Blog away the Blues!

Given the deep blues I seem to be in this week, that was the very apt hyperlink I saw on yahoo.com I saw this morning while logging in to check my mail. I generally am unable to read news online, more due to a lack of interest than due to a lack of time. This article, however, caught my eye, and plunging into it showed me the results of an Australian study.

Quoting the ANI report based on two related studies conducted by Swinburne University Technology in Melbourne, Australia, blogging can boost people's social life, by making them feel less isolated, more connected to a community and more satisfied with their friendships, both online and personally.

The study, published in the latest issue of the journal CyberPsychology and Behaviour, involved a survey on 134 users of MySpace, an international site that offers email, a forum, communities, videos and weblog space. The study involved some users who intended to blog and others who did not, and analyzed their behaviour and stress levels and 'social satisfaction' after a two-month period. Those that originally intended to blog reported feeling more satisfied socially as a result of being a part of a group of like-minded individuals.

"It was as if they were saying 'I'm going to do this blogging and it's going to help me' ", said Susan Moore, one of the researches. That was exactly my belief when I started writing this post, but I always had the intention and it never helped. Let me see if the act itself helps...