Keeping up with twenty-some people is a lot. Honestly, it’s a full-time job. For fans of the mega-family from Tennessee, the Bates family blog—formally known as "The Bates Family" official website and its various offshoots—was once the only way to get the real story before the cameras started rolling. If you’ve been following the world of fundamentalist reality TV for more than five minutes, you know that the Bates family and the Duggars are often mentioned in the same breath. But their online presence has taken a drastically different path over the last decade.
The blog used to be a simple hub. It was where Gil and Kelly Jo Bates shared grainy photos of their nineteen kids and posted updates about church life or new babies. Then came the fame. United Bates of America happened, then Bringing Up Bates on UPtv, and suddenly that quiet family blog became a massive traffic driver.
The Evolution of the Bates Family Blog and Why It Went Quiet
Why did the main site stop updating so frequently? It's a question that pops up in Reddit threads and Facebook groups constantly. Basically, the kids grew up. When you have nineteen children and most of them start their own brands, a centralized blog becomes kind of redundant.
Take a look at the shift. In the early 2010s, the Bates family blog was the primary source for news on births, courtships, and weddings. It was a digital scrapbook. But as the UPtv show took off, the "blog" role was largely taken over by Instagram and YouTube. The Bates kids are arguably much more "influencer-savvy" than many other reality TV families. They realized quickly that a static blog post doesn't pay the bills as well as a 20-minute vlog with a Brandman or HelloFresh sponsorship.
The Influence of Gil and Kelly Jo’s Platform
Gil and Kelly Jo still maintain their official presence, but it’s more of a landing page now. It serves as a directory. You’ll find links to their "Bates Sisters Boutique" or their various social media handles. But the long-form, diary-style entries that defined the early days? Those are mostly gone.
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It’s a fascinating shift in how "famous" families manage their image. The original Bates family blog was raw. It wasn't polished. You’d see messy living rooms and authentic, unrehearsed family moments. Today, the content produced by the Bates children—specifically Carlin, Josie, and Alyssa—is highly produced. It’s high-definition. It’s aesthetic. Some fans miss the old days of the simple blog, while others love the "modern influencer" pivot.
How to Actually Find Updates Now
If you are looking for the latest Bates news, you have to know where to look, because the central Bates family blog isn't the primary source anymore. You sort of have to piece it together like a puzzle.
- The Official Website: This is still active for big announcements. Think of it as the "Press Release" wing of the family.
- The YouTube Channels: This is where the real "blogging" happens. "The Stewart Crew" (Carlin and Evan) and "The Webster Family" (Alyssa and John) post weekly. They’ve basically turned the traditional blog into a video format.
- The Boutique Site: "Bates Sisters Boutique" often has behind-the-scenes content that feels like the old blog. They use their business as a way to share life updates.
- The Instagram Grid: For real-time updates on things like Lawson and Tiffany’s travels or Katie and Travis’s life in New Jersey, Instagram is the winner.
The transition from a written blog to a multimedia empire was smart. It protected them when Bringing Up Bates was abruptly canceled in early 2022. While fans were shocked—and UPtv never gave a super clear reason for the sudden axing—the family didn't lose their voice. Because they had spent years diversifying away from just one Bates family blog, they had their own platforms ready to go. They owned their audience.
The Controversy Factor
It’s not all sunshine and matching outfits. The Bates family has faced their share of scrutiny, and the blog was often where people looked for "clues" about family drama. Whether it was rumors of a rift between sisters or questions about their political and religious affiliations (they are closely tied to the IBLP, though they’ve distanced themselves in certain ways recently), the online community parses every word they post.
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Experts in digital media often point to the Bates family as a case study in "pivoting." When a show gets canceled, most reality stars fade away. The Bates didn't. They doubled down on their individual digital footprints.
Why People Still Search for the Old Blog
Nostalgia is powerful. People search for the Bates family blog because they remember the simpler era of reality TV. There’s also the "rabbit hole" effect. New viewers find the show on streaming services and want to go back to the beginning. They want to see the photos of the kids before they were married with kids of their own.
Actually, if you dig into the archives of their old posts, you see a family that was genuinely struggling to make ends meet before the TV money kicked in. It provides a context that the shiny, filtered Instagram posts of today lack. It shows the "before" and "after" of the American Dream, flavored with a specific brand of Southern evangelicalism.
Mapping the Bates Digital Footprint
To keep track of everyone, you basically need a spreadsheet.
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- Zach and Whitney: Focus on the boutique and home life.
- Michaella and Brandon: More quiet, focus on her sewing business and his art.
- Erin and Chad: Moved to Florida, very focused on ministry and music.
- Nathan and Esther: Focus on aviation and their growing family.
- Josie and Kelton: "The Effortless Shop" and her hair/makeup tutorials.
This fragmentation is why the original Bates family blog feels like a relic. It’s impossible to contain twenty different adult lives under one URL.
Actionable Steps for Following the Family
If you want to stay updated without getting overwhelmed by the sheer volume of content, follow these steps:
- Bookmark the "Bates Family" official site specifically for the birthday calendar. With that many grandkids, it's the only way to keep track of who is turning what age.
- Subscribe to one or two YouTube channels. Carlin and Evan Stewart are generally considered the most "candid" and provide the most family-wide updates.
- Check the Bates Sisters Boutique blog. It’s surprisingly active and often features guest posts from different sisters, mimicking that old-school blog feel.
- Use a third-party "family tree" tracker. Several fan-run sites (like the Bates Family Wiki) are actually more detailed and faster at updating than the family’s own blog.
- Focus on the Hobbies. If you like home decor, follow Chad and Erin. If you like fashion, follow Josie or Carlin. By niche-ing down, you get the content you actually want.
The era of the single family blog is over, replaced by a decentralized network of influencers. The Bates family blog might not be what it used to be, but the "brand" is stronger than ever. They’ve moved from being subjects of a TV show to being the directors of their own digital narratives. It’s a move that has ensured their relevancy long after the TV cameras stopped rolling in Rocky Top.