Blogger depression pamphlet

[see: Blogger Depression pamphlet]

Although this is a tongue-in-cheek publication it quite nicely highlights the pressure bloggers feel under to post (i.e. perform for their public) and the self-induced stress that arises. Blogging communities seem to go through waves (or cycles) during which posting numbers fall away, or bloggers stop posting altogether. StressQueen notes how her blogging community has eroded. My own experience is similar, several personal weblogs that I have followed have disappeared off my blogroll. I don't, however, notice the same decrease in numbers amongst the professional weblogs I subscribe to. By 'professional' I mean: weblogs written for the purpose of sharing specialist information, and commentary. It would appear that if you are paid to blog, either directly or indirectly, you are less likely to abandon your weblog**. The rate of attrition (blogger fatigue) is more vicious amongst the non-professional blogging community. Professional bloggers do have Fallow Periods too, though.

The Blogging Depression pamphlet makes an important point: Blog for your own pleasure. It seems that bloggers stop blogging when they lose interest, pleasure, or visitors. There is a Pressure to Blog which comes from a strange sense of obligation to your blogging community. This pressure is at times quite stressful, especially when you feel that you haven't anything to blog about. The pressure to blog is perhaps a pressure to perform, hence it's a performance pressure. Why? Because blog readers want to be entertained.

**[This again, causes me to reflect on the Perseus observation that people who like writing (i.e. the journalists and professional writers who constitute the professional bloggers?) are less likely to abandon their weblog.]

[tag: community]