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Facebook Needs A Full Blogging Ability

May 31, 2013 3:37 AM ETMETA
John Mylant profile picture
John Mylant's Blog
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As I view many of my "friends" updates in the middle of my Facebook page, it reminds me of Twitter. In our fast pace society the limited notes that Twitter provides has a definite place because people often don't want to read my news details, they just want the skinny. As time has progressed I find it interesting that different sites continue to pop up and slowly chip away the stones of "Castle Facebook" desiring pieces of its market share.

One thing that I can't do on Facebook (FB) is blog. This is a huge part of being able to put my thoughts online and I think this is a big area that the company needs to address because other social sites that provide this are popular. Tumblr for example gives its users more freedom and control in this arena. Facebook has its "notes" but as I observe the website it doesn't look like an important area the powers that be at Facebook encourage us to use. But it is the best/closest thing to a blog that I can see on the site.

Every day I put information on my Facebook site about my business, but it is just quick "twitter like" information that people can see quickly. There is no sense of identity to it; it is just pieces of information. This is how I "update" my site and it makes sense that this section is called "update" on Facebook. There is not much ownership to it as much as it is just a place to add new quick information.

I don't have a Tumblr account but I do know there's more freedom here where ideas can also have pictures and other things alongside and people "re-blog" so that users actually share thoughts and ideas with each other instead of "like" as you do on Facebook. There seems like there's less interaction.

A quick education for those of you that may not know, Facebook bought Storylane back in March 2013. The employees of the company have now become Facebook employees. The company was originally started as a social networking site that focused on "personal stories." It differs from social sites like Twitter because it wants people to spend more time "blogging" experiences instead of giving small tidbits of information. Whereas twitter and Facebook to an extent provide short updates, Storylane encouraged users to share longer stories about their lives.

As people are looking for more ways to express themselves on the web, I believe "blogging" is of great interest to people who desire to spend more time writing about their experiences in this may be the reason that Tumblr has grown so quickly. I wonder if the former employees of Storylane are going to assist Facebook with a "blog-type service" that will be revealed sometime in the near future?

How would I envision a blog on Facebook?

I am of the opinion that this would be a very important addition to Facebook and it is something that would have to be easily and instantaneously accessible from one's home page. Using our "status update" would be the easiest way to move into writing something so it should be attached. We have feeds on our site that our friends can see but they would also would need to be a way for our friends to see the new blog posts that we have put up.

This would be a great addition for Facebook because it would add to what is commonly termed "impressions" for the company. If Facebook users were given full blogging features how many new page views you think the company would rack up on a daily basis? One feature that Tumblr has that Facebook might cannibalize would be a re-sharing or re-blogging choice. Similar to its "share" concept that we can do now through pictures or other things, this could open up idea-sharing beyond just friends on Facebook. It just seems to make sense that Facebook should have a full blown blogging feature for us.

I remember years ago when I was on MySpace before Facebook vaulted in popularity. One of the things that may have helped the latter was its organization and simplicity. MySpace appeared be more self expressive, but it was also chaotic looking. Facebook appeared to bring order to sharing but I believe today, years later, providing a blogging service that allows more self-expression is a viable tool that could really help Facebook.

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