Why do people blog?

May 9, 2008 at 3:54 am · Filed under data ·Tagged

My search for Why do people blog came up with a bunch of results, but they were either subjective opinions or polls answered by a small number of people (in one case, a poll answered by a large number of ‘professional’ bloggers, who dont represent the demographic I am interested in). Not finding sufficiently voluminous objective data, I decided to twiddle my coding finders and write a quick little (ruby) script to scour the web for patterns…

The script’s search was limited to blogs within three popular blog domains (WordPress, Typepad and Blogspot) to try exclude the IT community and professional bloggers (who are likely to have their own domains, and whose reasons I understand). It collected reasons for blogging by googling for “I blog because” and “I blog to” and extracting the words that followed. It also searched for the phrase I love (or hate blogs) that…, to try understand what people wanted blogs to be like. Finally, it collected google result counts for few hundred (specifically chosen) words on WordPress, Typepad, and Blogspot to get a sense of what people talked about.

I found the variety of perspectives, yet underpinned by a few common themes quite facinating. Am posting the outputs of my scripts here for like-minded people, who like to see information first-hand and raw, before details are abstacted out. This is my first blog post; Hello blogosphere!

Reasons…

  as seen on(*could be in a Comment)
because a book is just too much for me suedoenim
because a friend of mine encouraged me to write as part of the process of my healing process through the paina and difficult time that i went through josiekupi
because a healthleaders newspaper story this day from the detroit free press, dated march 14, is entitled ‘is doctor blogging too much of a risk?’ medinnovationblog
because it is an outlet for Me — a process of where i sort out thoughts and emotions, to better understand them so that i can better act upon them lordspooner
to add colour to my boring life greengurll
to add nuances and perspective, to keep track of my experience, for learning, staying in touch and for exchanging ideas pernille
to advertise what myself and my friends are doing, such as the setting up of linzworld
to amuse myself junecleavernirvana
to amuse myself rajubathija
to amuse myself and today i am downright yawning at the million thoughts mulling around in my brain junecleavernirvana
to amuse myself, keep track of milestones and memories, and to connect with other parents who are experiencing what i am mountaincronicles
to as a way to expose my writings and to spread my knowledge on the subject of love iwanttobreathe
because as a writer and stay-at-home mom, i find myself longing for adult interaction jayeblahg
to avoid human contact celluloidblonde
to avoid my melancholy juhlspot
to be “”in”" with friends having a blog-of-your-own rubyminoza
to be a part of the fabulous oc jengrasman
to be certain that every life situation is attended to with the adequate amount of suburban angst junecleavernirvana
to be found samdavidson
to be heard ohsocurious
to be heard terrenereality
to be more transparent timirwin
to be part of a community of (largely) junior faculty (and various other cool people!) who are going through similar things to what i’m going through, and with whom i can whine and moan and express my fears/anxieties/frustrations about this life without having it affect my professional image acephalous
to be part of a community of like minded people - and because people send me cards to say sorry about the pig”" (i cried)”" snapdragongarden
to be part of a community of people whom i respect travelingmercies
to be part of a public sphere i can’t see but can feel on some intimate, ineffable level, the way i feel myself part of something larger than myself when i’m physically present at the theatre feministspectator
to be part of the conversation ahfukriz
to be part of the conversation travelingmercies
to be read delusional
to be sharpened matt-knight
to be social, not to have a soapbox metadeveloper
to be understood for who i am nicoleantoinette
to be wasted by the king garmentofpraise
to be with you jaredwhatsinthere
to because i’m lonely and want to connect with others’ adsense-4-dummies
to become better at revealing the depth of my soul to god, myself, and others dustintramel
to benefit my own spirtual walk fbcnewlondon
to benefit our students fbcnewlondon
to better church communication timirwin
to better the preaching experience timirwin
to bitch f1focus
to bitch and moan so my friends, who i am certain are the only people who read this, can get their fill of my bullshit when i’m not around olemissexpatriate
to blog fbcnewlondon
to blog kimskitchensink
to blog - for it’s own sake evelynrodriguez
because blogger said i had to in the beginning and now i get he** if i don’t writeiam
because bloggers express mahagurusia
because bloggers make me uncomfortable sandhill
because blogging allows me to communicate with a large audience very easily masiguy
because blogging has helped me realize how much of an absurdist weirdo i am sandhill
because blogging introduces me to other writers who tell poop stories that make me snort my coffee all over my keyboard bigdoofus
because blogging is a therapy to express myself freely webstertwelb
because blogging tells me stories of a world much bigger than the little hick town i live in bigdoofus
