Blogging Survey Results

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Blogging Survey Results

By Rob Williams

We conducted a survey online from July 27-30, 2004. The following are the results and some conclusions.

Summary: Total Respondents = 28

Have you ever heard of blogging?
Yes: 100% (28)
No: 0% (0)

Have you ever, currently, or plan to blog?
Currently: 64.3% (18)
Previously: 7.1% (2)
Plan to: 10.7% (3)
Never: 17.9% (5)

Select Answers to Questions

Please describe your experience with blogging? Why do you do it? What do you get out of it?

keep a fresh dialog going…much better than reading a webpage with static information on it.
Its part therapy, part outreach/testimony, part communication to friends in my various circles.
get my thoughts out of my head and into the world…to share my thoughts on God/life/spirituality/church and spark discussion. To have a journal of my life…place to catalog all the links I find interesting/funny and my commentary.
I like the input I get.
A way to "meet" new people and write about ministry.
push-button publishing: It's an easy ability to put your thoughts, ideas and priorities out where anyone can see them... and either help you sharpen them, or carry them out.
It's fun
self-expression…I write for me
a form that doesn't require extensive editing or site organization (I previously ran a website and found that much more labor intensive.)
connect relationally with others.
to communicate the gospel of Christ in as creative and effective manner as possible with as many people as possible.
It's kind of like performance art.
started it as an online journal…Now I do it as much to keep people informed on my life.
it is a neat way of communicating and sharing thoughts
I get more emails from people…it stimulates conversation!

What kinds of relationships have you built because of your blog or someone else’s blog?

I have built a community
better able to locate and respond to others with similar interests
interacted with friends of friends I never would have met…Who knows who reads my thoughts and perhaps gives God a second thought/chance?
I'm a pretty closed person in life, so my blog is an outlet for when I want to be more open.
I've learned a lot more about doing [a particular] ministry as a result of watching a blog…I developed a key contact [locally] as a result of [a] blog.
our interns in the communications dept…do blogs that we link to from our web site. We've had a few interns come in the past year who point to past blogs as the thing that made them think of contacting us for an internship
dozens of virtual relationships/ friendships
I've connected with people all over the world
I have learned a LOT about certain types of individuals by reading their blogs.
I've also met a few bloggers in real life.
I hope to meet other "normal" bloggers (i.e. non-Christians) through MeetUp.com, as a possible bridge strategy for evangelism.
I frequently read about six other blogs, all of which belong to people at least 1000 miles away.

How do/did you market your blog site? How did you get people to come to your site?

Through posting comments to other blogs
just try to stay active with entries
Word of mouth, getting linked on friends blogs,
I join blogging directories and other online communities, and I also try to make my blog and interesting site to visit. I'm also sure to ping using pingomatic.com, that often brings people that are just looking around.
I email the link to friends.
signature on all my email
I put a link in my profile for aim.

Can you see a use for blogging in ministry? If so, how?

a combined bulletin board and chartroom
a form of relationship evangelism….I'm pushing to get…a church blog to drive traffic to our church site and allow a more personalized interaction with our web audience.
Yes, for evangelism, if the blog is built around secular topics.
encouragement of the believers…I've found that people often have a difficult time expressing themselves in person…Writing it out and knowing that it will be read, especially by other Christians, can be a very effective healing and strengthening tool.
A leader can cast vision farther/better using this simple tool... It's somewhat a form of accountability
We're planning on using blogs to follow people on ministry trips
proactively communicate with others…it also increases transparency
It a great way to see other people may be going through some same problems you have. People seem to be more open about there problems when they blog.
i see it as a place to post thoughts/discussions i've had on my "spiritual journey" and a way for many people to interact

If you are currently blogging, what is your URL?

Some Conclusions

It seems there are several reasons why people blog. Bloggers don’t necessarily write for a particular audience. Many of the people surveyed said they blog so they can communicate one to no one; they used words like blogging is “therapy”, “personal journal”, “self-expression”, and “keep others informed about me”. Others blog so they can communicate as one to many; they used words such as “outreach” and “publish”. Still others blog so they can dialog with others; these people used words like “dialog”, “get input”, “meet people”, “sharing thoughts”, and “stimulates conversation”. One person replied to the question of why they blog as “it’s just fun”. I know based on other research independent of this survey that companies sometimes use blogs to communicate press releases and updates on projects. Those who responded to this survey tended to be personal bloggers for the most part.

It’s my conclusion that blogging is used to connect to others. Although some write just for them to write, there is still an element of wanting others to read it (thus connecting to someone) because they are putting their thoughts on the “World Wide Web”! Blogging is not just about sharing your thoughts (though it revolves around that), it is an attempt to say something in such a way that the reader will want to:

1. Think differently
2. Relate to the writer
3. Comment on the writers thoughts

One respondent wrote, “…it’s an easy ability to put your thoughts, ideas, and priorities out where anyone can see them…and either help you sharpen them, or carry them out.”

Because blogging does connect people to each other, the question is how do you make those connections in the first place (marketing)? It seems there are a few tips and tricks used, but mostly it’s viral. Search engines such as Google do pick up blogs, but these sites must fulfill the same algorithmic requirements as all other websites. If the blog is popular, many will link to it thus contributing to it’s increased popularity in the search engines. But to make the blog known, the most frequent way of doing it is to keep your blog updated, visit other blogs of similar interest, and comment on their sites. Eventually your blog’s popularity will grow and increase traffic. Relevant updates are still the hallmark for popularity.

The most important application question we must ask is “can a blog be used for ministry?” The answer, I believe, is yes. It seems, based on these survey results that it’s best application would be in following an authentic Christian journey. As Christians authentically write about their journey, it encourages others to come along side of the writer. A non-Christian can see what it’s like to live as a Christian. Other Christians can encourage the body of believers.

One of my favorite quotes from the survey is this: “It's an easy ability to put your thoughts, ideas and priorities out where anyone can see them... and either help you sharpen them, or carry them out.” I think this is the bottom line of how blogging can help create community, relationships, and where ministry can happen.

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