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Welcome everybody to The Institute for Philosophy in Public Life‘s blog. I’ve been deliberating as to whether we need one, but more and more I read articles or have thoughts that I want to pass on to the IPPL/Why? community. So, we’ll call this an experiment, and I ask you: do you still read blogs? Do you post comments on blogs, and most importantly, can you imagine a blog being a place where the general public can do philosophy?
I am betting yes, but time will tell.
Yes, yes, and maybe.
I do read blogs incessantly. Eats most of the time in my day.
Yes, I comment on blogs when I am moved by the topic or a response to the topic to do so.
I don't have to imagine the general public 'doing' philosophy on a blog — I see it every day. Granted, there is rarely a formality or a stated intention to table abstract philosophical ideas, but it is still going on.
The Pew Forum says it depends on your age: for teens and young adults, blogs are obsolete; for older adults, it's increasingly popular.
See: http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Social-Media-and-Young-Adults.aspx
After reading that finding, I was suspicious of the way they conducted the study. If you outright ask people do they blog or do they participate in blogs, the answer might in fact be similar to the Pew report.
If you break out the activities that one engages in with blogs and ask about those activities, I think the answers would change significantly. In other words, they are still doing it, they just don't call it blogging.
Cannot social media be considered a hyper-connected collection of micro-blogs?
There is a Facebook feature, called “Notes.” I, personally, rarely use it. I've shared more than enough information with the world, and I actually find myself removing more personal details as time goes on. Back to the point: it's Facebook's form of blogs. So even without counting status updates and wall posts as micro-blogs, young people often do “blogging” without realizing it.
To continue the trend seen above: I'm only starting to read “real” blogs; this is the first blog on which I have commented (aside from FB); heck yes!