Blogging through time

Ten years ago I decided to start my own blog because I was really bored during Easter break. As explained in About Nesrine Fleur van Sambeeck from GirlyenGeeky was one of the people who inspired me to do so after reading her interview in Flemish school magazine Maks!. My blog started out as "Nesrine Told You So" as I wanted to focus on spreading fashion news to my fellow Dutch-speaking fashionista's. These posts could vary from new fashion campaigns, upcoming models, new collections and editorials that I really wanted others to see as well. Unfortunately most of these posts are defunct since I used images from other websites that have apparently been removed. Luckily the posts that are still online use original or altered images (fair use) and don't rely on other websites still hosting these. I've definitely learned since then as I try not to rely on others for the images on this blog. When I renamed it to Not So French Fries I wanted to focus on my personal thoughts, (little) adventurous and style. I put all the new-related posts back as concepts. I also wanted to become a proper part of the blogging community by joining Bloglovin' and making the list of blogs I followed public. Unfortunately only Life with a lipgloss smile still posts (once a year) and the others have all stopped posting. Naturally these blogs being deleted or abandoned isn't limited to fashion blogs. It's something that has just been happening on the internet overall. Where are these creatives migrating to? I hope to, one day, find an answer to this question.

Composing a Letter by Vittorio Reggianini

One of the reasons why these blogs are left for dead is that the writer just didn't have time for it anymore as blogging takes a lot of work: research, writing, proofreading and editing are just a couple of the tasks involved. This work won't feel rewarding when others don't read the result, thus not really reinforcing you to keep doing it. It seems motivation is a big driving force for people to continue doing this work which is only natural. Even though I enjoy writing and sharing it online I still check my analytics as it's a way to check "my success." I still remember how I got over a thousands readers for a blog post on Thylane Léna-Rose Loubry Blondeau in 2011. I almost fell off my chair when I saw that because it felt so surreal (usually I'd get sixty readers at most per post). Apparently I'd optimized that post for search engines with my title which left nothing to the imagination. I dropped this when I started writing more personal posts. Search engine optimization was pretty easy back then with sponsored search results being highlighted clearly and having less results linking to social media sites. The latter has really boomed over the past decade with social media platforms opening their doors to people who had no account of their own. By giving them a little taste of what they're missing these people could be swayed to make an account on their social media platform to enjoy the full experience.

Before the rise of social media, companies relied heavily on customers finding them through search engines with Google being the most popular one. It is said that in the mid-2000s Google promoted blogging to companies as a way for them to appear more in Google's search results if they posted frequently. Of course this led to companies hiring what we now refer to as content managers. They were in charge of the company's search engine optimization through blogging on Google's Blogger. This was even the case for Lolita brands in the West: Baby, the Stars Shine Bright San Francisco (they still update), Black Peace Now San Francisco (they unfortunately deleted the blog and someone from Indonesia picked up the domain) and Angelic Pretty Paris when they still collaborated with Boutique Boddywood. I didn't know Black Peace Now had a shop overseas until I found this list of Lolita blogs on the EGL Community on LiveJournal. Sadly only a couple of English Lolita blogs have been updated recently (I took the definition of this word quite broadly). Below I've made a little list (in no particular order) of Lolita blogs that are still being updated (including the few from the LiveJournal list even if they aren't Lolita-focused anymore):

• Lolita and the City
• Make Lovely
• Vanilla Syndrome
• Violet Lebeaux
• Lolita Wonderland by Rosalynn
• Sparklewolfie's Wonderland
• DIXMACABRE SEWING CHRONICLE
• Josine Maaike
• Stephano
• Crimson Reflections
• Cynical Neo-Princessism
• Lolita Collective
• Daily Gems
• Ephemeral Lace
• Fruit Salads
• Miss Carol Belle
• Cupcakes and Unicorns
• Dearie Dawn
• Fortune's Closet
• frillSquid
• kelp
• Lovely lace and lies
• Luna By The Lake with Cake
• Mahou Queen
• Mukashi no Sewing
• Nycticeivs
• of thread & mind
• Pretty Princess Club
• R. R. Memorandum
• your other left
• Wear Your Bows
• Qiann’s EGL Blog
• ~Memoirs of a Fallen Angel~
• Morosedoll
• rabbit . reverie
• Petit Piaf
• petit prince's journal
• LACE MONSTER?
• Rose Tea Before Dawn
• Marnie ☆ Merriweather
• Quills & Frills
• Airy Michelle's Lolita Blog
• Bits and pieces of a Lolita
• Kitschy Soul
• Champagne Supernova

The Tea Party by Vittorio Reggianini

I was happy to find so many blogs by Lolitas and some of them are even part of a blogging community focused on Lolita. One of them is Lolita Blog Carnival but they haven't been active since 2021. The other one is Bibliotheca Blog Circle which is organized by Bay Area Kei, an organization focused on J-fashion. They host events in San Francisco's Bay Area and even some virtual events for people all over the world to enjoy. Joining a blogging community is a great way to gain traction to your own blog. Another reason to join a community is because they'll usually have a monthly theme which can be helpful during the creative process. Sometimes I rummage though my notes questioning myself where I put all the interesting ideas for my blog. This search occasionally ends in me coming to terms with the fact that there were no interesting ideas that week. So being able to rely on a plan B would come in handy for those periods where inspiration is playing hide-and-seek with me. Maybe I'll submit my application to become a part of Bay Area Key's Bibliotheca. 

The Answer by Vittorio Reggianini

To answer the question I posed at the start: Where are these creatives migrating to? Some of them have shifted to using web hosts like Neocities, like Ita-Toys and Dread Romantic, that make your content a bit harder to find via Google. However, I think most of those wanting to share their passions are more attracted to posting videos as it's more popular with it being pushed by social media platforms. So instead of having multiple abandoned blogs, we have a lot of abandoned YouTube channels like Pearlie Cute, Dr_Papillon and Deerstalker Pictures 2. After YouTuber hbomberguy released his 4-hour long (!) video on plagiarism, "Plagiarism and You(Tube)", I'm worried someone might use my blog posts labeled "Analysis" or my pages on the history of Lolita as a script for their own videos without crediting me. If you want to use any of the content on this blog you can always use my contact form in the sidebar to the left so I'm aware of what you'd be using it for.

Thank you, and take care.