Module 3 - Blogging

What do I really think of Blogging? Hmmmm, well considering at the start of this unit I had heard of them, had probably found a few over the years in my searches but had NEVER thought I would actually start one, I can see now I was closed to the idea of their usefulness. Don't get me wrong, I don't feel the need to start sharing intimate details of my thoughts and life with the world at large, or at least anyone interested in reading it, but I can see that there are people who write well (or think they do) and want the opportunity to share information. I can also see how there are ways in which the Blog can be useful in the workplace (project management) and how it offers a solution that a static website cannot - mainly that the "postings" do not require anyone to be proficient in HTML coding or needing special access. It's all there, it's very easy and it's immediate.

In a social sense, the very number of blogs which according to blog herald numbered in excess of 50 million in 2005, indicates there are many people out there with something to say and obviously derive some fulfillment from this. However, in this site, Caslon Analytics member Bruce Arnold states

Several studies indicate that most blogs are abandoned soon after creation (with 60% to 80% abandoned within one month, depending on whose figures you choose to believe) and that few are regularly updated.

The 'average blog' thus has the lifespan of a fruitfly. One cruel reader of this page commented that the average blog also has the intelligence of a fly.

Which sums it up for me really and who has the time to trawl the Net looking for the good stuff....not me, that's for sure. If I'm looking for something specific, I'll Google it and see what comes up but I tend to steer clear of rambling blog sites.

Thankfully I read that people are moving to Twitter and Facebook instead of updating their blogs. Which begs the question, what happens to abandoned blogs? Who cleans up all the blogs that have been abandoned and clog up the Net? No-one is the short answer. I reckon, if your blog hasn't been updated in a while, say a couple of years, they should be automatically deleted.