What is best platform for tech blogging and building a developer community?
As a technology professional, I have always been passionate about sharing knowledge with others. With the rise of blogs and social media, I realized that there are many other benefits to blogging besides just sharing knowledge. For example, by blogging, I am able to build visibility and grow an audience. Additionally, documenting my work and experiences can be a valuable resource for myself in the future.
Given that I am committed to blogging monthly, it was important for me to find the best platform for this. I wanted to take advantage of everything that blogging has to offer and this platform had to be feature rich and user-friendly. So I decided to carry out a research on different platforms that could assist me in achieving my goals. The platforms that I evaluated were Medium, DEV(Dev.to), and tech Twitter. You might be wondering about Hashnode but I will get to this in a bit.
If you were to choose one platform to blog on, which one would it be and why?
I picked thoughts from people both on Twitter and a couple of developer communities, and here is what I found...
DEV
DEV is a great place to start out as a technical blogger. It has a large technical audience and a supportive developer community. Articles from junior and senior developers get the same level of visibility. This makes it an ideal place for enthusiastic learners as well as seasoned professionals to share their learnings and expertise with a broader audience. DEV Markdown also makes it easy to write code snippets and have them formatted correctly.
Medium
Medium provides a greater visibility for content than DEV with a much more diverse audience. While it is not as popular with developers, Medium has a growing number of tech bloggers who use the platform to share their work and insights with a wider audience. Medium is however best to use if you already have an established blog audience and want to amplify your content as new bloggers may not get as much visibility. Medium is a better place for sharing experiences and ideas rather than just technical content. It is also a great place to create a thought leadership presence for yourself and build a brand.
Hashnode
Hashnode is relatively new to the market compared to other blogging platforms. However, it has risen quickly to become popular with developers because it offers all the features that tech bloggers require. I had initially not considered Hashnode as it is somewhat similar to DEV. Both are tailored specifically for the developer community and also have a similar markdown support (although Hashnode’s offerings are far superior to those available on DEV). Hashnode however has smaller audiences than DEV and Medium and as a result, you may not get as much attention.
Tech Twitter
Tech Twitter is where all the developers hang out. If you have not heard of it before, then you must be living under a rock! Tech Twitter is a micro blogging platform where developers share their latest discoveries, thoughts and insights on various tech topics. It is a noisy place where you need to be constantly talking to get noticed. However, it is a great place to build relationships with other developers and get your content read by the right people.
Conclusion
Choosing the right blog platform is not easy. It depends on your objective and how involved you want to be with the platform. However, if you are starting out and are looking to build an organic audience, then I would suggest DEV. If you are looking for a platform that provides greater visibility and a wider audience as a thought leader, then Medium the best choice for you. While if you want to take charge of your blogging process and build a more niche audience, then Hashnode would be the best platform for you. Finally, if you are looking for a platform to constantly keep your audience engaged, then Tech Twitter is the place to be. The good news is that you can always use canonical urls to republish your blogs to leverage what the other platforms have to offer.
Do you have any thoughts on what I just shared? Let me know in the comments below! I would also love to hear from you on what your favourite blogging platform and why?
Happy blogging!
