“Next Generation” Blogging Platforms

Introduction

Blogging is a popular way for people to express their thoughts, share ideas, and connect with others. As the internet has evolved, so too have blogging platforms. New technologies, such as web3 and artificial intelligence (AI), are being used to create more advanced and efficient ways to blog.
Whether you're a professional blogger or just starting out, choosing the right blogging platform is essential for success. To help you make a decision, this article covers some of the best “next-generation” blogging platforms available today. They all support multi-media content, including graphic images, links and embedded video.

Web2 based (older)

WordPress (Paid)

WordPress is one of the most popular blogging platforms, and has been around for a long time. It's easy to use and offers a wide range of features and customization options.
WordPress has an intuitive user interface and provides powerful tools for creating and managing content. You can create posts, pages, and other content types with ease, and embed multimedia into your posts. WordPress also offers numerous plugins and themes to help you customize your blog.
WordPress also provides a variety of features for SEO, including support for custom titles, meta keywords, and meta descriptions. It's also compatible with most major web hosting services. It can be used to create entire web sites as well as blogging content.

Ghost (Paid)

Ghost is a modern, open-source blogging platform. It's designed for easy content creation and offers a range of features for customization and SEO.
Ghost provides a simple user interface with options for creating and editing content. You can easily embed multimedia into your posts and customize your blog with themes and plugins. It also offers a range of SEO features, such as custom titles, meta keywords, and meta descriptions.
Ghost is also compatible with most major web hosting services and has a robust API for developers. It's easy to use and provides powerful tools for creating and managing content.

Medium (Paid)

Medium is a popular blogging platform that's designed for easy content creation. It offers a range of features for customization, including themes and plugins, as well as support for multimedia content.
Medium also provides a variety of features for SEO, including custom titles, meta keywords, and meta descriptions. It's compatible with most major web hosting services and has a robust API for developers.
I also like the reading list. If you follow people or topics or bookmark blogs, it will add them to your reading list for reading later.

Web3 based (free/post to earn content)

Bulb (Solana)

This is a really nice blogging platform which I just discovered recently, and it is quite new. I have started testing it out, but so far I am suitable impressed. It is well worth evaluating, especially if you are familiar with Solana. It has a unique incentive structure which encourages participation, and quality posts. I was able to enter and save my first blog post, but was not able to publish it until I earn more points. This results in higher quality content, and more commitment from the authors and readers. There is also a way to monetize premium content. I also like the reading list feature, which adds bookmarked posts to my list of articles to read later. I believe that that this platform has a lot of potential. But you will need a Solana account to write posts. An account isn't required for reading, so its easy to browse the articles.

Blogchain (Near protocol)

Nice web3 blogging tool which I have just started experimenting with recently. It has been around for a while, but not not a lot of people know about it yet. I think that it has a lot of potential, and its simple to use. It also supports paid subscriptions like substack. So you can distribute articles to a list of paid subscribers if you have one. Here is a blog post from their own blog which is a very good summary.

Mirror (Eth/Optimism L2)

Mirror.xyz is a blogging platform that allows users to create and publish their own content. It is designed to be user-friendly and easy to use, with a variety of customization options and templates to choose from. Mirror.xyz also offers features such as social media integration, SEO optimization, and the ability to monetize content through advertising and sponsorships. With a focus on community and collaboration, Mirror.xyz also offers the ability for users to connect with and follow other bloggers, as well as comment and share content. Posts can be “collected” as NFT’s by readers, and they can also subscribe to blogger’s posts. But you will need an ethereum wallet such as Metamask to do monetary transactions. It has a dashboard with document management features.

Zirkels (Deso)

This is a dedicated blogging platform on the Deso blockchain which has features similar to other blogging platforms, and is integrated to the other Deso apps. So, all your posts will show up automatically in other app feeds which is good for discovery, and social interaction with the community. You will need a Deso account to onboard. But that will give you access to all the other Deso apps as well. (That will be the subject of another article which I will post soon). You can also monetize content by receiving rewards, and micropayment tips called diamonds, or selling creator coins. It also has good document management features on the main dashboard. Deso is open to anyone, and doesn’t require an invitation. See my previous article on web3 social media platforms.

The Share (Lens/Polygon)

This is a fairly new dedicated blogging platform on the Lens social platform, which is on the Polygon blockchain. So, you will need an EVM compatable web3 wallet such as Metamask to login, and do monetary transactions. It is composable with all the other lens apps, so your posts will automatically show up in other feeds. Any blog post can be collected as an NFT, and you can request a fee to read your posts. They have some nice features and the platform is quite easy to use, but its still in the early stages, so there isn’t a lot of content yet. I think that lens is still “invite only” so you will have to request access for now to use it.

Paragraph.xyz (Eth/Polygon)
I just discovered this one recently, so I am still in the process of testing. It is similar to Mirror, but the UI is better, and it is easier to use. It integrates with the Farcaster web3 social network for social interaction, which I am also in the process of testing. It also compares favorably to Substack and Medium It has monetization with subscriptions and gated/premium content. There is also an integration with highlight.xyz for minting and selling NFT's.
It also has good discovery for reading posts. I will be able to do a more detailed evaluation when I have had a chance to spend more time with it.

Conclusion

Other “nextgen” social media platforms that support long form content can also be used for blogging. Examples are diamondapp on deso, and most of the other advanced social platforms. They combine social features together with the blogging, as opposed to dedicated blogging sites which I discussed above which tend to have more features like the dashboard to manage documents.
I have discussed you a few projects that I have used in the past. Evaluate them according to your needs, and choose the ones that best suits your requirements.
Comments are welcome. More to come in future posts.