Slashdot Mirror
What Brings Users to Blogs?
Billosaur writes "The Center for Citizen Media Blog has an interesting overview of the Collaborative News Survey 'Hype versus Reality', detailing the results of a study done by Hsing Wei from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government on why users are attracted to collaborative news, commenting and blogging sites. Among the conclusions of the study are that people who use these sites are 'mostly young and male, especially those who visit technology-related sites, looking for 'a fix of unique, informative fun,' and 'filling in the blanks' left by traditional news sources. Or is it just because it beats working?"
Dark and lonely on a summer's night.
Kill my landlord. Kill my landlord.
Watchdog barking. Do he bite?
Kill my landlord. Kill my landlord.
Slip in his window. Break his neck.
Then his house I start to wreck.
Got no reason. What the heck?
Kill my landlord. Kill my landlord.
C-I-L my land lord!
-Tyrone Green
It could be worse, it could be Monday.
sure beats working! Plus I think a lot of people are attracted to sites that allow commenting because they like to argue.
On a "big news site" they give you the information. Period.
If they're wrong (in your opinion) or leave out important facts - too bad, they don't care about you. In a blog/comment arena you can interface directly with the author and flesh out the details, inaccuracies, or corroborate their work.
Community = Good.
noobcake or noobmuffin? It is the same price...
You know, the kind of person that keeps on talking without really even thinking about what they are actually saying. It is my belief that the same kind of logic can apply to a digital format. Friends do not let friends blog.
Amen!
After all, who needs reliable news outlets when you can get all your news pre-filtered by people just like you?
burrocrisy
and that would be what? Ruling by jackasses? Never has a slashdot misspelling been more apropos
I would have guessed that more bloggers were female than male. That has been my experience, as a good number of my female friends have blogs, post on other blogs, or generally surf blogs, outnumbering my male friends.
However, it could be that they are classifying blogs differently, ie. tech journals as blogs, or personal blogs, when they do their study.
My suspicion is that most users of sites like Slashdot are attracted to the site not because of original news content but because it offers a competitive forum and an opportunity for basking in the public spotlight. Young males eat that shit up. Give them a chance to post comments to hopefully accumulate good reviews and karma, thus establishing on online reputation, and they'll go for it. Not really that different than MMORPGs, if you think about it.
Moderator hint: a comment is neither "Flamebait" nor "Troll" if it is true.
And for everything else there's Slashdot.
..... I think I'll quote them in my blog.
This is my opinion. To make sure you don't steal it, it's covered by the DMCA.
It depends on which blog you mean. I know what brings people to Roland Piquepaille's blog.
Oh, sorry, I thought this was the forum for arguments.
I'm sorry, but this is abuse. You want room 12A, Just along the corridor.
Stupid git!!
I'll probably be modded down for this...
I think it is the adding your own thoughts and having (semi)intelligent discussions on the news at hand. It is to the point now that I get a little angry when I read an inflamatory news article on CNN or the likes and can't add my two cents. I like the interactivity to sites like Slashdot, Digg, etc. Even though 99% of the time it ends in a flame fest or some lame latin ipso facto logic argument crap with some pseudo-intellectual in his mom's basement.
http://teasphere.wordpress.com - A little spot of tea
i'm 'systems support engineer' for a huge call center at one of the largest online travel booking companies... and i swear, i spend 6 out of 9 hours every day refreshing slashdot and drudge report. oh and irc'ing. sure beats working, not that i have any work to do in the first place. not til they send me for training for the phone switches and all that jazz.
speaking of beating working... it's time to go home. an hour early, since there's nothing to do and i'm hungry. i love taking a 90 hour paycheck for 10-15 hours of work.
It forces you to come up with something insightful, witty or at least remotely funny to some arbitrary subject, not something you can pick. That's too easy.
And it serves exactly the same purpose: The need to SAY something and have people read it, write lengthy diatribes about something nobody really cares about but still, people will read it.
And unlike conventional blogs, I know people read that junk I write. They mod me down.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Blogs are an easy place to find people who agree with you.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
I remember when folks got online to share information about challenging technological problems... they exchanged code... and shared configuration tips... wanted to hear what other folks were doing... back in the daze of Usenet, you could find all sorts of folks from experts to beginners, and there was no deep psychological basis for those who stuck around to help... we were just glad to have them online... a bunch of nerds... Nowadays, we'd probably call these guys sickos needed to substitute their lack of self-esteem... blah blah blah... Could it be that some folks still do that? --Ray
http://www.beanleafpress.com
1: because it covers a topic that interests me.
2: Because it's run/written by someone I know personally or respect.
Those reasons are, although (2) is evolved a bit, the exact same reasons why I would read a newspaper, a book, or a leaflet.
The medium has changed, and analysts feel they need to redefine the same old impulses using new terminology. People don't change that fast. They barely change at all. All that changes is the world they live in.
People like a constant supply of new 'content'. Not everyone requires that it be high quality, the key is 'interesting'.
When I was a teenager this was supplied by hunting through second hand bookshops for old sci-fi books. Now teenagers search the web for interesting stuff to view. It's *exactly* the same thing, with less dust.
I don't recall the exact details, but Daily Kos has been fighting that "young and male [and uninformed]" meme for some time. In the last survey the age profile was fairly flat, with a modest peak in the 40s (iirc), but with strong response well into the 60s and 70s. Young males, ironically, were underrepresented given their relative abundance and their prime candidacy for bearing the weight of current GOP misadventures on their draft-age shoulders.
The other political blogs I'm on seem to have the same skew, if they report it at all. Technical blogs skew younger, but IIRC even slashdot has a sizeable over-30 and over-40 crowd.
For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong. -- H L Mencken
Say what you want about blogging, but I've found it very useful to keep friends and family in touch with what I am doing. The fact that some people have found my blog content applicable to their interests says that others may find the content to be interesting. It has resulted invitations for me to speak at seminars, or ask me to consult or even to purchase pictures presented on my blog. Most times I've turned these offers down because of time constraints, but on some occasions I have accepted or granted permissions to reproduce articles/images.
All in all I would say that the benefits of keeping a blog have exceeded the costs and if you maintain that friends do not let friends blog, then perhaps you are hanging out with the wrong crowd. I for one would not want to keep company with folks that prevent one from succeeding, but would rather have friends that encourage success.
Visit Jonesblog and say hello.
The only people who respond to my blog want to sell me drugs or porn.
-mrxak
Onions Will Kill You
2) Some think they are good writers (and aren't) and enjoy writing.
3) Some like to read and can differentiate between 1 and 2.
4) Some who like to read can't differentiate between 1 and 2.
5) Some enjoy the interraction.
6) Some like to get obnoxious and argue with everyone. See 2.
7) Some can learn something.
8) Some think they know everything. See 6.