Blogging in 2018: I have Questions

So blogging is not the same as it used to be back in like, 2012 - 2014ish and I get a lot of complexes about it. I miss the way blogging used to be and I can't figure out if maybe it is actually the same and I am the one that has fallen behind and not changed with the times or that things are in fact different.

The one thing I always said was my favorite part about blogging was the community. Meeting new friends and getting to know people through their blog was the best. I met Mosby and flew across the country to Florida and we went to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter together. I met two of my best friends to this day, Kailey and Brianna through blogging. I met some local bloggers at meet-ups and such. Any time you wrote a post there was often times a full on dialogue in the comments or via email. That is the kind of stuff I miss. Does that still happen? Is this blogger engagement still happening somewhere and I am just not looking hard enough for it? On that note,

Blogging in 2018: I have Questions

1.) Where have all the bloggers gone?
Really - where did you all go? How do I find you? Is blogging not a thing anymore? I used to find new bloggers back when people used to put buttons of other people's blogs on their sidebars (remember that?!), through link-ups, or through reading the comments section of blog posts but, it doesn't really seem like any of those things are a thing anymore (see #2 below).

2.) How do you keep your readers engaged?
I noticed years ago that people just sort of stopped commenting on blog posts. Again, I don't know if this is just a sign of the times, but I notice some bloggers like Chelsea and Amy still have a lot of engagement on their blogs - what is the secret?!

3.) How do you read your blogs?
I realize this sounds like a dumb question (i.e. with your eyeballs duh) but I'm talking about like, I used to have my blog reader on Blogger.com; then that went away and Bloglovin was the thing. I've recently come back to Bloglovin but I'm noticing a lot of new blogs I'm finding don't have the little Bloglovin icon as a means to follow them. Is Bloglovin still a thing? If not, how do you read your blogs? Do you just bookmark them on the internet and then go visit each one every day to see if there's anything new? Halp, tell me how you read your favorite blogs!

4.) What is Linktree and is this something I need?
This is also something I'm noticing and I don't know if it's just a weird coincidence but a lot of bloggers I find through Instagram say they are bloggers in their bio but there is no link to their blog. Am I missing something? Is there somewhere else to put the link to your blog? Perhaps in this mysterious Linktree in a mysterious forest somewhere in cyber neverland?

5.) Do people still blog just for the hell of it or is it all just a means to make money off of, and advertise on?
I do not mean this in a negative way at all. If you make money off your blog, more power to you girl!! Go on which yo bad self! What I'm just trying to say is - if you know any people that blog just about everyday regular-ass life stuff and are nice and funny and like to make blog friends circa 2014, can you point me in their direction?!

If you are a blogger I would love to know your thoughts on blog world in 2018! Do you ever struggle with any of these questions?