revoir !
