Why Long-Form Content is Making a Comeback
Last updated on 20 January 2026
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The longer I’m on platforms like Threads, especially these days, the more and more I’m seeing people asking about blogging, asking if it’s ‘back’ (cough it never went anywhere cough) and asking about things like blogging platforms, the differences between blogging and a SubStack account and more …
And while the internet may be convinced that long-form content is making a comeback … you and I know it never really left. It’s just changed a bit over the years.
But there has to be something going on that is forcing people to think about blogging and other long-form content more and more, and asking themselves if it’s something they could or should get into.
What is that?
What is that thing that is drawing them away from short-form content like fast-moving videos or even tweets, and towards the longer forms of content, like blogging, long newsletters, and even YouTube videos?
I have some theories and thoughts, so let’s get into why long-form content might be ‘making a comeback’, and I’ve divided it into two different areas: Web-Based Reasons and then Human Reasons … for want of better terms. 🤣
Note: These might not be right at all, and I’d love to know what you think! Drop a comment and let me know!
Web-based reasons long-form content is coming back
Search engines are looking for personal insight
This doesn’t mean they weren’t looking for it before, but I think they’ve really cracked down on personal stories, your own unique spin on things, which means that when you’re writing your long-form content like blogs or you’re scripting your YouTube video, You and Your Story are so important.
Search engines, partly due to the rise of AI, are looking for that human touch, that personal connection.
And I think people are, too, but more on that soon.
AI summaries are everywhere
Going back to that point about your personal insights and experiences, those AI summaries are being seen everywhere these days, and it’s not just the top of Google search results.
Long-form content gives people like you and me the space to dive further into topics, to become the authority on those topics, and give AI models places to draw accurate information from.
It’s easier to repurpose across platforms
When it comes to being a blogger, especially, we want to do the thing we love: write.
We want to be creating our blog posts, we thrive on longer posts, perhaps they’re a little rambling, perhaps we’ve interwoven them with stories or ‘us-isms’ – we don’t want to be spending hours trying to come up with short-form content to share online.
Repurposing content has been around since forever-ago (a legit term … right?), but I think more and more people are realising that actually, having those longer pieces of content first is a brilliant way to stay visible online by repurposing rather than recreating or creating from scratch.
We’re tired of social media (more on that soon), so if we can repurpose our blog posts or YouTube or newsletters for those other platforms … all the better.
A single longer piece of online content could become:
- multiple reels
- quote graphics
- email newsletters
- short Threads
- carousels
- podcast episodes
- Pinterest pins
- and more.
Keeping people on our websites
With short-form media only decreasing our already-short attention spans as it is, it’s really hard to keep people engaged on social media. If the first second of a Reel hasn’t hooked someone, they’re gone. Which can be so heartbreaking when we’ve put a lot of effort into it.
When it comes to dwell time and engagement for our blogs, yes, the same can be said – we need to hook people into our posts so they linger a while, or we need to actually make sure we’re writing about what they arrived on our blogs to find out about – people are coming to our blogs because they want something.
They want answers to a question, they want to be educated, or inspired … they’re already ready to read something a bit longer.
And as more people turn to blogging for their content strategy (either hobby or business!), they’re going to realise that, while, no, a blog post published today probably won’t go ‘viral’ and hit 100k veiws in a week … the hits and page views that they do get are going to be people who are actually interested in their content and not just because it’s a viral post that happens to come across their feed.
And hopefully those readers will stay a while, linger, pause, check out the rest of your blog, perhaps even make a purchase from you!
More diverse traffic
If you’re on Instagram, your views are likely going to come from people already on Instagram. They might come from search engines now, too, but for the most part, they’ll be from within the app itself.
It’s the same with TikTok. With Threads. With whatever platform you’re using. Most of the time, your traffic to your content is going to come from within the app itself.
But long-form content is a bit different.
You’ll be getting clicks from Google and other search engines, from Pinterest if you use it, from newsletter clicks, and from social media when you’ve linked up your blog or your other long-form content.