to blow out the pipes, so to speak patti-o
to brag? do i blog to share things with my friends, rather than emailing millions of pictures? do i blog to increase my ego, because i actually think anyone cares? creativepopoffs
to brainfart hellskitchennyc
to break down some of those walls and to find a way to build a community around myself that is not so draining to me lifeisnotacereal
to bridge the span of miles between family members who we don’t see as much as we’d like kariswarmplace
to bridge worlds journeyinsidemymind
to bring attention to the small, artisanal producers with terrific, unique wines and great price to value ratios fermentation
to bring up issues or bring things to the forefront, and hope that they spread to other pr blogs and that we are a unified voice in the industry mmanuel
to build a base of readers and it’s a good excuse to kick the kids off the computer writefromthebeginning
because but mostly because i like to entertain archives-lives
to by the way i appreciate the love on your blogroll but my my name is matt mckee not matt mackee samluce
to call out the goddesses okir
to capture a moment in time turquoisebleu
to capture a snapshot of time of my family mamablogues
to capture little moments in life that i might not otherwise write about in my journal mamablogues
to capture the moments i want to remember, to celebrate, to revisit in years to come snoringscholar
to cast light into the dark corners pridepress
to catch her attention? not that easy dangerouslyisaac
to celebrate jengrasman
to celebrate the joys of my vocation and press on through the challenges aspiringhomemaker
to make people think – challenge stigma that are out there… about mental illness and other things travelingmercies
to chronicle my experiences and discoveries with food, but the driving force behind my blog is my joy for food photography epicureandebauchery
to chronicle some of the highlights–and some of the lowlights–of my life burningfamily
to clear my head and document new experiences, with a focus on educational technology 123elearning
to clear the clutter out of my head (yes, cobwebs and clutter do go hand in hand) bigdoofus
to clear the cobwebs out of my head bigdoofus
to communicate dadtalk
to communicate and maintain the wonderful new frienships i have been blessed enough to make doyouhaveissues
to communicate with my kids sethgodin
to communicate, to learn, to write, and to clarify my thoughts managetochange
to communicate/ chambered-nautilus
to complain and for that, i have to seek forgiveness from my readers (not that i have that many, anyway) jalilahjamil
to connect misterbooks
to connect ordinary-radical
to connect to others, share ideas, and be a positive voice from a public school principal mr-ps-blog
to connect with extended family and distant friends themermaidschair
to connect with other like-minded bloggers creoleindc
to connect with other writers, too writefromthebeginning
to connect with others with the same interests (read obsessions) gollygear
to connect with people and unless we comment we will never come to know about readers paradoxpackets
to connect with the medical blogosphere, to network, to make relationships and to learn from others linzworld
to connect, to share, and to encourage ordinary-radical
to count my blessings 6starrs
to count my blessings bigdoofus
to create a community where everyone is welcome helenl
to create a record for m droolstreet
to create conversations that connect people to the following ideas: conversationagent
to deal with my own frustrations, get over my bouts of depression, and stand up for what i believe in treadsoftlyupon
to declare that helenl
to define our anniversary? fletcherclan
to develop my ideas for future scholarly work (and to develop ideas for my teaching) but also to participate at the ground floor in shaping how academic discourse might develop online alexreid
to develop relationships of sorts, experiencing your responses to the ideas presented here ladyoflongbourn
to differ bcinto
to differ brutalhoney
to differ heyjenrenee
because difficult stuff should be testified to, and testifying to it absolves a valuable personal and social function agmedad
to discuss, have conversations & share! talkingtails
to dispute this ancienthebrewpoetry
to do that, i do the tag so i might do you sic6sense
to document all the funny and massively annoying things that happen to me flotsamness
to document memories and milestones, i blog what i am passionate about and far too often, i won’t blog on a certain subject because i don’t want to offend anyone! i won’t be doing that anymore taylorandcallee
to document myself as a performance piece takechargeofyourlife
to document new ideas and discuss issues in online marketing seo-pro
to document the lives of me and my family kariswarmplace
because doing so allows me to express my views about countless issues to thousands of people around the world ladelirante
to draw attention to developments that might interest the people who regularly pop by my place normblog
to draw others in to share and commune with ( evelynrodriguez
to dump thoughts that need to get out of my head, or to rant bionicyoghurt
to earn money and also to share my methods on how to make money with my readers celhub
to earn money, it’s a good way to get into an otherwise difficult writing profession knoizki
to educate and raise islamic awareness abdusalaam
to educate ignorance and to create community helenl
to encourage ordinary-radical
