My short answer: Blog from whatever medium you are comfortable in using. Or whatever medium that is available when the inspiration comes. It is always dynamic and changes all the time.
The first Smartphone I bought for myself was a Blackberry Torch where I used to do a lot of my mobile blogging. That was perhaps about 8 or 9 years ago. Before that, I was blogging either with a desktop or laptop.
But during that time, short blog posts of less than 500 words can easily make it to the top page of Google if you wrote something that no one had written before.
When my Blackberry started giving me problems, I switched to a Samsung Note. It took me a while to get used to the virtual keyboard on phone. I could type but not as fast as on a keyboard.
Later, I switched back to blogging using my laptop. I found that I am not typing fast enough on my mobile device.
But most recently, I am turning back to my mobile device to be used for blogging. I download the WordPress app and use it to type my posts. I find that I could complete easily a blog post of 1000 words or more on my mobile when the inspiration comes to me. This is because years of typing and chatting with friends over Whatapps messenger has really made my mind and hands used to expressing myself through using my thumbs to press on that small little keypad.
Case in point, I type this post on my mobile. It is likely I will need to go in later and add the feature image before publishing. Also to correct some obvious grammatical errors.
Here are some reasons why you may choose to prepare your blog posts using your mobile phone instead of your desktop:
1. Portability- you can publish a post anywhere and anytime
You could be a busy mother who do not have time to sit in front of your laptop in the day. But a lot of extra time spent waiting in the bank, waiting in the car to pick your kid from school or tuition.
Or you could be working a full time day job. You could squeeze a little time here and there typing your posts such during work commute or during lunch time (instead of hanging out with colleagues chatting, you might as well work on your side gig).
It is more inconpicious to blog using your mobile.
For me, in the day I am out and about, I usually have time to really work on my blogs after 8.30pm at night. By that time, I am already feeling a little too tired to write. If I do mobile blogging, there are short packets of time in the day where I could just whip out my phone and type away.
2. You can train yourself to get inspiration
In the beginning you may get writer’s block while trying type on your mobile phone. But with practice, you can get used to it- just like how you learnt to write ideas using pen and paper when you were a child and progress to using a laptop as you got older.
Once you are used to typing out your ideas with your two thumbs on a mobile keyboard, you may find you are better inspired when you are mobile blogging.
Sometimes the inspiration hits when you are out and about. If you find ideas flow effortlessly on pen and paper, by all means carry them around with you at all times. You need to be prepared because inspiration will come at the least expected time.
I used to have more inspiration when typing on my laptop. But in recent months, I have been keeping close contact with a dear friend who have moved overseas. We prefer to chat using Whatapps and we share and discuss a lot of stuff. After months of constant typing in deep thoughts on my mobile, I got used to using a mobile phone to express my thoughts.
3. Typing on your mobile device can make you more focused in blogging.
Have you ever notice how so many people seemed lost in their own world when they are staring into their phones? You see them in public transport, parks and restaurants where their heads are bent on their phone without a care in the world.
I wrote about this years ago and this still holds true at least for me today. You can have more focus when typing on your phone because you can’t open YouTube video and have it play on your device while you are using it to type.
It is just you and the small keyboard in front of you. There is not much space left for any other distractions.
Still, this article will not be complete if I do not list the cons:
The Downside of Mobile Blogging:
1. Long periods are bad for your posture and thumbs
Long hours sitting in front of a computer would gradually result in a hunched back and stiff shoulders/neck. But long hours on a mobile is worse. It expidate the hunched back, stiff neck and painful thumbs. You would need to remember to put down your phone often, stretch your fingers, shoulders and back.
2. It will spoil your eyesight especially if you do it in a dark room
It is going to affect your eyesight and you may need reading classes, the type that old folks are using.
I did not have near sighted issues before I had a Smartphone. In fact I’ve always had good eyesight despite spending my career working in front of a computer.
But when I had a Smartphone, in the span of few years I had a mild long sighted issue before I turn 40 years old. It does make me feel a little sad that I can no longer put a thread through a narrow needle hole effortlessly. It now takes me more than 5 minutes to do so.
But, if you are going waste that time away surfing net and YouTube if you are not on mobile blogging, then you might as well put that time to more productive use.
Please remember to look away every 10 minutes or so, and take a walk. Look at nature if possible to give your eyes a rest.
3. Hard to add bells and whistle to your article
When you blog using your mobile, there are still some limitations. Even though it is possible, it is still very much inconvenient for you to search, rename, resize and insert an image into your post.
In some of my blogs, I use a lot of images. It is much quicker to use my laptop to edit and upload those images than via my mobile phone.
4. You still need to edit the article later
My articles typed using my mobile phone tends to contain more misspellings and grammatical errors than on the desktop.
Article interlinking is hard because you need to open your browser to find the url, copy and come back and highlight thr phrase that you want to link to and then paste the link. If you are on your desktop, it takes less than 20 seconds to do. In a mobile phone… It can take 5 minutes of you don’t get the hang of highlighting, copy and paste.
End verdict:
Despite there are some cons of mobile blogging… I am finding myself gradually using my mobile phone to type my blog posts.
This is because there are so many times when I get in front of my laptop, on the switch and then there are no flow of ideas. In the end, I ended up getting distracted by my Analytics and the next thing I know, I am spending hours on YouTube or some website after I convinced myself to do ‘some research for more ideas what to write’.
If there is a will, there is a way. We all know the hardest thing to do is comimg up with the content. So whatever way that you find you are able to produce the content, do it. The resource is available even though we would love giving ourselves the excuse.
I started writing this article in the morning on my mobile while waiting for my mom to have breakfast. I stopped im between, chatted with my mom, escorted her back to her room (she uses a walker and she forgets where her room is so I need to guide her). After I settled her down, I wrote a few more passages of this article.
After lunch, I came back in to look into her. Then I launched the app and almost completed this article. I went and did some chores, then prepared and accompanied my mom for lunch.
In between, I searched for this post’s featured image, assigned category and tags…and hit publish.
I am happy because so many times I have wanted to write more for this site during the day. But when I sit down at night I got into a writers block. Now I am glad to be able to publish this article straight from my mobile.
