Does it actually matter (in the long run) which of the major blogging sites you use?

It's the content that matters, and if you can get readers to... well... read it. Wordpress is quite popular around here, and with good reason. Blogger, too. Both of those platforms are quite friendly to a migration if you feel you've outgrown them. And for other reasons also.

I agree that content matters. However, you also need to consider accessiblity for your readers. Blogger and Wordpress have large communities. Tumblr does too, but they tend to be shorter and different content than Blogger and Wordpress. All three platforms are easy for people to get to. They are mobile friendly.

As to the main question in your thread, does the platform matter? Yes. Platforms can fade. The larger the base the longer it can potentially stay around. Xanga is dead, but everyone I knew had one when I was in middle school. Myspace is dead, people moved. So platform does matter, but the dominant one changes. Just stay aware of the flow of people and you should keep up.

I used to be a LJ fiend, when I was 13, 11 years ago. I don't know how popular LJ is anymore. I'm not sure how accessible it is. The biggest red flag is I don't really hear many people talking about LJ, like at all any more.

I think the platform you use can have a lot of subtle but telling effects even if the content would be the same. They tend to direct their traffic inwards and attract different groups of people, they push uses towards certain layouts and widgets etc. With most users you can tell at a glance what platform they are on and various unconscious judgements will get made.

LJ's pretty much dead. It's trying to be Facebook and has become ugly. It only really seems to care about Oh No They Didn't! since that's what brings in the money and clicks. Most LJ users have fragmented and moved to Tumblr or Wordpress it seems.

Tumblr seems to be the big thing, but navigating it can be a chore, it's not conducive to discussion unless you install plug-ins, and it's a rather obnoxious environment.

Which blog/site platform you choose matters in several ways.

One of the more important is which one is easiest for you to use. This is partly personal and partly due to the design of the platform. I've used both Blogger and WordPress. Both have been around a long time and the rough edges have been rubbed off, so both are easy to set up and use.

There are several pragmatic considerations, such as how often the platform is down from crashes or routine maintenance. (This is no longer crucial, as both Blogger and WP (and I'd guess the other platforms) are on several mirrored geographically separated servers. Even an earthquake is unlikely to down WP or Blogger because of this.)

A consideration important to many is how much can your web site be tailored to your needs, such as the look-and-feel. An author who writes historicals or romances or steampunk or far-future sci-fi may want their site to look very different from the others. My experience is that WP is far ahead of Blogger and the other sites in this. Blogger is borrowing techniques for WP to improve their "tailorability" but still is far behind.

Having had a WordPress blog since 2003 and an LJ since 2006:

Yes, but only up to a point.

What's more important in my opinion is that you have your own domain name to go with it.

If you ever want to move from wherever you are, you want people to automatically follow. Don't build your platform on rented turf -- and that includes the URL that people type to get to you.

Three of the four mentioned allow you to use your own domain. (LJ does not, though they allow you to use a subdomain, which is weird.) I know of exactly no one who's done this.

I use self-hosted WordPress because I can do everything I need to, including selling my own books and lobbing them out across the wire. The downside is, I get to manage all 38 plugins, too, and I pay WPEngine a lot of money for that privilege.

But, hey, my site looks like no one else's, which isn't all good.

Oh, forgot to mention this, too.

My WordPress blog pushes to Tumblr and LiveJournal (the latter via Dreamwidth, an LJ-based platform a lot of people have left LJ for). So, at least with WordPress, you can get 3 out of the 4.

In terms of what pushes the most traffic to my main blog and what offers the best numbers for analytics:

1. My blog itself
2. Twitter
3. LJ
(a huge gap here)
4. Facebook
5. Tumblr
6. Dreamwidth

My facebook numbers are probably artificially low because I push from Twitter to Facebook, and my twitter numbers are artificially high because FB URLs go through the Twitter shortener. I don't know the real percentage, but have been thinking about separating Twitter and FB more. It's just a pain to do that.

I prefer word press, because you can do a lot of the stuff you can on Twitter and more.

I prefer networks I can just follow the tag, so the only thing that shows up is in relation to that tag. When you have like over a million users, that becomes crucial.

The price of hosting and a registering a domain name have never been more affordable. I would get an affordable shared hosting account and a domain name and make that my “home base.” You will have more control over your site if you self-host. It may seem too technical but most web hosts have a one-click WordPress install.

Write primarily for your WordPress “home base” site and drive traffic with social media and other sites.

I forgot to mention, with WordPress there is a gazillion plugins that can do just about anything!

skitblack said:

It may seem too technical but most web hosts have a one-click WordPress install.

Click to expand...

