On Engagement: Blogging vs. Video
Posted on August 28, 2026 by Aywren
I love my blog. I’ve spent the past 12 years typing words onto the screen in hopes that something I had to say would reach folks beyond me for a bigger purpose. Sometimes that purpose is to strike up conversation or share thoughts on a topic. Often, though, I want to provide information that can help or inspire someone else.
Yet, it feels as if blogging has slowly become a relic of the internet past. Those of us who hang on to the ways of written word have become fewer and further in between. Thank goodness for celebrations like Blaugust, which remind us to pick up our hobbies and write about them again.
Maybe this isn’t the place or time to write about this topic. It feels a little off given that Blaugust meant is to celebrate blogging, and I don’t want to put a damper on it in any way.
However, it hasn’t been lost upon me that the one thing I’ve been missing most when it comes to blogging isn’t the traffic… it’s the interaction. The comments. The discussion. The spin-off blog posts.
I’ve actually seen some of that during this Blaugust, and that’s made me incredibly happy! I think I’ve seen at least two or three posts that other bloggers have written in response to or due to some topic that I chucked out as a Blaugust post.
I’ve also seen an uptick in comments on my blog since Blaugust, which I deeply welcome. I always, always appreciate comments and conversation.
I really hate to say this, however… as I’ve been a long-time champion of the blogging format. But after starting a YouTube channel (something I never expected to do), I was blown away by the amount of consistent interaction and discussion my videos brought about. Especially given I’m a tiny channel that’s been around for only about 3 months.
All I can think is that YouTube pulls down all the barriers of interaction that foster comments on their site since most viewers are going to be logged in when they watch videos and follow channels. Therefore, it’s far easier for YouTube viewers to drop a comment and respond to discussion than it is for… say… someone who needs to sign up and log into Disqus on my blog to offer their thoughts.
In fact, I notice that sometimes folks leave their comments about my blog posts in social media replies – such as on BlueSky or Mastodon. Not that I’m complaining about that – I appreciate anyone reading and replying where they can. But it almost seems easier for them to drop a social media comment than a response in the comment section on my actual post. Sadly, however, social media comments are washed away quickly to the sands of time as those platforms move so quickly.
Believe it or not, some of the discussions I have under my videos in YouTube have become very long and in-depth. I have a few regulars who consistently update me on their experiences in FFXIV (since my YouTube channel is focused on FFXIV), and who honestly seem to be taking away ideas and pieces of advice to implement in their own ways.
While not all of my videos have hit it off with the YouTube algorithm, I am constantly reminded by the people of the FFXIV YouTube community that what I create seems to be helping folks out. Either they’re discovering something new to do in FFXIV or they’re finding a new way to look at themselves and how they interact with others in the game. Even if my video never breaks 500 views on the platform, the fact that I can help a handful of people brings me deep satisfaction.
Sometimes it’s acknowledgement that I’ve helped someone find just a little bit of inspiration, such as:
Or maybe I help give someone a different perspective on something like Frontlines PVP:
My art party video seems to have been doing the rounds in encouraging people to find new community events, too:
I also love when I can teach someone something completely new!
And if you look at my video analytics as a whole…
…you can see that while I’m not getting millions of views or anything, the number of people watching is not insignificant (to me). Some of these videos get well over 100 comments – even if that’s counting my comments as I try to reply as much as I can.
I hate to say it because I can’t easily pull the actual numbers from Disqus, but that amount of engagement on one of my videos far surpasses the number of comments I get on my blog for the entire year now days. Maybe back 10-or-so years ago, I might have seen that kind of response if a post got people talking – though never over 100 on one post itself!
So, you can see why I’m pondering this. I want to note that these are folks who started as absolute strangers to my channel just a few months back. Some of them I do now recognize as consistent watchers – I keep track of names I see pop up over and over – but many still remain unsubscribed and completely new to my content, as you can see here:
Causal viewers are defined as people who have watched my channel for up to 5 months in the past, while regular viewers have watched for over 6 months. Considering I only had a few one-off silly videos I hosted on this account for whatever Tumblr thing I had going on, and the actual channel has only existed for 3 months now, this makes sense.
I’m not really sure where I’m taking this post other than to say – no I’m not planning on quitting my blog for video creation. I enjoy each of these methods for different reasons, though I have been putting more focus on video creation lately simply because I’m new to it and still have a lot to learn.
Maybe a part of me mourns the loss of engagement across the blogosphere and I wonder what we can learn from sites like YouTube. As much as I grouch about Wordpress.com and all of its policies, I do acknowledge that when hosting there, my engagement was far higher – likely for a similar reason. People coming from Wordpress.com, and already logged into Wordpress.com, had no hoops to jump through to comment on another blog hosted at Wordpress.com.
However, in the case of YouTube, this is amplified. Unlike a Wordpress.com account, which mostly caters to those creating blogs, folks who are watching and consuming the content on YouTube are generally logged in. Basically, the audience is invested enough to have a YouTube account, and in having one, this makes commenting on videos far easier. Thus, a higher sense of engagement – which multiplies because, as we know, when one person comments, this breaks the ice for other people to comment.
I’ll just leave my ramble there for now. Thoughts are welcome, as always!