Why do we blog survey

From my cousin Tri's blog.

1. How long have you been blogging?
My first post was May 3, 2007.

2. Why did you start blogging?
It was maybe six months earlier I had started reading a few friends’ blogs and my sister’s as well. I didn’t really get blogging, had no idea what a community it is. I started reading more and more blogs after I started at my first job in New York. My first few months there were incredibly slow. There was no room for me on the trading floor so I sat a floor below. Being out of sight meant I didn’t get a ton of work and would get so bored. There are crazy firewalls at the banks so I couldn’t access my email or facebook, and this was before smart phones so I couldn’t kill time on my phone. (It seems so strange in hindsight to have to go all day without checking email.) I got so bored I started reading Wikipedia articles. It’s interesting how many more sites there are to kill time now than there were five years ago. Anyway, between my boredom, and constantly getting requests from family and some friends for photos from New York I decided to start a blog of my own.

3. What have you found to be the benefits of blogging?
I think the biggest benefit is having a record of my life. I’ve never been a good journal keeper, and haven’t been the best blogger the last year or two, but I really blogged a lot my first few years here and am so grateful for that. One of these days I really will print off some books of my blog so I have it in hard copy. I keep thinking (hoping) one day I’ll have grandchildren and maybe they’ll take interest in the fact that Grandma didn’t get married young like most other Mormons and had an amazing adventure being single. I don’t say that implying those who married young do not have fun fulfilling lives, not at all. It was just a really difficult time when I was in my early twenties and so many of my friends and all my siblings were married. I hope that if I ever have a child or grandchild in the same position, they will see their single status as an chance to take advantage of opportunities they may not have if they were married.
Blogging has also helped me to feel like I’m a part of so many friends’ lives, even though we live thousands of miles apart. As an adult it’s just not realistic to stay current on the lives of everyone you care about. It’s been nice to keep up with everyone this way. I also feel like it’s brought me closer to cousins who blog.
Blogging can also be really therapeutic. I try to stay pretty honest in my posts and sometimes it’s just a nice outlet. It’s pretty surprising how encouraging it can be to receive comments of support from friends, family, and even strangers. When I lost my job last year I felt so much support from everyone.

4. How many times a week do you post an entry?
These days it’s about twice a month. I just haven’t had the time and when I do have it, usually the last thing I want to do is get on the computer.

5. How many different blogs do you read on a regular basis?
A lot. My reader probably has around 100 but some of those rarely post and some of those post so frequently I can’t keep up.

6. Do you comment on other people's blogs?
I typically have something I want to say in response, and I like to know when people are reading my blog, so I will always comment unless a post doesn’t make me really have a thought one way or another. It’s always surprising to me when someone tells me they read my blog, and have for a really long time, but has never commented. I will say one thing, if you want lurkers to come out, I’ve learned the best way is to start a story and leave it on a cliff hanger for a long time. This wasn’t my intention but I found out about so many more readers this way.

7. Do you keep track of how many visitors you have?
Not really. I’ve set up an account with Statcounter but I rarely look at it. I don’t really trust the stats and haven’t spent enough time to find anything really that juicy.

8. Do you ever regret a post you wrote?
No, but I don’t write about my dating life until the person is pretty much not in my life anymore. The next serious relationship I have I will probably be more open about, but not nearly like I was in the past. Anyone else I go out with doesn’t get mentioned unless we’re basically exclusive.

9. Do you think your audience has a true sense of who you are based on your blog?
Hopefully. I try to be pretty honest.

10. Do you blog under your real name?
Yes.

11. Are there topics that you would never blog about?
I’m pretty open but struggle to find the right balance of being open and real, and being one of those bloggers who shares too much. Then I remember everyone has their own opinion and there will always be people who think negatively about me, so I think I should just write what I want to write and try not to spend time worrying what people are thinking. Sometimes I brush over topics because going into more detail would require sharing details about others I don’t think they’d want shared.

12. What is the theme/topic of your blog?
This question is probably more for people who actually blog about things like travel, books, food, etc. My blog is just about my life and random thoughts.

13. Do you have more than one blog?
At one point I had a private blog no one had access to, but I rarely wrote on it and I think it may have been deleted.