---
url: 'https://dri.es/writing-for-longevity-versus-reach'
title: 'Writing for longevity versus reach'
author:
  name: 'Dries Buytaert'
  url: 'https://dri.es/about'
date: '2025-10-02T17:56:55-04:00'
license: 'https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/'
type: blog
tags:
  - Writing
image: foocamp-2007/jeff-robbins-larry-page-and-evan-williams
published: true
id: 5881
---

# Writing for longevity versus reach

I see so much social media content vanish into an algorithmic black hole.

Post a photo on Instagram and hundreds of people see it. Tweet a thought and it spreads across the internet in minutes. But that same content becomes invisible within days, buried beneath the constant scroll.

Six years ago, [I deleted my Facebook account](https://dri.es/pulling-the-plug-on-facebook). And for the past two years, I've mostly stopped posting on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter).

It's a bittersweet. I started using Twitter in 2007 after Evan Williams, one of Twitter's co-founders, personally introduced it to me at FooCamp. I loved what it stood for then.

[image foocamp-2007/jeff-robbins-larry-page-and-evan-williams]

I still post on LinkedIn now and then, but LinkedIn has gone backwards too, with so many shallow, click-baity posts.

When people ask why I'm not active on social media anymore, the truth is simple: I'm happier without it. 

I continue to publish on my own website, even if it's not as often as I'd like. Posting on your own site gives you something social media doesn't: _permanence_.

Every week I get emails from people who discover an old blog post or a photo I shared on my website years ago. That _never_ happens with my old tweets or social media posts.

My best posts from a decade ago still show up in search results. They still spark conversations. They still get referenced, and they still help people solve problems.

Social media content has a half-life measured in hours or days. Blog posts can compound over years.

This is why I'm building my audience here, on the edge of the internet. Some days it feels like swimming against the current. But when I see a post I wrote years ago still helping someone today, I know it's worth it.

Social media gives you reach. Blog posts give you longevity.
