Hurray for the 6%
I saw a recent survey that only 6% of Americans READ blogs. Of course this is a little questionable, but I think that it’s at least somewhat reliable. Perhaps many of your friends have blogs, maybe a lot of your family members do… It MUST be more than 6% right?
I’ll see maybe 100 people, for more than 30 seconds in the average day: I live in a medium sized Midwestern town. If I take a walk down the street or go to a store and really start looking at people who will I see? 100 bloggers…10 bloggers… even one blogger? I work a blue collar job, the dull menial warehouse labor kind, I’d be surprised if there were more than one or two bloggers out of the several hundred people employed there. The self-published author who works with me had never even HEARD of blogs until I told him, and he didn’t seem that interested.
It’s mind boggling: The notion that the world at large is even bigger and less connected than you originally thought. When I started blogging I was amazed at how many nice, interesting, and like-minded people I was able to connect with. I was sure that blogging was the wave of the future, and soon the entire world would be woven into an intricate fabric of internet communication. This may one day be true, but not today, and not tomorrow.
Those of us who are writers and bloggers often forget the recent trend of abandoning books as entertainment; of not learning or using proper grammar and writing skills; of lower and lower test scores in schools. It’s easy it get excited and optimistic while encased in the protective bubble of the blog sphere.
We should be optimistic, but we can’t forget that the bulk of the world does not blog, does not read regularly, and does not care about our interests or goals. This is important for the young blogging communities such as the Writers Blog Alliance, to remember. The potential is huge, but the market is smaller than you imagine it to be. You aren’t selling yourselves to the world, you’re selling yourselves to other bloggers: To other bloggers who share the same interests. It’s not a bad thing, just something to keep in mind.
Now that your blogging bubble has popped how can you go on living?
Realize that the number of blogs continues to grow, especially among the younger generations.
Get more of your friends and family to start blogging.
Keep blogging yourself, remember to focus on friendly, quality posts.
Continue to read, comment, and link to the blogs of others, the more we interwoven we become the stronger blogging becomes. Links are power in the blog sphere.
Some more blogging Information for you Consideration:
The Blogging Iceberg
The Blogging Geyser
Thanks for stopping by my site today.
I liked this post of yours. Nobody I know in real life has a blog.
When I tell someone I have a blog, they have no idea what that is. But when I tell people I keep a journal on the internet, they say, “Oh, you have a blog!” I can’t win.
Comment by anne arkham — August 8, 2005 @ 7:02 pm
I was astounded to read that statistic. For as much time as I spend reading blogs and writing in my own, it begins to feel like the number of people blogging is endless. Yet, I don’t know a single person in the physical world who blogs and most folks look at me cross-eyed when I tell them I have a blog.
Comment by tj — August 8, 2005 @ 11:10 pm
Only 6%? Hmmm.. seems like more, cuz there are so many blogs to read and not enough time to say hi to everyone. (HI!)
Most people I have told think it’s kind of weird to put personal stuff out there in front of STRANGERS! I have only met great people so far…..
Like your posts…
Comment by Nancy — August 9, 2005 @ 11:31 am