Is WordPress/Wix a Blog or a Social Network site?

What are you reading right now? Why and how is it possible?

We all live in a digitally interconnected world, with contemporary innovations of digital social networks bringing forth the rise of worldwide communication, linking people together from vastly different societies and cultures with the a press of a button.

Right now, communication is accessible to and from anyone with a connection to the Internet, enhanced by the means of public and private web pages, platforms, or even mediums such as the commonly heard blogs.

Blogs, what are they?

Whether it's for personal or business needs, or maybe fashion or travel, lifestyle or review, these broad categories and interests all comprise the meaning of a blog. Whilst there are many conventions and expectations that derive from blogs, they ultimately exist as webpages on the Internet that post information, discussions or messages about any topic for an intended demographic to consume.

There are professional blog sites that derive from organisations, funded groups, or anyone financially stable enough, to pay for a site that hosts a plethora of content to be communicated to anyone with a link. On the other hand, sites such as Wordpress or Wix offer custom templates for blogs and can be created by anyone for free to be published on a more public and amateur site.

No matter how this information is distributed, blogs can be found on a number of Internet-compatible devices that cater to a wide range of digital communities.

The Social Network

So, isn’t a blog just a social network? To answer that question, this contemporary phenomenon must be clearly defined.

Social networks include sites such as Facebook or Twitter are commonly labeled as confined systems that facilitate user-generated profiles with either public or semi-public personas (Boyd and Ellison, 2007 p. 211). These users operate on these platforms in a two-way stream to ‘articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection’ (Murthy 2013, p. 7).

Social networking is more of an interconnected form of communication between content and users within a digital space of sociality, and whilst blogs are sites of social media that can be shared across these networking platforms, blogs remain largely more professional and targeted for specific audiences to communicate specific messages and discussion rather than just for the purpose of instantaneous gratification.

So no, “web” “logs” (blogs) are, to put it simply, not the same as social networks and conjure different affordances to one another.

Wordpress, Wix and the Wonders of Such Sites

Although the purpose and intent of blogs remain largely unchanged, the accessibility to produce this type of journal-based content and distribute it has since evolved over the years.

We know that blogs and social networks are not exactly the same, but what about sites such as Wix and Wordpress? These sites are free, open-source Content Management Systems (CMS), with updates and evolutions over the years leading to new creation technology and community growth (Hendrickson, 2020). These content management platforms require no extreme coding knowledge and are easily accessible through the creation of a simple account.

Similar to Facebook, Instagram and other social media sites, these CMS’s contain built-in commenting and sharing systems, where the line between creator and consumer is blurred. A range of content is easily created and are maintained on these sites, through a more social ecosystem, so the content within can be considered as blogs, but perhaps also a social network?

Ultimately, anyone you ask will tell give you different answers about whether CMS sites are more blogs, or fit within the title of social networks instead.

However, it is interesting to ponder how far the rise of digital communication has come, and the changing affordances of new sites, mediums and platforms.

Do these catergorisations really need to exist? Or is the Internet a platform in itself for the unifying goal of communication between person to person?

References

Boyd, D & Ellison, M n.d., 2007, ‘Social network sites: Definition, history, and scholarship’, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 210–230.

Hendrickson, M., 2022. The History of WordPress: An In-Depth Look at the Most Popular CMS. Website Guides, Tips & Knowledge. Accessed 25 March 2022 https://www.dreamhost.com/blog/history-of-wordpress/.

Murthy, D 2013, Twitter: Social Communication in the Twitter Age, Wiley, pp. 1–13.