Resent research by the Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne has concluded that blogging improves your social life.
After just two months of blogging, the participants in the experiment "felt they had better social support and friendship networks than those who did not blog".
These positive feelings are not isolated to blogging alone - the use of social networking sites also can make you "feel less anxious, depressed and stressed".
This is good news indeed for bloggers everywhere, as it indicates that we are not, in fact, a group of sad nerds gathered around computer screens, but rather real human beings who can reach out to and help others, no matter where we are in the world.
The research also shows that many of those who felt an upturn in their social life had started blogging in an attempt to do so, since they were dissatisfied with their current state. This, however, doesn't mean that this news isn't as positive as we first imagined - after all, they started to try to become happier and it worked - their belief in the potential positive effects of blogging was justified.
So what about you BCUK bloggers - did you start blogging to make yourself feel better? Did it work? Let us know what you think.
Sources: TechCrunch, ABC News.
Comments (40)
I just wanted to write, really, which is still the prime reason, but the networking/friendship thing has been a surprise and pleasant bonus.
Me likey BCUK
And we likey Juzzzy too.
Oh and thanks for the link!
All true. I've had other blogs in the past for various reasons but the reason I came here a year ago was I needed help emotionally, and needed to get it all out. The fact that a year later I have formed friendships with people all over the UK and in other countries never ceases to amaze me. It's wonderful. I feel better about everything knowing I have that support.
We like having your support too. Thank you! x
I started simply to document our move from the UK to France but it quickly became much more than that. I have genuine friends here and feel supported by those people more than some people "IRL"...
I became a founder member here almost three years ago and it still is my one and only blog. I started it as a means of letting off steam about my little job but lately it seems to have evolved into 'Isadora's travelogues'
I started blogging as I had a story to tell.
I started blogging to share my poems. I was amazed to find such a community spirit here.
I started then I found that i didn't stop.
I don't get out much. Honestly I don't get out much, so this is my socialising.
I started blogging here nearly three years ago too, trying to unscramble the mess that was in my head. It worked!
I was in an unhappy marriage, had been unemployed for about five years and was quite depressed. I'm now in a happy relationship, working in a job I love and the depression is pretty much totally lifted.
Writing it down helps in itself, cos you can 'see' it then! But the support I've had from the community ... that this has become ... is phenomenal
The support you give is pretty phenomenal too. Thanks! x
I had an ulterior motive, I have a website ( non-commercial and free of advertising ) that I believe does help those that read it, I wanted to get the name spread about.
I found lots of friends, nice people, interesting people, lots of smiles, lots of support, I feel at home now.
( I obviously can not let this opportunity pass without mentioning my website ).
http://www.wordscanhelp.co.uk
It may help those that are grieving after the loss of a loved one.
I started blogging a year ago this month mainly because I'd moved to a new area six years ago, and had just lost the only two close local friends we had made in that time, who had moved a long way away...found it hard to make new ones as I'm physically disabled and I look it, which makes people hold me at arm's length normally, and decided to give blogging a go...all in all, it's been a very positive experience and have built up a very warm network of virtual friends, and met one, Kelly (Rundon'twalk), personally, and it was a lovely visit...so no regrets trying it out...
I'm glad you're enjoying your BCUK experience. Thanks for being here.
Blogging may be good for many people, but it can turn into a kind of addiction. You always have to look at the latest comments. You are attracted by the statistics and you try to increase the number of visitors. You should leave comments in other blogs and write new postings in your own blog(s). And time is running and running and running.
But I think if one gets the balance between the real life and the internet blogging can be a helpful and exciting thing to communicate ones opinion ... or to just share some nice pictures ;-)
I only intended this blog to be somewhere I could mess around with words, playing with writing and finding different ways of expressing myself without feeling the need to make it into "something" - like a book, or a diary, or an article. Just a bit of creative space to mess about in. I wasn't particularly interested in reading anyone else's blog, nor bothered about people reading mine.
Until people started commenting. Which a) amazed me that anyone would want to read the nonsense I was writing, and b) made me curious as to what they were writing about.
Now, of course, I'm hooked. And I've gained two main benefits.
I've always loved writing because, having grown up as an incredibly shy person, it gave me more of a voice than I expressed verbally. But because blogging is interactive, it's made me more aware of the fact that I'm directly communicating with people through my writing. Which has, in turn, given me a lot more confidence and ability at bringing more of my written voice into my verbal conversation. In other words, it's helped me to express myself better, not just as a writer, but as a person.
That's the first benefit.
Secondly, and most unexpectedly of all, I've gained a lot of friends. Not just acquaintances, but real friends, who know a lot about me, who offer me incredibly effective support and understanding when I need it and who I really care about and, I hope, give support back to in kind when they need it.
Basically, I have a good time here. And I reckon I'll be around for a while yet.
Thanks.
x
Don't you even think of not being around here for centuries, at least!
You sort out the fountain of youth, I'll sort out the blogging
I'd dabbled a bit with LiveJournal but stopped, it all felt far too alone... unless you were really lucky your journal sat in the midst of thousands more, as findeable as a single blad of grass in the field, and it was merely a cathartic exercise, rather than a social one, so I gave it up.
