So right now you are reading a blog… One primarily about hypnosis and personal development; a blog nonetheless….

Blogging — is often referred to as the democratisation of the media… any blogs are banned in certain countries and many believe, it is alleged, that in the build up to the Olympics China was blocking access to a great many blogs…

Any person that cares to, can blog regularly and then broadcast their inner-most thoughts to the world… Or rant about the NHS and modern personal development as I tend to… For many of the blogs that I follow regularly, what is essentially a high-tech diary has become a harmless hobby…For some, they educate me and advise me… For others they keep me on top of my professional game… In some cases, blogs even lead to fame and fortune…

So who are these bloggers? Are some personality types more likely to blog than others?… What do the answers to those questions say about me?

As I cannot spend a great deal of time blogging today (I have recording commitments) I wanted to simply point out to you some illuminating thoughts about this blogging phenomena… Quoting this piece of research:

Rosanna Guadagno and colleagues asked over three hundred students about their blogging habits and asked them to complete the now industry-standard Big Five Personality Inventory.

Around 20 per cent of the students blogged, mostly about their personal experiences. Among female students only, those who scored highly on neuroticism (i.e. anxious, insecure characters) were more likely to blog. This is consistent with work on internet usage that also found an association with neurotic personality types, but only among women. The researchers surmised that nervous women may blog to “assuage loneliness or in an attempt to reach out and form social connections with others.”

Among both men and women, those who were more open to experience were also more likely to blog — perhaps unsurprisingly given that blogging is a relatively new phenomenon and given that this personality dimension is associated with creativity.

The researchers cautioned their findings may only be applicable to college students in America and called on future research to look at why people blog. “It is important for social scientists to continue to examine this phenomenon to fully understand its affects on psychological processes that differentiate it from other similar forms of self-expression,” they said.

Hmmmm… For me, I get to share my work, share my thoughts about my professional field, and it gives me an immediate place to do it all… There are of course elements of self-expression, though I am unlikely to take any plaudits for creativity… I shall ponder on who I am as a blogger as I record more audio programmes today… 

ps. You can read about the ‘Big-Five’ personality traits here.