to encourage (and to be encouraged) ordinary-radical
to encourage and persuade people locustsandhoney
to encourage interaction with other like-minded individuals 123elearning
to encourage myself and get encouragement from others kariswarmplace
to encourage others, share the realities of being a first time mom and to keep in touch with family and friends olgygary
to encourage, to render evident, to shed light on, to embue with knowledge my friends and anyone who will listen fotidzo
to engage in a conversation, not to lecture to a passive audience arb0rv1tae
to enhance my writing skills northernloves
to entertain lepatissier
to entertain others? why is it in the first place that i had chosen blogging as a hobby? was it for those so call lucrative income which took me perhaps a year to gain that weeny rm50? what i need to do is to concentrate on studies and graduate, and i’ll be earning more than rm50 a day by that time temptationsandambitions
to escape canopee
to escape and if i can take a couple of ya with me then i’m doing my job shaedoves
to escape but then i don’t blog to escape from good times, so not much good things here canopee
to escape froma crazy nagging sex-hating wife and most of the time it works for me but the problem is a lot of agressive women seem to abuse me and one cheeky anonymous blogger from cleveland (so says my stats) wwwjackbenimble
to escape the certainty of oblivion thebrokenbow
to escape the small irritants that aggravate me wwwjackbenimble
to establish my reputation and build credibility ( evelynrodriguez
because everyone else’s blogs inspire me and i want to participate matirose
to exhortate or amuse the one that wonders psycyber
to exist in some people’ world rimafauzi
to expand my reach as a brand or to express and share with my fellow beings infinitepursuit
to experience that evelynrodriguez
to explain the world to myself memeticsyns
to explore the lighter side of my life - a virtual enclave from reality’s storms bureaucratgirl
to explore truth, which is my highest creed knightandbaby
to expose my love for all to see abufares
to expose myself to the whole world foo-pooed
to expound the treasures of wisdom and knowledge found in christ, in so far as the spirit enables me to do so, that you may be encouraged, that i may grow in my knowledge of jesus and my ability to communicate biblical truth to people, all for the glory of god fotidzo
to express cramminus
to express nydablogs
to express myself and if i’m the only person reading my blog that’s vaginabloggalogs
to express and interact and the ones worth interacting with are few and far between lostlittlegirrl
to express my feelings adboxters
to express my feelings, creativity and struggles mylifeasawarrior
to express my opinions that would otherwise be unheard thinkaboutthebox
to express my thoughts and opinions stupifiedromance
to express myself jillspagination
to express myself matt-knight
to express myself so that i can grow or to just talk carrasdream
to express myself that i otherwise could not do through voice popcultmayo
to express myself to you johanix
to express myself, in my own way mrsfixxx
to express myself, to be creative lorelle
to express myself, to spread news about what i love, what interests me, which mostly consists of my country, pr, marketing, it, tourism, lots of travel and tourism and the list could go on wordsofabrokenmirror
to express the wholeness of my being ( evelynrodriguez
to express the wholeness of my being ( evelynrodriguez
to express what i feel and what i think superficialistics
to externalize my internal dialogue indradhanush-laal
to facilitate communication with my friends both local and far flung tragicparadox
to feel close to someone jalzee
to feel connected to other women iblogaboutnothing
to feel connected to those special few friends from college that i love keeping in touch with summersharp
to feel like a grown up amysworld-agrantham81
to feel like i am part of something larger momdumchronicles
to feel myself part of a larger community of readers/spectators/viewers who care about culture and what it means to our everyday lives, as well as to the possibilities of our futures feministspectator
to fellowship homemakerunderconstruction
to feminist sites! to make money for people who sell out to those who are reshuffling the ratings of porn sites! womensspace
to figure out where i stand on an issue myself locustsandhoney
to fill a miniscule part of that gap with the kind of stuff i like to read pyleoflist
to find balance khanya
to find my blog to start with travelingchica
to find my inner voice,,,,,to share my passions, my love & hates, to express my feelings, to vent my rage runningonempty-matty
to find my voice surrenderdorothy
to find myself hidden in me ralminov
to find out how i really feel about something lifeaseyeseeit
to find similar individuals who share my thoughts ralminov
to find similar post and usually make comments chaindropz
because first and foremost it strengthens my marriage expatteacher
to flirg fictionalrockstar
to focus the lens that i’ve polished for these many years - when i get comments and feedback, it helps me sharpen views onereaderatatime
to follow other cultures, their travelling, foodhabits, professions, etc mariechantalhandmadeskincare
because for as long as i can remember words have been my medium, my escape, and sometimes my downfall sandhill
because for many reasons: i guess i have stuff to say and my family and friends are tired of listening blogsintheclass
