Blogging as a Subversive Act
I was watching stats yesterday....Dave Sirfy released interesting new figures on the State of the Blogosphere....and today Steve Rubel had this great post calling for a need for standards in blog stats.
But there's one stat that keeps sticking in my head: Blog creators were likely to be young, well-educated, net-savvy males with good incomes and college educations....
So, when I think of the number of women like myself who are blogging, I can't help but to think how what we are doing, is in some way, subverting the blogging status quo! My gosh, it's so funny to still be a rebel!
Then again, I never gave up rebelling--and neither have a lot of the baby boomers, according to a piece last sunday on CBS's Sunday Morning. I'm a little bummed that they don't have a link to the video, but the report stated that baby boomers, for the most part, never quite gave up the bad behaviors of their youth--still lots of pot smoking, lots of drinking, lots of running around...
It's just funny, in some way.
But it also redefines what it is to be a grown up. Will grownups really ever be the same kinds of grownups that they were in the generation before a whole bunch of us became grownups?? I doubt it, really. There's been big changes in the world--esp. in media, which seems to advance at exponential rates. And our lives aren't as simple as they were for the generation who dealt with limited radio, telephone and motion pictures.
Makes me think though--we can, apparently, always challenge the status quo, but, perhaps it's what we do with that freedom to challenge the status quo that makes the difference.
I kind of like challenging the status quo of the blogosphere--and all I'm doing is being myself.
But there's one stat that keeps sticking in my head: Blog creators were likely to be young, well-educated, net-savvy males with good incomes and college educations....
So, when I think of the number of women like myself who are blogging, I can't help but to think how what we are doing, is in some way, subverting the blogging status quo! My gosh, it's so funny to still be a rebel!
Then again, I never gave up rebelling--and neither have a lot of the baby boomers, according to a piece last sunday on CBS's Sunday Morning. I'm a little bummed that they don't have a link to the video, but the report stated that baby boomers, for the most part, never quite gave up the bad behaviors of their youth--still lots of pot smoking, lots of drinking, lots of running around...
It's just funny, in some way.
But it also redefines what it is to be a grown up. Will grownups really ever be the same kinds of grownups that they were in the generation before a whole bunch of us became grownups?? I doubt it, really. There's been big changes in the world--esp. in media, which seems to advance at exponential rates. And our lives aren't as simple as they were for the generation who dealt with limited radio, telephone and motion pictures.
Makes me think though--we can, apparently, always challenge the status quo, but, perhaps it's what we do with that freedom to challenge the status quo that makes the difference.
I kind of like challenging the status quo of the blogosphere--and all I'm doing is being myself.
posted by Tish Grier at 5:41 PM
7 Comments:
That thing about young, net-savvy males being the majority of new bloggers just blows my mind because my blogging community is probably 95% WOMEN! Granted, it's mostly a KNIT blogging community, but still...
ah! all you subversive knitters! eventually, you'll control the world, you know....
I'd personally love to know how they are acquiring their stats, as well as what they are defining as a blog. Does livejournal fall into the category, or myspace? I can't help but wonder if the people (men, I bet) are using definitions that might, by their very nature, automatically eliminat females.
(ok, I haven't read the articles yet, I will when I am not so swamped at work.)
Hey Tish! I haven't posted a comment to you in a while, and I wanted to say hello! Hope you're doing well, I've got some catching up to do.... :)
Hugs...
Soli
I'm not sure if Technorati's stats bring in Livejournal or MySpace blogs. While they are definitely legitmate blogs, as you know, most of the people who keep them don't necessarily want to be searchable to the wider world.
And I don't think that the Pew research includes them either. I think if they did they'd find that many early adpoters and frequent bloggers are female, not male. But, it's also the perception of what a blog is that narrows the field of blogs included in the surveys
Rebecca
Hi! I have to catch up on your blog too! I've been so busy I haven't had as much time to be social like I used to.
Hey Tish, I'm glad you read this report; I couldn't raise the interest. I have to tell you that all the blather about stats just makes my eyes glaze over.
What would be subversive in the blogosphere is to just forget about the stats. Keep it a blogosphere, not a statosphere. Say, is it a stratosphere if the stats are really, you know, up there?
Hey Bill!
Like so many things out here in the blogosphere (or is that bog-osphere??) which stats are relavent or important is about as subjective a judgement as is what makes a good blog. the production of stats just gives a lot of geeks with big computers something to do with all that data...
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