As videos and podcasts become ever more popular, you might ask yourself if blogs are still important. The short answer is yes—no matter how much video becomes a part of our everyday life, there will still be room for blogging.
First of all, blogging means reading, and reading isn’t going away. It shouldn’t. Reading teaches you things about speaking and thinking that you just can’t get from a video, and for many people, nothing matches the peaceful pleasure of curling up with some great text.
If you are unable to read—if you lack the time, inclination, or visual acuity, or if reading is simply difficult for you—there are tools that can help. For example, Amazon has created Whispersync for Voice, which allows Alexa to read to you (and as voice becomes more popular—and it will, this will lead to even more prominence for blogging). Text can easily be converted to audio, but converting audio to text is much harder and less reliable. Converting video, or even still images, to text is a challenge without the active involvement of a human being—who might as well be blogging, in many cases.
Then there is the convenience of reading. With videos and podcasts, you have to listen to or view the entire thing, or you might as well not bother. With reading, you can read every word carefully, if you want, but you can also skim the content quickly. That’s a huge advantage for people who are too busy to watch a lengthy video. It also means your content is much more likely to appeal to someone who is unfamiliar with your work and doesn’t know if you’re worth their time or not. A quick skim could gain you a new reader.
Don’t get me wrong, video is undoubtedly growing at a rapid pace (podcasting too), and with good reason. But blogging/writing isn’t going anywhere. Blogs are still important.
Get into video, if you want to, but stick with text also, and dedicated readers will stick with you.