Blogging allows for more diverse traffic, which means when one platform goes down, you still have other platforms bringing people to you.
And I think people are coming around to this idea more and more.
Human-based reasons that long-form content is ‘coming back’
People are tired
First and foremost: People are tired. I’m tired. You’re tired. We’re all tired.
We’re craving that slower life, especially if you’re a millennial who has lived through a lot in your 30-something years.
And I’m not just saying that because I myself am tired. We’re seeing it over and over. There’s barely a week that goes by now that I don’t see someone on Instagram posting a Reel about how they’re spending less time on their phones, or they’re putting in stricter boundaries on themselves, or they’ve just bought a Brick, and it’s changed their lives.
We’re tired.
So we’re moving away from social media and short-form content a little bit more – not all the way! We still love watching videos of pandas falling off playground equipment – and with that comes this want and need for slower intakes of content.
Which is where long-form comes in. People want to read it. They want to write it. And I think we’ll see more and more of that over the course of the next year or so.
Less screen time, not more
With a long blog post, you have just one place to get what you need (sometimes). You can get all the answers you need without having to watch a 25-part TikTok series just to get your answer.
Along the same lines as slowing down and getting tired, we still want to be able to find the answers, the tutorial, education, inspiration … without having to spend hours and hours trying to figure out why the person on the other end of this Reel isn’t just telling me what type of wood glue is best for durability for the chair refurbishing project I’m embarking on. (Or whatever.)
Less screen time, not more.
People don’t know who to trust
You don’t have to look far for this one. I find myself always heading to the comments of videos that seem a little crazy to me, to check if it’s AI-generated or not … they’re getting that good.
We’re surrounded by loud voices, big lies, fake news, and AI-generated content that it’s becoming increasingly hard to know what’s …
- real
- trust-worthy
- actually going to help
I’m not saying long-form blog content is the answer.
I’m just saying that with the increase of untrustworthiness online, it’s easier to trust someone who has an established blog or YouTube channel who has been here for years, you know who they are, you see them and their personality…
No, it’s not always the case, and there will always be things that sneak through the cracks … but you see what I mean right?
Long-form writing, like blogs, allows both you as a writer and you as a reader of blogs to unpack the nuances of the piece a little bit more, get the fuller picture, so that you can make an informed decision.
People are craving that slow, cosy life
Grandma Hobbies, while they’re always around and alive and thriving, seem also to be making a comeback. I’m talking about crochet, knitting, sewing, scrapbooking … any crafty thing that you can do that involves no screens.
We know the bookish community has never gone anywhere, but I think more and more people are coming back to reading, too. Which means those same people who actually loved the blogs of the early 2000s are thinking about writing them again or finding others who are still here, trucking along through all the crazy.
And this ties into people being tired. We want that slower life, and long-form content is one way that we can get it.
| Slow Things I Love to Do | Slow Things I’m Trying in 2026 |
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So what now? What do we do with this?
As bloggers, or YouTubers, or SubStackers with long newsletters … what do we do with this?
Obviously, we keep creating our content. This blog post is now over 1700 words long, and I hope that it’s a piece of long-form that people can soak up, can think about and mull over.
Will I keep creating short-form content this year? Yeah, probably, but as always, my priority will be long content.
Because as we’ve seen, years can fly by, trends and virality will come and go, but there is still so much to be said, gained for, learned from long-form content, that I don’t really think it’s even ‘making a comeback’ …
I just think that people are waking up to the idea that there’s more to life than cat videos.
Now, I don’t know how much of this is actually true – remember, these are just my thoughts and observations from spending time in spaces where people are chatting more and more about blogging and longer pieces of online content.
There are probably a lot of reasons that I’ve missed, or some that I haven’t quite fleshed out (ew, sorry), or some that I’ve written down here that might not actually be the case. But it’s a start, all the same.
I would love to know what you think! Why is it that long-form content is making a comeback? What do you think?
Having fun? Check out these posts!
How to find your Blogging Voice (and why it’s important)
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