Lesson 5: Why Blog?

Justin Hall (2013), father of the blog, revealed in a recent posting celebrating his blog's 19-year anniversary that deep down, his aim was to find out "what happens if I compulsively share my thoughts online." That seems like a common theme among bloggers--isn't compulsive thought-sharing the essence of blogging? And isn't it kind of the essence of librarianship?

After all, the foundation of librarianship is bibliography--creating lists, evaluating materials, grouping & annotating resources, etc. (Stephens, 2008, p. 312). And all of these elements of bibliography have blogging correlations, from blogrolls to archives to tags to posts. Compiling information so that it can be shared is what libraries do, whether through blogs or through physical libraries.

In fact, in Michael Stephens' wonderful article The Pragmatic Biblioblogger: Examining the Motivations and Observations of Early Adopter Librarian Bloggers, Stephens (2008) finds that 40% of library bloggers surveyed blogged in order "to share information or insight." I think librarians are teachers at heart, so it makes sense that librarian bloggers would aim to share what they know with anyone who'll listen, even if it's only fellow library workers. Or perhaps, especially if it's only fellow library workers.

Stephens' (2008, p. 329) survey reveals that 51% of librarian bloggers believe that blogging has helped them  develop a sense of community with other library professionals. Working in a library can often be a very insular experience, with workers only infrequently venturing beyond their own departments.

But library blogs change that. Realizing that another person in another library in another state has had the exact experiences that you've had is powerful. It gives validity to our experiences and makes us feel that we're not alone, that we're not overreacting, that we're not a bunch of wacky librarians with crazy notions. Librarian blogs are a way to use emerging technologies (Professional development, anyone?) in order to network and share ideas. They're a way to connect, and that's important because, hey, librarians need love, too.

References

Hall, J. (2013, January 27). 19 Links. [Web log comment]. Retrieved from http://links.net/daze/13/01/27-19-links.html

Stephens, M. (2008). The pragmatic biblioblogger: Examining the motivations and observations of early adopter librarian bloggers. Internet Reference Services Quarterly, 13(4), 311-345.

5 Tips for Finding Blog Love

Finding love is hard. 

There are so many options, yet somehow not enough. Some look great but aren't about much, and some could stand a good spiffying up but really speak to your soul. 

What's a lonely heart to do? 

Step into Dr. Amanda's office. 

I'll give you the 5 tools you need to find a blog you can love. 

1. Consider your options. Narrow it down, and think about what you're truly interested in. Is it news? Celebrity gossip? Spying on your ex so you can know where he'll be on Tuesday nights at 7:51? Anything is possible!
2. Think local. What are your favorite community businesses and organizations? Search their websites to see if they have blogs. I've seen blogs for local farmers markets, coffee shops, and writing groups. Blogs are a great way to find like-minded people in communities large and small.
3. Put out. A personal ad, that is. Post to your social network of choice asking friends for blog recommendations. You may be surprised at what you find.
4. If you like him, you'll probably like his friends. Found one you like? Take a look at its links. You may find your next favorite blog there. After all, great minds think alike.
5. Don't settle for the first one you find. New blogs are being created every day. Peruse the end-of-year lists of best blogs, and go out on a blog blind date at least once a month, actually venturing to click on one of the featured blogs on Tumblr, Blogger, or WordPress. The blog of your dreams may be right under your nose.

Lesson 4: Who Blogs?

As I mentioned in Lesson 1, it seems that everyone, including your mother, seems to have a blog these days. There's a blogger in every state in every color at every Starbucks in the USA. But if we're searching for more specific demographic information about bloggers, we must look no farther than the Technorati State of the Blogosphere.

Published once per year from 2004 through 2011 and representative of bloggers from 45 countries, State of the Blogosphere (2011) offers statistics concerning blogging, bloggers, social media, marketing, branding, and an assortment of other such goodies, and it's really worth a look for anyone who plans to become a serious blogger.

These reports are especially useful in our discussion about the identity of the blogger. Here are some stats (State of the Blogosphere, 2011):

• 60% of all bloggers are male
• Most bloggers are between the ages of 25-44, but a third are 44+
• California, New York, and Texas, our most populated states, have the highest concentration of bloggers (fair Georgia ranks 9th, boasting 3% of our nation's bloggers)
• Bloggers are an educated bunch: most bloggers have at least a 4-year college degree 
• Most bloggers are either married or cohabitating
• Nearly half of all bloggers work full-time, and 25% are self-employed

From this information, we can see that while bloggers can (and do) come in all shapes and sizes, the average blogger seems to be a married, college-educated American male between the ages of 25 and 44 who works full-time, lives in California, New York, or Texas, and looks something like this.

From my unofficial study of library blogs, I have determined that for the most part, library bloggers do follow this pattern. They only differ in one critical area: most library bloggers are women. This difference makes sense, considering that 80% of librarians in the US are women (Schott and Connor, 2010). Why wouldn't the blogosphere mirror the workplace?

In Lesson 5, we will be covering the motivations of bloggers and the audiences different blogs attract.

But before that, I'm opening the floor to you, dear reader.

What motivates you to blog?

