Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Blogs and Blogging Survey Results & Winner

My Blog (art journal page)
Thanks to everyone who participated in my blogs and blogging survey. It made for interesting reading.  I did a semi-scientific compilation of the 19 responses and this is what I found.
Frequency of blogging/blog reading -
4 people blog daily
8 people blog about 3times per week
5 people blog 1-2 times per week 
1 person blogs less than once a week
This surprised me because I blog daily, and I assumed everyone else did, too!  Although a few people (4) really like their favorite bloggers to blog daily, most (8) don't expect it at all.  My favorite response was from someone who said that she would rather read fewer, better posts than more often, less interesting posts.  I am feeling like this gives me permission to not have to blog everyday (although I'm sure I'll still be a 5-6x per week blogger).
Most people (8) read blogs daily, but this was again a lower number than I thought. 4 people read about three times a week and 2 people read once or twice a week. Of the 8 people who responded, 4 read throughout the day and 4 read once a day (either with their morning coffee or in the evening).  I read blogs every day and throughout the day myself.  I'm a bit more obsessed than most of you, it appears!  The lesson I take from this is that I should probably consider ramping down a bit from my blog obsession.
Formatting
Most people (10) have never or rarely changed their format. 5 people change theirs occasionally, and 1 person changes hers often.  Of the 4 people who expressed an opinion, 2 really like changes and 2 people really don't.   I'm definitely in the never changed camp.  I like that people will instantly recognize my blog when it pops up on the reader.  But I do need to update some of the sidebars (i.e. blogs I frequent, classes I'm taking, etc.).  I'd also like to find a way to run a photo gallery of my art. Finally, I really need to add tags to my posts.
Live or loaded?
Most of you (11) blog live.  About 5 of you load up your blogs in advance.  I suspect that it's the same group that posts daily. Again, this was a big surprise to me.  As a daily blogger, I set my posts to run at 1:00 am my time,  so that it's available for my UK friends first thing in the morning.  I think that if I start blogging less regularly, then blogging live makes more sense.
Collaborative Blog Activity
A whole bunch of you are interested in doing something collaborative.  I'll put my thinking cap on about that one and try to post something by the end of the week.
So, did anything surprise you here?  Did you learn anything that will change how you blog or read blogs?
And last, but not least, the randomly drawn winner of the Wings card is #3 Lizzie!
Lizzie, send me your mailing address, and I'll drop the card in th email to you.

13 comments:

Margi said...

Great info Rinda! I was surprised that the majority don't blog daily or change format often. I'm one who changes often, as you know. I maintain the basic format and the header info but so love the different backgrounds available for use.

scrappyjacky said...

I think it all just shows what a varied lot we bloggers are!!!

Sian said...

Interesting! The one that surprises me is that some people read only once or twicw a week. Like you, I kind of assumed everyone read throughout the day (see you aren't the only obsessed reader!). I guess there is no such thing as one-size-fits-all blogging.

humel said...

Rinda, I absolutely *love* your art journal page! x

And thank you for collating the results like this - really interesting reading - especially to see how my own responses fit with or vary from what other people have said :-)

Elizabeth said...

Rinda, I am not really surprised with the results of your survey. I think it might have to do with how busy we all are. I tried to blog daily but the pressure was too much on me. Besides, I use my blog mostly for completed class work. However, I am thinking I could make it a bit more personal in the future.

Deb @ PaperTurtle said...

Rhinda ~ Thank you for taking the time to do this survey and publish the results. Lately I've been thinking about dropping my blogging down a bit. Thing is that I just love it and want to do it all the time! I think the only one who would miss me not blogging EVERY day is my mother! lol I'll have to ease her into it when I drop back. ;o)

Congrats to Lizzie on the win! xo

scrappyjacky said...

Rinda...I also meant to say...I've always been surprised by your morning posts as I knew it must be night time in the US....how really thoughtful that you schedule your posts so UK readers get them in the morning....thank you.

Julie Shoemaker said...

Great compilation of information Rinda...love the art journal page!

cheryl said...

I love the color combination you used on this art journal page. I am so glad you do layouts and art journal pages! Finding out how other people blog been eye opening
I agree with the idea of seeing
fewer / better quality posts. Hopefully, there 'll be another poll and I am looking forward to
see how the collaborations turn out

sharyncarlson said...

Super interesting. Thank you so much for pulling all this together. I feel like I really learned a lot and was a good reminder that not everyone has similar blogging and reading habits. I read blogs multiple times throughout the day (may have something to do with working in front of a computer), so I can't imagine not checking them but once or twice a week. Thanks again Rinda!

Kimberlee said...

Love the image. :D

Lizzie said...

Who, me? I won the card? That makes 2 prizes from Rinda in 6 months... I am so lucky! Thank you Rinda.
Great post by the way. It's interesting to hear about the varied ways people use their blogs. I do tend to read them at least daily (though how I managed to miss 4 of your posts this week, I am not sure...). I enjoy blogging so much, though recently I have realised I was allowing it to take up too much time, to the exclusion of other fun activities such as scrapping!! I think I prefer blogging when I'm tired - it needs less energy to just read and comment, than to do all that stuff with glue and paper!
Keep up the good work, Rinda - thanks for sharing.

The Scrappy Tree said...

That's really interesting Rinda :) I guess I am not quite among the usual bloggers here!