to forget that my life’s so mundane greengurll
to free my mind, thereby a personal blog zade
because friends and family can see what is going on in my life and have become more connected to me than in the 10 years prior to blogging solb1kenobi
to get all my thoughts out of my head norwegianthinker
to get attetion? mickjinryuichi
to get famous and that i plan to quit job and take up writing as a career jo-gravity-and-grace
to get in touch with very interesting people who also blog ladelirante
to get it out, otherwise i end up carrying it and that just leads to bad things all around mrembo
to get links? no copywriteink
to get my brain going in the morning, along with the coffee adopttwoboys
to get my feelings, out, i feel the exact same way stephaniedechant
to get my readers to think about subject they would normally pass off as something not worth thinking about boisjoli
to get my thoughts out there and hope people will comment davidjmorgan
to get my voice out, not to be a message board blueroof
to get out the demons so i can focus on the positive by leaving the negative in cyber space theweirdingwayzygote
to get over things bsk-wizard
to get readers to my site and to build friendships ezmakedollars
to get the word out to my existing contacts so my friends will tell others blogtourspot
to get the word out? do i have a personal blog and i just talk about dove products? do i search the web for blogs about dove products? what exactly is that role? hmmm prospectives
to get things off my chest, to heal and to understand miassavinggrace
to get things off my mind brendatx
to get things out of my head lifeaseyeseeit
to get this off my chest ourfamilybeginnings
to get those thoughts out of my head that really are me but that might sound weird if i said them outloud renaejohns
to get thoughts down on paper and get reeactions from a few others - not to amass a following (most of the eyeballs here are friends or recent conference attendees, etc) kayemheretic
to get thses thoughts out of my system and see where they lead to jeannethereseandres
to get toxic thoughts off my chest isitoveryetplease
to give creativeinspirations
to give a hand up to others learning to write and think better journeyinsidemymind
to give a voice to those who have no voice otherwise womensspace
to give glory to god and to serve others who need prayers, counseling and inspiration chronic-chick
to give my ideas a place to live, out where they can be handled and moved around and hopefully put together with other ideas so that they fit into the greater jigsaw puzzle rogerjohnson
to give others information adopttwoboys
to give voice to whatever i happen to be thinking about gilesbowkett
to have a concrete memory of today tomorrow patlovereg
to have a voice - maybe no one hears me - but i shared creoleindc
to have fun basically soundingforth
to have reader’s feedback alchemistpoonam
to have some sort of order to this madness i call a life esworld
to hear about things i never get from television or newspapers here in la justoneminute
to hear myself think editorgirl
to help make up for the opera career i walked away from to raise a family betternow
to help mankind mrjoeblogs
to help me find her, who knows crystal-tokyo
to help me promote my business’ adsense-4-dummies
to help me think - aphrabehn
to help me think things through easyasfallingoffablog
to help my thinking and to improve my journalism, thompson said jrmc8350
to help myself process pastoradeb
to help other bloggers journeyinsidemymind
to help other self employed/work at home parents with the one area of their business that seems to be the hardest and most frustrating for them momsgonevirtual
to help others see through my strife greengurll
to help others succeed - with any good fortune one or 2 might feel a small ripple form this corner of the blogosphere onereaderatatime
to help people bapoumba
to help streamline my thoughts, to touch base with other parents, and to practice my writing momtothefey
to hide, or to lie yeehon
to highlight information for future knowledge management projects that i may want to start or to highlight future goals for existing projects kmspace
to highlight stories of importance to women which the mainstream media ignores or gives short shrift womensspace
because how else would my friends find me but through google? i sweat for seo realestatetomato
to humor people in a way as well cocoy826
because i absolutely love people! kassota
because i alway have kept a journal since i was a little kid iamlove
because i always have thingsmeanalot
because i always kept some sort of written journal growing up gingersblog-thatkindofgirl
because I am bloggregator
because i am clayandres
because i am lifeslaundry
because i am lifetimelearning
because i am lornadice
because i am a frustrated great novelist and because sometimes you get really cool prizes if you have one iscrap4love
because i am a frustrated writer jmcastaneda
because i am a ham confessionsofarandomchick
because i am a journalist who needs to learn how to put their own thoughts into words blogsintheclass
because i am a newbie blog addict jmcastaneda
because i am a packrat blogsmack232
because i am a political junkie, and i regard the blogosphere as a heaven-sent opportunity to share my opinions with everyone, since my local paper will only publish one letter a month drhelen
because i am a writer cydira
because i am a writer and i am compelled to write alltheotherthoughts
