:::I’m a little late on this one:::
This post by Heather Green of Business Week’s Blogspotting blog (via Ged) raises some interesting questions about the blogging phenomenon. Prompted by questions raised on Mathew Hurst and Steve Rubel’s blogs, Green asks Technorati CEO, Dave Sifry about the blog search engine’s recent data analysis.
To cut it short, although Technorati is tracking over 70 million blogs, there are only 15.5 million that are have been updated in the last 90 days. This, to me, speaks volumes in terms of the blogosphere in general. Of course blogs are still important and my belief is organisations should be listening and engaging online. But let’s be honest, not everyone wants nor has the time to blog.
People have active social lives, children to look after, outdoor hobbies, two jobs etc. And this statistic shows that a considerable number have given it a go and decided it’s not for them. Just because people have the tools to create their own media it doesn’t mean they’re going to.
Here are four reasons why not everyone blogs
Blogging is for extroverts.
Some people don’t want their lives (thoughts, videos, photographs etc) splattered across the internet for all to see thank you very much. Some people are humble and appreciate their privacy with the select few friends they choose to let into their lives.
Blogging rarely makes you £££
There are very few blogs that make money – even fewer in the ‘quit your day job’ bracket. Some people like making money.
Not everyone enjoys writing
Writing is a chore to some. If you don’t love creating narrative, telling a story or simply communicating using words then blogs aren’t for you. I also think sometimes we forget that some less educated people or manually skilled people simply can’t write to a standard they feel comfortable showing the world. And remember, some people have nothing to say.
Blogging is time consuming
As mentioned above, not everyone has the time to spend hours a week keeping up to speed with what’s going on and actively collecting their thoughts on a blog. ‘There simply aren’t enough hours in the day.’
These are just the first four reasons that came into my head while writing this; I’m sure there are many more. Yes, I know, I know. There are loads of reasons why people should blog but, to be honest, I’m becoming bored of reading them now. There should be a balance of argument.
I’m not putting a downer on it all. Honestly. I’m just giving it some perspective from my own point of view. Those who keep investing the time in blogging will continue to grow in influence. A blog’s readership will always increase as long as it keeps producing valuable content for the readers. From a personal point of view, blogging has helped me no-end both professionally and socially and, to me, it’s fun so I will continue to do it. But I think there are other elements of online PR that should be discussed.
I also appreciate the content I receive on a daily basis from my 170 RSS feeds which help me to develop my thoughts on the media landscape. But at the end of the day blogging is not for everyone and, as shown, just because Technorati says it’s tracking 70 million blogs doesn’t mean they **all** matter either.
Stephen is a communications consultant based out of the UK. You can connect with him on Twitter or check out his LinkedIn profile. | Email Stephen
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Ged
Hi Stephen,
You are pretty much right on the money, part of your and my roles is keeping up to speed with different sectors and techniques so we get to use company time as our own. We work in a particular part of the knowledge economy.
Most people also don’t have the same altruistic reasons to blog that you and I have. Your blog helped you get your role at Edelman, mine helped me with my roles at both Yahoo! and Waggener Edstrom.
Piaras Kelly
Amen brother
Neil
As someone who used to blog but like you say, ran out of time, I agree. I’m a lurker now – it’s a long and noble tradition
Stephen
I’ve always said you start a blog, Neil.
Nicola Geraghty
Hi there,
I think I am a perfect case study since I am literally being forced to blog (and it’s not work-related so I’m not even getting paid!).
I’m currently studying for a Masters in PUblic Relations and one of my modules, PR and Technology, has a blog assignment. This means that at the end of February, I was forced to create a blog and post stuff on it. Not only that but I have to post interesting stuff that other people will actually want to read! I totally take on board your comment about how not everyone wants to put the details of their life on the Net for all to see. Now, I’m not shy but I just don’t think my life is really that interesting that people would actually care enough to actually seek out information on it! But there are obviously people who do.
It is also very time consuming, maybe more so for me since my posts have to be generally concerned with PR and technology (although there are some random things there too) so I actually have to research something to write about before I sit down to post. I don’t think I would pass if I just wrote: ‘Last night I was hammered. I can’t really remember what happened but I’m told it was amusing’ (which, to be honest, is a fair reflection of my life).
In defence of my lecturer who is forcing me to blog, it has totally opened my eyes to a new way of communication and, although I doubt I will continue to blog on a regular basis once the assignment deadline passes, I am much more confident about the medium in general and am looking forward to being able to put it into practice when I finally manage to enter the working world (assuming I pass!).
Stephen
Hi Nicola, thanks for your comment.
I think in your case it’s a little different as it’s part of your uni course. And having a general understanding of the online world, I think, will help you after graduation.
But, like you said, you don’t have time to blog so I guess you won’t be continuing with it once it’s not required.
Cheers,
Mark Ragan
We just launched the first-ever Facebook-type site for communicators. We would love your opinion and participation–and that of your readers. It’s our attempt to walk the talk, so to speak, but within the industry. You can find it at: http://www.myragan.com
Have fun.
Mark Ragan
Geoff Livingston
I think the personal blog revolution is maturing quickly (funny I blogged on the same topic a day ago), but it does seem to me that businesses are starting to move in rapidly. The ones that are intelligent enough not to dictate to their audience, instead preferring to interact with their community already are will continue to yield great benefit.