Experiments In Social Blog Space

Writing, blogging and sharing thoughts that generate conversation is at the center of today's digital world. A number of choices exist for platforms to setup shop and start talking. Top choices, in my view, include: Blogspot (Google), Wordpress, Tumblr and maybe Posterous (now owned by Twitter and not a word about next plan of action). If you like a pretty layout and free themes you can't edit, go for Wordpress. If you like blogging on the go with more of social feel go for Tumblr. If you like an in between blog that allows unlimited media space (image uploads, easy media embedding, etc) and can deal with free themes or boxed themes, then go for Blogspot. Each platform presents its pros and cons based on personal taste, intended audience and ability to grow.

I have gone through this scenario a few times and really feel Tumblr is the best option for me in terms of decent free or paid themes, ability to add third-party integration like Disqus or Google Analytics, unlimited space to upload media like photos, music files or video. The main pro with Tumblr is its social capabilities. Its integrated with plenty of other social apps and has its own mobile app for iPhone and Android users. As a mobile photographer enthusiast, working photographer and audiophile, well, that's prime time heaven! However, a few cons with Tumblr center around ability to backup a blog on the Windows OS. It may not be the best choice for a business or anyone looking to archive their digital writing life.

Enter thoughts of Google+ and its blog like posting feature. One immediate frustration is not being able to post images inline or have any control over a story following an image post. You are essentially forced to post one image at a time and have it archived into the album "Photos from Posts" which never really link the text portion back to the photo, depending on what you click. You would think Google and all their years of search knowledge would know how to put these things together for synchronicity and relevance.

Which brings me back to Blogspot: The mobile app, simply, sucks. Images posted to a blog from the mobile device end up being really small sizes that are in no way pleasing to the eye. The average size of website images is either the ridiculous 720px by 540 px or at least 1024px by 768 px. Post from a Blogspot mobile app and get less than size! That is a no go for presentation.

The experimental idea I have come to is what would it be like to use only (or to be realistic, MAINLY) Google products for a week or a month to see how smooth life would flow. The first things I see that would not be acceptable include: 

• No way for a non-Google user to interact with a Google+ post
• No real location-based checkin with photo on Google+ unless you just add a post then add location and photo (however, this does not count towards Google Checkin service points)
• Again, the Blogspot app is poorly designed and no real usability
• It takes several workaround actions to get social posts outside of Google+ if every post is not a Blogspot post. 
• The last significant piece in the puzzle is number of actual REAL friends and regular contacts that actually USE Google+ to make it interesting to post anything at all because most people are already glued to Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

I do like a challenge and this seems like it could go either way to make the digital flow easier or frustrate me to no end. Drawing up the plans and thinking this through, but its on the agenda for some time in 2013.

What are your thoughts? Note: Yes I know ALL about self hosting on Wordpress. This is about social usability from a photographer and social media strategy point of view.