because i am a writer, and though i love to write sweet-indigo
because i am able to share my emotions through something without judging me badly in my face webstertwelb
because i am addicted to blogging sandhill
because i am amazed at how you can build relationships that are fun and solid and exciting kassota
because i am an addict flubberwinkle
because i am an internet marketer - it generates content brendatx
because i am bored dumpsiteforeveryone
because i am crazy lol, no, because its like sitting around on a cloud in heaven, with all my other siestas just listening and writing about jesus, and living for him kassota
because i am emo? or am i emo because i blog? it really doesn’t matter rollorepollo
because i am filled to the b/rim with grief and find it a handy boatman way to blanket the sadness with anger and outrage lavachequilit
because i am having so much fun planning–and because i am an ex-daily newspaper reporter, so i need to write or i will flip out:)\ thatbride
because i am in a dilemma pilseung
because i am inspired by beautiful blogs like runningwithtweezers
because i am jet-lagged peacelovekates
because i am lonely brickhausof4
because i am lonely too and because when people leave me comments, it really makes my day brickhausof4
because i am looking for extra cash mayenskie
because i am looking referrals for my gpt sites mayenskie
because i am passionate about happiness and living in the moment iwanttobreathe
because i am seeking feedback labellecarole
because i am such a smartalik that if i don’t get it out somehow i will explode brickhausof4
because i am this way blogmeridian
because i am unsettled, unsatisfied and unyielding in my search for the things that provide meaning and substance in my life wwwjackbenimble
because i am utterly utterly in need of an outlet touchinglynaive
because i am very bad and i mean very bad in expressing myself what i want or what i think orangengwq
because i am who i am and i am comfortable being me solb1kenobi
because i am, not because i’m hoping to have my email box filled with how can i serve you beautiful and cruel mistress? emails bitchyjones
because i am, rather than am because i blog? emergingwriters
because i am? venomousfeminist
because i believe have something unique to offer ayarnifiedlife
because i believe in the exchange of ideas matt-knight
because i believe in the power of setting goals uncledanbiking
because i believe that i might be able to give something to the people that want to take the time to read my stuff vanelsas
because i believe we need more voices out there to separate fact from fiction, to support our troops and to high light the lack of ethics from journalists today iwanttobreathe
because i blather todgoldberg
to because i care about the world indradhanush-laal
because because i love it indradhanush-laal
to because i love it indradhanush-laal
to because it really gives me satisfaction when a visitor searches for something and reaches my blog for solution. nitawriter
because because the right word has to go out indradhanush-laal
to because the right word has to go out indradhanush-laal
to i blog to learn too! i would feel very happy if anyone around the world learned something with me! did i help anyone already? beyondoracle
because i blog to refine my thinking travelingmercies
because i can 1492columbus
because i can allied
because i can be1man
because i can bevreese
because i can bloggggersday
because i can brendatx
because i can brightlightsearch
because i can elisabethsmusings
because i can enhancelifethinktank
because i can garethsbrain
because i can iblogbecauseican
because i can imonehappymama
because i can jillspagination
because i can lackinginterpersonalskills
because i can lackinginterpersonalskills
because i can lackinginterpersonalskills
because i can lackinginterpersonalskills
because i can lackinginterpersonalskills
because i can ladelirante
because i can lavachequilit
because i can lifeasarainbow
because i can lisajablonsky
because i can lornadice
because i can morecredible
because i can normblog
because i can renaejohns
because i can sandhill
because i can shadowdancer
because i can spencerkyte
because i can the-rogue-blogger
because i can wyodeadeye
because i can yesugarden
because i can (as my friend cora so succinctly put it) charlablue
because i can always erase what i said if it sounds stupid animatedphoto
because i can and because of the unique doors it opens myblogguide
because i can because i can’t stop spencerkyte
because i can chat without being disrupted or distracted charlablue
because i can do it better than any chimp? spencerkyte
because i can express better in writing than in speech lifejuicer
because i can offer analysis that is equal to or even better than many of the talking heads on tv or in the newspapers expatteacher
because i can say anything i like in a blog sweet-indigo
because i can say what i want, when i want without any backlash runningonempty-matty
because i can type a heck of alot faster than i can write skipparoonie
because i can write on a variety of subjects nitawriter
because i can! mahagurusia
because i can!! there! spiderisat
because i can, and because i want to participate in the greatest forum of free speech ever created by man blogsmack232
because i can, and because i can’t imagine what i’d do if i couldn’t momm-eh
because i can, and because so many of my brothers and sisters in arms can not oneheckuvaroar
because