A few weeks ago I invited my readers to participate in a craft blogger survey. The survey was designed to evaluate the experiences of craft bloggers who participated in the fourth annual Knit Crochet Blog Week, hosted by Eskimimmakes blog. The survey included 10 questions:
- 5 questions asking about self-efficacy/confidence
- 5 questions asking about perceived gains from participation in blog week
I am sharing my results in two blog posts. My first post focused on the results of the Self-Efficacy survey. This post will present the results of the Perceived Gains survey.
Results
Perceived Gains
A little over 60% of respondents seem to feel that participation in the 4KCBW blog week increased their level of knowledge or skill in craft blogging. This is a very nice result to see as part of the purpose of blog week was to stretch and try new things. My participation in blog week drove me to try creating info-graphics and videos–communication techniques I might not have been brave enough to try otherwise.
More good news here. Respondents overwhelmingly feel that participation in blog week made craft blogging more fun. I would be curious to know if the blogging itself was more fun, or if it was the interaction with other craft bloggers that was more fun. Personally, what I love about this blog carnival is the opportunity to meet and interact with other bloggers–bloggers I may never have discovered otherwise. The blogging challenges are also fun, but it’s the new relationships I treasure.
Speaking of building beneficial new relationships…It looks like not everyone agrees with me about the primary source of value in the blog carnival. A lot of people agree that they made beneficial connections, but a significant minority are neutral or disagree. Nothing wrong with that. Some of these folks may have been blogging for a long time and may already be well acquainted with their craft blogging colleagues.
Interesting…it seems that, while the blog carnival encouraged people to try new things, it didn’t necessarily leave them feeling that they had gained competence in those new techniques. The vast majority of respondents were neutral or only slightly agreed. Practice makes perfect, I guess. It would be interesting to find out whether 4KCBW participants continue to develop new skills they’ve learned during blog week, or whether they abandon them.
I suspect people were a bit confused by this question. Asking this question during blog week may not have been the best technique. This might be a more valuable question to ask a few weeks or months after blog week, after people have had time to think about their experience. Do bloggers decide to purchase new cameras to better photograph their projects? Do they decide to start blogging as a way to promote their crafting business? Do they become discouraged and decide to abandon blogging? Time will tell.
Related articles
- Results of the 4KCBW Craft Blogger Survey – Part 1 (all-she-wants-to-do-is-knit.com)
All She Wants To Do Is Knit 
Very interesting. I personally really enjoyed the ‘meeting other bloggers’ aspect of blog week. But I feel like it’s dropped off again now. People that may have blogged for all 7 days may return to a once a month schedule.
I found both the meeting other bloggers aspect and the actual posts themselves to be fun, just in different time frames. The posts were fun while writing them, but then the new connections with other bloggers created the longer-term fun increase. Although I’ll definitely say that posting every day for a week was a bit overwhelming for me, I don’t usually post quite that often.
I definitely gained a lot from blog week. I found my style as a blogger a little bit more, and tried some new things, but I think the thing I’ve learnt most is to just post more often. I’m trying to post at least twice a week now and in a much less formal, more chatty style. It’s been nice to connect with more bloggers too! I’m a bit shy, but all the new followers and readers I’ve gained have given me more confidence 🙂
Personally I think the sweet spot is once a week. Occasionally more often if something special is going on.