« The lowly poster has great potential | Main | Media c’est moi »
September 23, 2005
This week’s therapy session
Is writing a web log therapeutic? A new AOL survey finds that nearly 50% of bloggers do it because creating a web log serves as self-therapy; one third of bloggers write frequently about self-help and self-esteem.
By contrast, only 16% of bloggers regard what they’re doing as journalism, and just 12% blog to break news or share gossip.
Blogging as therapy? ‘That doesn’t apply to me,’ I thought when I read the AOL survey results. ‘Writing this blog is too much work to be therapeutic.’
But then I realized that, despite the pressure of regularly writing blog entries, there is definitely an element of letting it all out. I have vented a few times when someone did something dumb or evil (names changed to protect the guilty) and I have expressed opinions without feeling the need to be politic. So often in life we have to be politically correct—how wonderfully freeing not to be.
I think Bill Schreiner, vice president, AOL Community, sums up the psychology behind “blogging as therapy” quite nicely:
"Bloggers aren’t necessarily wannabe journalists . . . They’re writing for themselves, and their blogs serve as therapeutic outlet for their thoughts. . . When it comes to sharing blogs and reading other people’s blogs, we like to connect with people about their lives, and find common ground."
Of course, all this made me think not only about my own blogging experiences, but what goes on in employee communication. The blogging workshop was the most popular session at the 2005 IABC Conference, but most of the conversation was around creating blogs for CEOs or other senior managers. Although CEOs may well need therapy, they’re the last people in the organization who need an outlet for their opinions—in many cases, the whole darn communication program is an outlet for their opinions!
Wouldn’t it be cool to use the therapeutic power of blogs (and the dialogue capacity of the web in general) to give employees a chance to express their views? If we could give the lawyers some Valium, and all the other nervous executives other calming pharmaceutical products, it would be fabulous to let employees freely ask questions, share opinions, offer suggestions, even voice complaints.
That would not only be therapeutic, it would create a productive communication climate. But that’s just my opinion. Okay, I’m done venting now—my therapy hour is up.
Posted by Alison Davis at September 23, 2005 04:08 PM