A while later I found myself drifting a bit due to bad things in my life and needing something creative, so I found this place and started up a blog where I could rant about sport, fully expecting it to be like LiveJournal, I'd sit throwing my words into the cyber-wind in the hope someday I might actually have someone read me...
...and they did.
Which is why my blog has very little sport in it anymore, I found I'd rather talk about life, good and bad, with people who seemed to actually care.
It's also boosted my photography habit, having the chance to share pics with people and get responses, but don't worry, I wont be asking BCUK to subsidise my latest kit
I'm hugely socially inept, I really am, but this place makes it so much easier, you can write what you want to say and LOOK at it before your dumbass brain rattles it out half thought, you can see people with similar interests, you can meet people who give unconditional support, they don't expect anything back apart from the hope that maybe you'll be there for them in the same situation...
...and the great thing is... we always are.
I'm always really confused when you say you're socially inept. I didn't get that impression at all when I met you.
Anyway, it is a pleasure to have your photos, rants, sport opinions, helpfulness and community-building spirit here. Thanks AJ!
You'd be surprised, it's a big internal fight not to retract, if it wasn't for Subs I would have been stuck in a hotel bar doorway unable to enter!
It's a pleasure to be here!
Then Subsie deserves even more thanks.
She always does
Always good in a lost/drenched crisis, though
I didn't set out to Make myself feel better but thats how its turned out.
Another reason to get hooked then!
And not forgetting promoting this site!
It works. I wouldn't say it has improved my social life (or sex life, for that matter), but it has made me a more balanced person as it provides an outlet for thoughts which would otherwise rot my brain!
I think if blogging could improve sex life as well as social life, there would be a heck of a lot more bloggers in the world...
You mean it doesn't improve your sex life?
Oh well, I'm off...
it's just a great chance to understand the
thoughts, needs, wishes of people abroad.
that makes you more closer to the world's community.
I had no interest in blogging or any of the networking sites but posted on a BCUK blog being used by a group to alert them to something. Much later, with a bit of time on my hands, I wondered what all this blogging stuff was about, joined, and found the same as hebburndelboy, and now I don't have time on my hands, BCUK gets it all cos it's brill! There is not enough time to read everything, but everything's here, life experiences, amusing anecdotes, humour, art, interests, helpful advice, and yes, lots of support and really lovely people.
Interacting on broad topics in the same visit is like being down the pub with lots of people you really enjoy talking with, a really good night out, without the hangover, chill and expense usually associated with it. It's like a real-time 3D interactive magazine, and I am really so glad I was led here first, there's no need for a second. Thanks BCUK, ace work, you really have helped alot of people by being here. You've probably helped sell a few lappys as well, as I have to get one now so my partner doesn't spend every evening in the lounge on his own. Great regards and thanks. XX.
Hello there
A friend suggested I join msn blog and even though I had no idea to what it was all about I thought I might as well give it a try.
The thing is I have my website www.dynadesigns.co.uk in mind to try and make people look at my abstract designs I have been doing for the last few years as I havent got much friends besides work I sit in front of pc before going to bed. I cant afford to adertise my website thats why I am here. I do find other peoples ideas very interesting in what they have to say on any topic etc. I come from a big family abroad hence finding it very lonely here in UK. I love chatting with others here or face to face ...Please pass on my website to anyone interested to look at what I do.
I think if you would actually blog it in your own blog here at blog.co.uk, it would even reach more people.
I started then I found that i didn't stop.I found lots of friends,and its made me relax.i can give vent to it my grouse,and share my love vith everyone..
i like blog..it's just a great chance to understand the
thoughts, needs, wishes of people abroad.
that makes you more closer to the world's community.
I am novice and have entered this honest community of bloggers just to steam out my feelings and share views and opinion of other.
I enjoy blogging but I do sometimes have problems logging in to various blogs or fulfilling their various criteria for submission. Apparently with all the changes in the google algorithm many blogs are particularly strict about what content is acceptable. I feel that blogging has become more of a commercial that leisure activity which to some might open up a new source of income and to others might spell a rather sad episode in the development of this internet tool.
The methodology of the research would be interesting to see, the type of research and the questions (their focus) is so important. Again, the size of the researched group, the variation in locations of the group,is also a pertinent consideration as cultural norms will come into play.
Then how do you 'define feeling better'?
I was motivated by a radio play to give it a go. No more than that. Why do I still blog some years on? It's become a habit, another avenue of expression when I want to express in a particular way.
Interaction is pleasant; it has become less since the last blog makeover which is not so user-accessible. It does not however, alter my habit to blog.
Blogging has a lot to do in the online world while posting articles and posts regarding different issues concerning people from all walks of life across the globe.
Blogs have become latest and riches source of quality free information on net people enjoying for hours together. Blogs are loved by Google search engine and given higher search engine result positions for a particular keyword and hence blogging gives birth to free and targeted search engine traffic boosting online
business.
I agree with this. Blogging has helped me a lot to improve my language and to share my ideas and to know others comments on my ideas.
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