Blogging Genes

This just in: blogging is a genetic trait.

Well okay, the research report, done by podcaster Eric Mattson and professor Nora Ganim Barnes of the University of Massachusetts, didn’t really go there, or at least not that far. They wrote,

An overwhelming majority of the [80] bloggers [in the survey] believe the attitude and behavior associated with having an effective blog can be taught. The challenge, they say is teaching a business to speak in an “authentic voice” regardless of what communications tools it chooses to employ. These bloggers believe that if businesses practice open and honest communications consistently in all their activities, they will be successful, regardless of whether they blog or not.

In the final analysis, blogging is more than posts, links, comments and feeds. Instead, it represents an attitude for interacting with employees, customers and communities. Perhaps it is not so much about having a blog as it is about thinking like a blogger…

It’s true, they really don’t go anywhere near the nature argument. But whether it’s nurture or nature, I think that the ability and inclination to write completely transparently and admit to being less than perfect doesn’t come naturally to some people.

Well, don’t take my word for it, check it out yourself. I was surprised to see that it is a $52 download, given that most academic papers are free. But then, I was also surprised to see that I was in the report. Now that I see my name there, I have this distant memory of answering a survey,