Are Introverts Better Bloggers?

By Barbara Swafford


When I was a little girl, I was labeled as shy. Looking back, it wasn’t that I was shy, I was an introvert. I remember being comfortable speaking with others one on one, or in a small group, but I never liked big crowds, nor a lot of chatter. I preferred to stay in the background, listen and observe, plus I was often preoccupied with my thoughts.

Today’s Lesson

When I first started blogging, I would have bet most bloggers, in real life, were extroverts. After all, many of them were successful and projected themselves as being confident and outgoing. There was a lot of “noise” around their blogs and they responded in a way it appeared they enjoyed all of the commotion.

But over the course of the last two years, I’ve begun to see a pattern in bloggers. More and more bloggers are admittedly introverts.

At first I was surprised there were so many introverts who enjoyed blogging, but when I take a closer look, I can see how blogging is a great “fit” for introverts.

Although many variables can affect the degree of introvertism and extrovertism, by grabbing a few of the key phrases that describe an introvert, we see,

1) Introverts take pleasure in solitary activities. It doesn’t get any more solitary than sitting at a computer screen and blogging, engaging in social media, forums and/or chat rooms.

2) Introverts find less reward in time spent with large groups of people Even though we make dozens of cyber friends in blogosphere and on social media sites, we not dealing with them face to face. In fact, if we want, we can just log out, and it becomes us and our thoughts again.

3) Introverts are introspective. What a better way to share our voice, and often our deepest thoughts, than on the form of a blog post? If we reread what we wrote and decide not to share it, we can just hit the “delete” button, or save it as a future draft.

4) An introvert gets re-energized by having alone time (being apart from real people).With blogging, it’s just us, our keyboard, our screen and our thoughts. We can publish an article if we feel like it, or if we don’t, we can spend our time quietly working behind the scenes or just thinking. Many bloggers also take sabbaticals when they begin to feel overwhelmed by blogging.

5) Introverts enjoy exploring their thoughts and feelings. What a better way to voice that exploration than in a blog post. Might that be why we often end our posts with a question? Often the comments we receive will help to complete our thought process.

6) Many introverts like to have meaningful conversations and may shy away from “small talk”. Whether on our own blog, or the blog of others, it’s those meaningful comments we enjoy. The “great post” comments could equate to “small talk”.

7) Introverts prefer one on one conversations or speaking to a small group. With blogging, introverts often find their voice – a voice that may otherwise get lost in the crowd of real life. We often forget how many people may be reading our posts, and if we’re commenting or Twittering, we’re feel we’re engaging in a two way conversation with another author.

8.) Most introverts don’t like to draw attention to themselves. With blogging, we do “put it out there”, but don’t know if someone will take the bait. Often we attract like minded people. Another introvert? This may also be the reason many bloggers who are introverts have difficulty “selling themselves”. They don’t to brag and appear presumptuous.

9) Career choices for introverts are often blog/writing related. Many introverts do well as software engineers, accountants or auditors, editors, market research analysts, graphic designers, and you guessed it, authors or technical writers.

10) According to some sources, introverts make up 60% of the population. Might that be why blogging and social media sites are becoming so popular?

Keep in mind, being an introvert is not the same as being shy. Introverts prefer solitary over social activities and aren’t necessarily shy. The roots of shyness are based on nervousness, fears, anxiety and apprehension – traits which can affect both introverts and extroverts.

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