Common denominator of bloggers
“In short: Blogs are different keystrokes for different folks. There is no monolithic motive for blogging. And what that really means is that we are approaching the point where measuring what bloggers as bloggers do is pointless, like measuring why typists type or phoners phone or talkers talk. That, to me, is the most valuable insight from the Pew study.”
- Jeff Jarvis in BuzzMachine
Jeff Jarvis is summarising a report on the reasons why people have blogs. Looks to me like the common denominator is the technology used (blog publishing application as opposed to a private wiki or a static Web site). I’m publishing this site using a blogging application because it is quick, can be updated anywhere and suits the calendar based nature of teaching.
Because we have a ‘technology denominator’ I think that it is important not to let the publicity seekers define what most people think of bloggers and blogging. MSN Spaces recently published a brief report on UK blogging, using different categories and without the cross referencing found in the US study.