Survey results: who in the world blogs and why?

Why I blog word cloud

If ever a survey deserved a century, it was the cricket blogger survey. Unfortunately, it was sawn off a couple of quick singles short. This first post on the survey results looks at who those 98 respondents are. For those of a more academic bent, a short post on the sample and method has also been prepared.

I start the profiling of cricket bloggers with a review of how else they are active in the sport. Over half regularly attend matches, with 37% playing regularly. The overlap of blogging with professional coverage of the game is evident with 29 doing some paid writing and 15 involved in broadcasting. The range of activities cricket supports and inspires is captured by the ‘other’ category which includes historians, book collecting, gambling, consultancy to sponsors and advice to national cricket boards.

Most bloggers, sooner or later write about their formative cricket experience. By asking a question about which match started their passion for the sport, I have been able to derive how long ago that happened and what type of match first grabbed them. The chart shows that bloggers responding to the survey are fairly evenly distributed across the last forty years. Cricket obsession is neither an older person’s preserve, nor blogging an activity for the young alone. Test cricket was the hook for 58% of respondents. The World Cup and domestic cricket each accounted for 11% of respondents’ first matches, with the former found among the more recent followers and the latter with those whose interest dates back further.

The cricket authorities’ notion of the ‘marquee series’ does earn support from these figures: 26% of all respondents (45% of those citing Test cricket) identified an Ashes Test/series as their starting point, with the 1981 and 2005 series gaining multiple mentions.

The survey respondents appear skewed towards UK residency (49%) and support for the England cricket team (35%) – see the post on the survey method and sample for further discussion of this. The full breakdown of location and allegiance is tabulated below. One point of note is that around 60% of respondents live in the nation whose team they most strongly support – lower than I would have anticipated.

I didn’t ask bloggers to name cricketers who first caught their eye, but many did. Gary Sobers, Viv Richards, David Gower, Richard Hadlee and Kevin Pietersen all got mentioned, but so did Ed Giddens. One of the pleasures of sorting through the survey responses is reading the details remembered of that formative cricket experience.

west indies v australia. adelaide. 26th jan 1993. 1 f-ing run… when Peter Lever’s bouncer almost killed Ewan Chatfield… Quite ridiculously, the 2007 World Cup game between Pakistan and Ireland… Ashes 1986/87. All matches. Liked the cartoon duck. And Bill Athey.

This first post in the series ends with a consideration of why we blog.

I asked respondents to complete the sentence, “I blog because..” Those answers have been sorted for motivations, which have then been clustered into five broad categories. I have taken the love of cricket for granted, and indeed most respondents mentioned it. In this diagram, the distance from the centre represents the frequency with which a motivation was mentioned.

Explanations of the categories and motivations with examples from the responses follow:

INTERNAL – this category comprised the motivations of those for whom the process of blogging brought its own reward, rather than the outcome of the writing.

Enjoy writing: the process of expressing oneself about this pastime provides pleasure enough for many bloggers.

I enjoy it .. I don’t care about readers or payment.

I quite like writing and get a warm, weird glow inside when I put together a sentence which I am proud of.…

To learn about the game: the blogging process develops a better understanding of cricket

it helps to make sense of the messed up game

it gives me a chance to find out what I think

An escape: an activity that demands concentration and helps take the mind off or manage other pressures

Writing allowed me to mentally evade (albeit momentarily) the stresses of corporate life and provided an outlet which helped manage mental illness. As my coping mechanisms evolved, so did my need to write.

It fills time: separated from other cricket fans, blogging provides the pleasure of discussion by proxy

none of my current circle of friends like the sport that I’m quite mad on, so basically it’s a conversation to myself.

PURPOSIVE: blogging as a way of achieving something beyond blogging itself.

(Want) to do it for a living: a small number (given how many we know do write professionally) related their blogging to writing, or wanting to write professionally.

there’s also a vague hope that someday I could find a away to be paid for watching cricket. That’s the dream.

DECLARATIVE: to make use of the web’s almost unique ability to enable people to be heard across the world.

To share/showcase thoughts: wanting and enjoying being heard, getting read.

I like the fact that my views are something that someone else also might be trying to say. It feels good to share your thoughts with random people on the internet.

Have something unusual to say: possessing distinctive insights or perpectives that you don’t hear in the mainstream media.

I couldn’t find anyone out there who looks at the game in the way I do.

I was fed up reading staid, ecb approved media reports.

To promote part of the sport: this motivation is related to that of having something unusual to say, but focused on giving air to a specific element of the sport that gets little coverage.

I want to promote women’s cricket

Also a response to being told I don’t exist – “no-one watches County Cricket anymore” – “well, I do”!

SOCIAL: to be part of a community with shared interests, using a dynamic new social force.

To get feedback/be part of a community: two way communication.

And also because I love the comments. The best part of the site’s the bit I don’t write.

Ease/excitement of blogging: it’s so easy to write and to have your words out there.

I love the sport and the meritocracy and immediacy blogging offers.

REACTIVE: as a way of responding to the cricket world.

To vent at authorities: a channeling of frustration with how the game, or its coverage is run.

Otherwise I’d be shouting at the television

an avenue for expressing a lot of pent up anger at the world and the ECB in particular.

Most bloggers are active in the sport, in the main by attending matches, playing or writing professionally. The duration of their interest in the sport and, therefore we can deduce their age, varies. Most were first drawn to the game by watching an international match, usually Test cricket. Their motivations for blogging differ, but many consider they bring an unusual perspective to writing on the sport or simply enjoy the act of writing or being able to share their views with others. In the next post on the survey results, I will look at the blogs.

———————————–

This post was re-written after images and text were lost when it mysteriously returned to an early draft version – 8 November 2014