For the past decade, we have seen how bloggers take social media by storm. Their faces are on every news feed we encounter. They become global ambassadors of luxury brands. Ordinary people with 20,000 or more followers become instant celebrities. Everybody is talking about these bloggers and what charmed lives they lead. They're traveling all over the world, perfecting their Instagram feed and making all of us envious of a lifestyle we only dream of having.
And then thecoronaviruspandemic happened. Suddenly, there are no more travels and food trips. Bloggers cannot take long road trips with their pets. They cannot make anOOTD(outfit of the day) post without a mask covering the lower half of their faces. And in some cases that bloggers made the mistake of traveling or taking off their masks in public. The once adoring social media public was quick to call them out for such mistakes. Social media is relentless when it comes to wanting these personalities to be the perfect representation of who they couldn't be.
So, how did the blogging community fare during the pandemic? Did it become stronger? Did it somehow remain unscathed, untouched by the cruelties of the past year?
Market Reach
Since people are glued to their laptops and smartphones, the market reach of blogging was more expansive during the pandemic. Everyone is trying to find a source of comfort amid the public health crisis. If they can get that sense of comfort from following strangers on social media, then so be it.However, that does not mean bloggers were complacent. They still need to work with an SEO company to optimize their websites, blogs, and social media pages. If they wanted to take advantage of the wider audience reach during the pandemic, that is only possible by optimizing their content for the search engines.
Flexible Content
It becomes harder for bloggers to be creative with their content. Those who depend on travel and fashion needed to find different ways to entertain their followers. How can you travel in the past year if virtually every flight is canceled? How can you travel without stomping on the sensibilities of others? People who needed to quarantine at home for a year don't take kindly to bloggers brandishing their travel lifestyle amid the pandemic.Many bloggers have been called out for acting like the pandemic was not wreaking havoc on everyone's lives. That means they can no longer strut their stuff around without being socially aware of other people's suffering. Somehow, their content needs to recognize the fact that, yes, the pandemic exists. So what are they going to do about it?
Volunteer and Advocacies
Since bloggers cannot very well strut their fashion pieces while doing the groceries (although some did try), they turned to better things-volunteerism andadvocacies. This became a turning point for influential bloggers in the past year. Many of them spoke of social injustices and what they think the public should do about them. Many also used their influence to persuade thepublicto get vaccinated (once the vaccines were ready).While others don't feel the need to politicize their pages, they turned their attention to causes that are close to their hearts. If they are passionate about the environment, they talked about this advocacy. Some even turned their pages into sources of information for environmental news, campaigns, and many others.
New Breed Of Bloggers
There were two types of bloggers that thrived amid the pandemic. The first type is the blogger who offers pertinent information to the public. Health experts became interested in reaching out to thepublicthrough social media. They have the credentials to back up their opinions.The second type of blogger is the one who entertains people. They became popular via video-sharing social networkTikTok. They create short-length humorous videos that go viral on other social media platforms.Netizenswanted to take their minds off the pandemic. The only way for them to do that is to binge-watch their favorite shows or amuse themselves with viral videos they see on social media.
It remains to be seen of the blogging community will change more in the coming weeks, months, and years. As the pandemic hopefully nears its ends in countries that have successfully vaccinated their citizens, bloggers can once more travel the world, share their cultural experiences and turn the streets into their own fashion runway. While a lot has changed globally, it doesn't look like social media users will get tired of bloggers anytime soon.
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