Blogstöckchen, Blogparaden, Trackbacks & Co. – Tradition oder Renaissance?

Well, first of all, it should be noted that the Blog Weeks are essentially also a kind of blog parade, and the number of participants recently suggests that such activities are still quite popular.

I also keep stumbling across blog memes (“blog sticks”) when browsing through the blogs I subscribe to. Usually, these involve a handful of questions that one person answers and then nominates others to do the same.

Both ideas foster networking: they help discover new blogs and get to know the people behind them a bit better. Of course, people are happy to take part. On the one hand, topics are practically handed to you, and on the other, such activities always promise new readers.

I consider the networking of blogs important and a good counterbalance to the big platforms. Trackbacks once played a major role but are not as relevant today. They’ve mostly been replaced and now only exist as a fallback when the more modern Webmentions don’t work.

I’m a developer myself of a plugin for Webmentions, so I still consider them relevant. They’re a simple way for blogs to talk to each other and exchange ideas without going through social media.

Tradition or Renaissance?

To this either-or question, my answer is a very clear yes and no! They never really disappeared, but the blogosphere was small and not very active for a long time compared to back in the day™️ and now. As a result, you simply noticed them less.

Today, there’s a more active scene again and therefore more attention for such activities.

In my opinion, the question itself is unnecessary. It doesn’t matter why these activities exist today, as long as people enjoy them and we all get to discover a few new bloggers.

I always like keeping an eye out for such activities. I must admit I rarely participate, and the Blog Weeks are a big exception here. Most topics don’t fit for me or are a bit too meta. I’ve never been tagged with a blog stick myself, so I can’t really speak from experience, but I do enjoy reading them when others publish one.

In any case, I think it’s a good thing that “the scene” is becoming more active again and that there are many different initiatives. It’s especially interesting to see how differently people approach the same topic—surely with this one too. I’m curious.