(other than school assignments)

References

Schott, M.C. & Connor, E. (2010). The male medical librarian: A misunderstood minority. Journal of Hospital Librarianship, 10(4), 341-348. doi: 10.1080/15323269.2010.514768

State of the blogosphere 2011: Part 1. (2011, November 4). Technorati. Retrieved April 3, 2013, from http://technorati.com/social-media/article/state-of-the-blogosphere-2011-part1/

Lesson 3: A Brief History of Blogging

In the coming lessons, we'll be returning to the questions we encountered in Lesson 1:

Who blogs? And why?

But in order to expose the motivations of bloggers, we must first explore the history of blogging. It is necessary to consider a couple of questions.

...........................................................................................................................................

When did blogging begin?

The first weblog, links.net, was formed by college student Justin Hall in 1994, but the shortened term "blog" was coined in 1999 by Peter Merholz, after he used the term on his personal blog, peterme.com (Thompson, 2006; Mandal, 2011, p. 155).

As a side note...

But to return to our history lesson, I would be remiss to overlook the creation of Blogger.com, the very program that allows me to share my wit and wisdom with you today. Created in 1999, Blogger was one of the first free blogging services that gained popularity (Thompson, 2006). The setup was simple, requiring no knowledge of HTML coding (and often, little knowledge of anything else, including the blog's topic). It provided a free, accessible platform by which everyday people could share their ideas and experiences with the world. Who knew it'd become an empire?

When did blogs (and blogging) begin to gain a significant following?

In  Say Everything: How Blogging Began, What It's Becoming, and Why It Matters (Rosenberg, 2009),  journalist, blogger, and author Scott Rosenberg puts forth an interesting premise that the 9/11 terrorist attacks spawned the nation's interest in blogging. At Say Everything's open, founder of Gawker.com Nick Denton offers his thoughts about blogging's impact on his remembrances of that day.

Only through the human stories of escape or loss have I really felt the disaster...And some of the best eyewitness accounts and personal diaries of the aftermath have been published on weblogs. These stories, some laced with anecdotes of drunken binges and random flings, have a rude honesty that does not make its way through the mainstream media's good-taste filter. (Rosenberg, 2009, p. 7)

For the first time, Rosenberg (2009) writes, the American people were able to receive minute-by-minute updates from regular people, people deeply and directly affected by tragedy. In years past, Americans waited anxiously by radios and televisions for news on the sinking of the Arizona or the fate of President Kennedy, but with blogs (and the Internet, in general) news is pumped out fast, allowing for genuine pathos to color the black-and-white of the news. Though some argue that the Internet is an impersonal medium by which to share one's life, I disagree. How often is it that real people get a chance to share their experiences openly?

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In the next lesson, we will dive headfirst into the realm of the blogger, exploring such themes as motivation, identity, and purpose.

And I promise, all of this really does have something to do with libraries. Honest.

References

Mandal, P.S. (2011). Blog and its Role in Library and Information Services. Journal of Library & Information Technology, 31(3), 155-158.

Rosenberg, S. (2009). Say everything: How blogging began, what it's becoming, and why it matters. New York: Crown Publishers.

Thompson, C. (2006, February 20). The early years. New York Magazine. Retrieved from http://nymag.com/news/media/15971/

Mena Trott on Blogs

State of the Blogging World 2012

Lesson 2: Defining the Blogger

Before defining the term blogger, let's review Lesson 1. According to Merriam-Webster, a blog is

a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer; also : the contents of such a site.

So what exactly are the contents of a blog? There are a few basics:

• Introduction: Short biography of blog creator(s) and/or contributor(s)
• Posts: Original or linked text, images, or videos
• Comments: Reader responses 
• Blogroll: A list of other blogs with similar themes
• Widgets & Gadgets: Small, user-focused applications such as polls, weather reports, and links to social networking sites

Of course, blogs can be personalized to no end, with varying background colors and images, as well as different layouts and themes. But what really makes a blog unique is its content, and if the contents of a blog are a blog, then it follows that submitting reader comments constitutes blogging. 

Therefore, it is my assertion that those who frequent blogs and those who create blogs are bloggers just the same.

In fact, call it waiting for inspiration or just plain laziness, but it seems that Americans are more drawn to viewing and commenting on blogs than we are to creating them. According to a 2012 study by Blogging.org, Wordpress.com hosts 42 million blogs but attracts 329 million viewers who view 25 billion pages per month.

So what does all this mean for libraries?

For starters, it means that there is indeed a market for blogs, if only organizations would create them and update them regularly. The Blogging.org study agrees, reporting that while 60% of all businesses have a company blog, 65% of those businesses haven't updated their blogs in a year or more. That means that companies (and libraries) are failing to provide access for a large group of people eager to blog.

In Lesson 3, we will begin to uncover the reasons for this eagerness by briefly exploring the history of blogging and looking at how changes in our culture have impacted the blogging industry. 

Because yes, blogging is an industry.

References

Blog [Def. 1]. (n.d.). From Merriam-Webster Online, Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/blog

State of the Blogging World. (2012). [Infographic]. Retrieved from http://blogging.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/state-of-blogging-2012.png