After several years of blogging on WordPress, I’m leaving to blog on one of the first and oldest platforms: Blogger. But with its ancient internet age and Google’s propensity to cancel products/services, why would anyone in their right mind choose Blogger in 2022? Because in my case, it’s not the mind.
My mind chose WordPress; my heart chooses Blogger.
Back in 2017, WordPress wasn’t my first platform of choice. I actually chose Blogger first and, at the last minute, changed my mind. I picked the most logical choice (thanks, brain), the CMS that was more viable, popular, and had greater potential.
Today, I think WordPress remains the more rational choice over Blogger. In fact, during the plan/pricing upheaval this past April/May, although I was preparing to leave WordPress for Blogger, I again choseWordPress. And as it turns out, WordPress reverted from its radical new plans to the previous tiered offerings.
So why leave now for Blogger?
In late May, when I re-chose WordPress and cut off Blogger, I was resolute and settled in. Forget Blogger, it’s in the past; unpack my bags and keep moving forward with WordPress.
But something happened.
While reading the book, Biblical Minimalism, I checked to see if there was a website for it. I typed the search terms into DuckDuckGo and — whoa — www.biblicalminimalism.com has a site on Blogger with posts as recent as August 2022!
I found a current blog hosted by Blogger on a topic I like.
That hit me.
I realized Blogger, to this day, is alive, active, and I could be there too. In fact, had I ultimately chosen Blogger in 2017, I could have been blogging there for the past 5 years.
Next thing I know, my fingers were on auto-pilot, migrating all my Jason Journals posts over to Blogger at a rapid pace. I resumed the process I had started back in April amidst the WordPress uncertainty. I was primed. So when I realized my heart was still with Blogger, I just went with it! Risk accepted.
“…’cause I can’t fight this feeling anymore…”
Sure, Blogger is ancient. But the platform’s “oldness” is part of the attraction for me. I blogged there first; I’ve got nostalgia fuel.
Yes, Google could kill Blogger at any moment. But I figure that even if Google decides to sunset it, the company would most likely give advance notice, probably a year before final shut-down. I could enjoy Blogger while it lasts, having time to migrate back to WordPress or switch to something else like Ghost.
I also figure that since Google has had plenty of opportunity to end Blogger — like during the deconstruction of Google+ — yet after all these years still hasn’t, then maybe Blogger is here to stay.
The biggest reason why I choose Blogger is the same as before: it’s simple.
Four Reasons Why I Chose Blogger - February 7, 2017
Blogger as a platform is all I need, nothing more. It’s minimal and enough. It’s also flexible and “free.” I can edit the HTML if I wish, and it costs no money.
The fact that Google owns Blogger doesn’t bother me. Google has stewarded it well enough all these years. And since I frequent YouTube that’s owned by Google, why not also enjoy Blogger?
Since 2018, WordPress has been increasingly block-based. But at Blogger, I can work with text in a WYSIWYG editor for posts and pages. Love it. No more blocks, thank you.
Is this a crazy move? Did you use Blogger back in the day?