Poll Results! And Blathering!!

Howdy.  Pardner!

Well, about a year after I posted my poll asking you about your blog-reading habits, here I am with a summary. 

The dry statistics:

The highest percentage of respondents (13%) answered that their blog reading goals are scheduled daily

An equal amount (13%) say they read their blogroll when they've completed their other tasks for the day.

And 13 per cent read a few favorite blogs weekly on average.

10 per cent of respondents read from their blogroll every day, but for different lengths of time.

4 per cent stated that they visit blogs when they want others to visit them

4 percent stated that they complete their blogroll visits before doing anything else

4 per cent visit 5 to 10 blogs daily, and the rest fairly rarely.

Now, my small voting pool probably isn't strongly indicative of the art-blog-reading population at large.  However, it does confirm for me that over the past year or so, religious adherence to a blog-reading schedule has tapered off. 

If I had the poll to write over again, I would have been more stringent in asking specific questions about motivation and blog type, and it would have been much more helpful to learn which readers are artists themselves, how many make art their business, and how many readers read blogs more out of familial obligation than artistic fervor.  So I beg your indulgence for my little exploratory questionnaire.

Consensus Says

All of that being said, I direct you to three recent posts I've read:

Two of them are on Diane Gilleland's site, Craftypod.  Anyone who follows Diane for any length of time knows that she is passionate about the business side of the DIY scene and the craft community at large.  Her research and insight into the (now vast) blogging community is a treasure trove for those of us who seek to understand this huge and hugely entertaining field on the web.  I loved the recent posts, The End of the Lucky Blogger Era, and, How Healthy Is Your Online Information Diet? 

Another blog post I found fascinating was Quinn McDonald's Swept Away By Information.

Now, I'm not intending, at this point in my arting path, to open an online store.  Because of that, I am not confronting my business-blogging-model at this point.  The purpose of my blog has been personal enrichment, meeting and sharing with other artists and writers, and chronicling my artistic evolution.  Selling my work is always an option on the table, but I know I'm not ready to do that.

But I do feel that the perception I've had for months is correct, that people are reading blogs with less frequency, and commenting with even less frequency than that.  I think the reasons for this are: Facebook, smart phones, and blog readers.  I think all of these things allow us to glean information in abbreviated forms, at higher speed, and thereby give us the feeling (which is likely an illusion) that we are taking in a lot more information in a meaningful way.

The Aye Almost Has It

I was visiting Michael deMeng's site today.  Most of his posts had fewer than 5 comments.  A lot had no comments at all.  Does this reflect a dearth of interested readers?  No.  You and I know that there are people following what Michael is doing.  There are a LOT of people keeping up with Michael.  But I believe the overwhelming percentage of them are keeping up with him on Facebook.  There is no need, any longer, to put comments on his blog posts to connect with him.  Is this good?  Does this fact carry a value judgment component at all?  I'm not sure.  I can only say that, because I do not have a Facebook account any more, I am missing out.  Even so, I'm not willing to visit Facebook to re-connect with my former Facebook favorites.  It is Too. Much. for me.  I'm a delicate flower, and I find that time on Facebook becomes a real time suck in my life of already not enough time.  (Or well-written sentences.)  I prefer the more intimate and direct contact that blogs afford.  And I would like the blog connection to be a two-way street.  But I'm not sure if that will continue to happen as it once did.  (This is not to say I'm discounting all the wonderful blogging friends I have!  No.  This is about general and continuing trends that I've perceived.)

Intimate Moment

I was recently reading the comments of one of the most popular bloggers on the scene.  I rarely have time to read someone else's blog's comments, but this day, there were over 40 comments on her post.  I know she's popular, and I know why.  She is an amazingly entertaining, enriching, positive force in the community. I love visiting her site.  I've wondered why she doesn't visit my site (because we do have an email connection over a number of years) but I know she's busy.  I try not to assume it's because my blog leaves her cold, or that I'm not dynamic enough of a force in the field to warrant her time.  But one thing I just noticed is that she responds to others' comments on her own comment stream.  She may very well have answered some of my comments in her own comment thread, but I don't see them.  And many bloggers are doing this, now.  Which necessitates a later re-visit to the post in question, which I rarely have time for.

Really busy.

I understand that it's convenient to use tools like Facebook, or to comment on one's own comment thread, rather than in a more intimate email.  I realize that Pinterest is a wonderful tool for sharing inspiration.  But what concerns me about these steps in blogging evolution is that we aren't connecting with each other so much as filling our own lives with noise.  And I think that I, for one, could very easily let that noise fill up spaces that would otherwise be available for me to evolve as an artist.  I have to constantly make sure I'm not just sitting online for hours, never touching a brush or a pen or thinking a creative thought unique to my own vision.

20/50 Vision

What do you think about all of this?  Do you think the blog is dead as an art, craft, and DIY community tool?  Is it time for the artist to move back into the cloistered tower to suffer in a vacuum for her creativity?  Or, can we somehow combine blogging with other activities in making impactful connections with other artists?

I would again urge you to read the posts I've linked to, above.  And I'd love to know what you think about all of this!

Just waiting to hear from you.