Note, though, that that's the least secure and reliable way of installing WordPress. Almost all of the owners of the tens of thousands of WordPress blogs who fall victim to random hackers (automated or manual) have installed their blog that way, and there are reasons for that.

alexaherself said:

Note, though, that that's the least secure and reliable way of installing WordPress. Almost all of the owners of the tens of thousands of WordPress blogs who fall victim to random hackers (automated or manual) have installed their blog that way, and there are reasons for that.

Click to expand...

Hence, Joomla for me.

Seriously, that one-click install is convenient... for you *and* for the hackers... no matter which platform you use. You can do the work up front for a secure install, or you can recover from the hack later on. Or you can do the one-click, keep it offline until you do the work to lock down the site, and then bring it online.

I find WordPress much more comment-friendly and adaptable to the user's needs, while blogger is rather linked with gmail. Google is taking over though, so it seems.

scribbledoutname said:

I'm talking about Blogger, Wordpress, LJ and Tumblr (well I don't know about LJ anymore).

If you set up a blog on any one of these, do you think it will significantly affect your ability to build a following? I love Tumblr, especially since I'm a photo person, but it just feels like Blogger and Wordpress are better suited for building followers and keeping people coming back, especially since most people already have the accounts they need to follow their favourite bloggers.

The way I see it, LJ and Tumblr are well known but more nichey than Blogger or Wordpress... a lot of people use them, but it feels like their content is harder for your average browser to stumble across. Or am I wrong?

Click to expand...

It doesn't matter which you start with . . . in the long run, if you're committed to updating the site and adding value consistently, you'd end up building a community that will be VERY royal to you and to whatever you say.

What matters:

Isn't your CONTENT.

It is the VALUE you consistently add that matters.
It is helping people solve their most pressing needs on that TOPIC.

That's all that matters.

Consider Ghost as well. It's what I would use if I was going to be semi-serious about blogging (currently considering a blog versus a website at the moment).

Anarchic Q said:

LJ's pretty much dead. It's trying to be Facebook and has become ugly. It only really seems to care about Oh No They Didn't! since that's what brings in the money and clicks. Most LJ users have fragmented and moved to Tumblr or Wordpress it seems.

Tumblr seems to be the big thing, but navigating it can be a chore, it's not conducive to discussion unless you install plug-ins, and it's a rather obnoxious environment.

Click to expand...

I feel like tumblr would be very difficult to run a serious blog, at least as your main blog, unless you were a graphic artist.

Anyway, yes, LJ is dead, at least, I think, for English speakers. Most of the blogs and communities I know that relied on the LJ format have moved to Dreamwidth.

I love and have used Wordpress for years. Blogger also has many users still.

As mentioned up thread, what matters most is:
Your content and its value to your readers
Your own domain ($10 a year or so, but then using it depends on how you use Wordpress)
Do not use one-click (or you are giving an open house for hackers)
I prefer Wordpress (it is available in all the options I mention below)

Without a domain name: If you want free hosting and not your own domain name, Wordpress.com (or Blogger works well also I hear). Even if it is free, there is still a price you pay, which is control over some things. But they give you a website free (just yoursite.wordpress.com or something like that).

With your own domain name: if you do buy one, you need hosting. I think that Wordpress.com and Blogger.com may allow transfer to your own domain and hosting later (not sure about both, others will know). This is where you use your domain name but they host for you. But you lose lots of freedoms that I don't want to lose, so do research on this.

If you can, pay for hosting yourself with your own domain name (you can still use Wordpress here, just refer to Wordpress.org). I used to say just host with hostgator, blue host, godaddy, etc. ($5 a month or so), but while cheap, you do pay the price there, also as mentioned up thread (hacking). I used to say hostgator prevents hacking, but then mine was hacked there too. It was a huge pain to fix it, and they somehow did not have a backup for me to use (luckily I had what I needed, but this was unacceptable, as that was supposed to be there). Just know if you cannot afford my next and only recommendation, to have regular backups of your site, in case you are hacked. Then, this cheaper way could be worth it.

Wordpress managed hosting:
Instead I use Synthesis hosting for Wordpress. it does cost more per month ($50 for mine, but easily $100 or more for a large site or multiple domains). They guarantee so much more and protect me from hacking and so many plugin problems, that the cost is worth it for a professional author and educator website fueled by Wordpress.

Up thread WPEngine was mentioned- they are supposed to be just as excellent (and expensive), but I have not personally used them. They are also in this category, and I almost chose them, and I have heard great things there too.

So, there are different levels of monetary investment, and you need to consider your future goals when you choose your blog platform (blog platforms like Blogger and Wordpress seem like they will be around longer, if you look at this thread and others).

This was a very enlightening thread for me, since I started blogging on LJ a few years ago and never moved it. Reading the above is just enough of a kick in the pants to start moving everything over to a better site, which I am working on now.

Thanks everyone!

I prefer wordpress. I like the reader available by wordpress.

When I was starting a blog wordpress seemed easier for me to use then blogger.