The New Year is here and many of us are on autopilot, making those New Year’s resolutions and then breaking them on the 23rd hour – and then of course, feeling guilty. Then there are some of us who constitute those long-term goals and resolve to work really hard toward attaining those aspirations. And then there are some of us bloggers who always have separate goals and dreams for the blog.

Typically, this is the time when I would post my own goals and aspirations for my blog and hopefully along the way, inspire you to do some blog housecleaning yourself.

Well, today’s post is a bit different this year.

You see, over the years many have said that my blog has served as some sort of inspiration to other bloggers – whether it ‘s the simple feeling that a reader recognizes they are not alone, feeling a mutual respect and understanding for what I experience, or whether it’s feeling inspired to start that new business or blog. And then there are those who just enjoy coming here because it feels comfortable, like you’re visiting an old friend.

I feel so absolutely grateful that you are still here, that Theta Mom® is still standing and that I am entering my fourth year of this crazy bloggity blog journey. But I wouldn’t be telling you the whole truth if I didn’t tell you that entering blogging in 2013 also comes with some uncharted territory of fear.

Fear that the bloggy world as I know it is changing faster than I can even write this piece – fear that blogging, the kind of blogging that I know and love is slowly becoming a lost art.

Over the last four years, I’ve seen the blog world change and morph and in today’s day and age of ever-changing technology, the bloggers that don’t keep up are the ones who will be lost. Social Media is an absolute testament to that.

Well, some of my fears that creep up from time to time were finally spelled out to me in a recent post. On January 2nd, I read an article on Mashable entitled: ‘Tumblr Now More Popular Google Search Than ‘Blog.’

And there it was, the words staring back at me from that article. I still can’t stop thinking about these words that ring so true and hit really close to home:

“Writing a blog post is a lot harder than posting a status update, putting a funny link on someone’s Wall, or tweeting…The short head of blogging thrives. Its long tail, though, has lapsed into desuetude.”

Isn’t that the case? Can you relate? In my opinion, microblogging has taken on its own form of “blogging” in social media. I find that bloggers aren’t posting as much or as often and even perhaps, with as much eagerness to be here, still truly blogging.

The state of the blogosphere has completely changed. Some of the bloggers who I adore are in Private Facebook groups and posting there more often than on their own blogs – they are sending out monthly newsletters rather than posting regularly, or finding their unique space on Pinterest and Instagram more than their own blog.

Bloggers have become more visual and are writing less – much less.

So what gives? What does all of this mean? What happened to the real, authentic, can’t-get-enough-of-it-REAL blogging?

I think several things happened along the way and many social media platforms that entered the scene certainly changed the game.

When I started blogging, we hardly used photos. Blogging used to be more about real connections and relationships, more than posting an amazing Instagram photo of some dish that was just prepared with a catchy one-liner. Blogging was about real writing, the kind of writing that you got lost in – it was so much more than a Facebook update about the latest rant or photo of your cute kid. Blogging was about community, about understanding and supporting one another – not tweeting 5,000 links a day for the latest sponsored post. With all of the “noise” on Twitter, I can’t think of the last time I had a real conversation there, can you?

I fear that blogging, the real blogging that I have grown to know and love is slowly becoming eaten up in a world of self-promotion, filled with Instagram and Pinterest-inspired users. People want the visual, they want what’s quick and easy and I’m not sure if that fits my own purpose of being here – blogging.

I’m not saying that quality images don’t add value to your blog, they absolutely do. But the old standard of “content is king” I don’t think applies anymore. It’s hard to create community on a blog when others would rather talk on Facebook in a private group or tweet out the latest Instagram photo – and all of the above doesn’t apply to me because I would rather still be here. Blogging.

I’m still here because I believe in why I started blogging.

I’m still here because I love to write.

I’m still here because I can’t ignore the voice that emerges every time I publish a post.

And I certainly don’t have any plan on leaving anytime soon.

But, I really don’t know what the future of blogging holds – all I am sure of is what I want and what I plan on continuing to do here – and that is write with full abandon without the need to fill every post with 5,000 visuals or tweet, pin and update until my fingers bleed because the reality is, I didn’t sign up for that.

I want to bring blogging back. I want to bring real blogging back that doesn’t include a million visuals and self-promotion. At the end of the day, I hope my ability to tell a story will be enough.