Yes, I know that it’s conventional wisdom that people don’t go online until they arrive at work on Monday, but conventional "wisdom" is so often a crock, I thought I’d go straight to the source and ask y’all: How come you flock to the blog in droves Monday through Friday, but disappear on Saturday and Sunday?
Allow me to put some numbers to this:
- Over the last six months, page views have numbered an average of 1,665 a weekday, ranging from a high of just under 9,485 to only 365 on Thanksgiving.
- The daily average on Saturdays and Sundays during the same period has been around 700 (the way I have the speadsheet set up, the weekends are harder to calculate, so I’m just eyeballing it). The weekend daily traffic has only exceeded 1,000 three times during that 26-week period.
- Oddly, though, daily traffic has only dropped below 500 on three occasions on Saturday or Sunday. So there is a weekend core audience, even when I don’t post on the weekend.
So what gives? I’m curious about this. I tend to think of blogging — for y’all, if not for me — as a leisure-time activity. But y’all are most tuned in when working stiffs like me are busy. So what’s the story? Are you all self-employed, or retired? Or (and this is one of those rare cases in which I would understand why someone would comment anonymously), is it a matter of using the boss’ computer, on the boss’ time?
Conventional "wisdom" says it’s the latter — but I’m curious as to what the facts are, as you know them.
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In my case, it’s self-employment, which means 24/7 biz hours, especially with west coast clients.
Haven’t worked 9-5, Mon-Fri, ever – even in the employ of others. What’s that like?
Gordon, surely you know better than to ask ME about 9-5…
The last thing I want to do on my own time is sit in front of computer. 🙂
Brad: Nice way to plug your hit counts!
I have the same down curve on weekends which often begins on Friday. I guess people are focused on their weekends, family and friends.
Last time I checked, that was a good thing.
Brad,
We experience the same trend on weekends at The Palmetto Scoop. I however, believe believe your theories only explain 2/3 of the real reason. I’m pretty sure it has more to do with the fact that the majority of political news happens during the week.
I post a lot less on weekends than I do on weekdays because there’s simply less to cover. And thus, there’s less to read for our returning visitors.
I’d be willing to step out on a limb and say that people blog at work more than they blog at home. It’s more fun if you’re being paid to do it.
But that’s not my story. I show up less on weekends because I can’t blog at the golf course, when I go out to eat or at church.
Besides, you yourself show up less often on weekends, don’t you?
On a related subject, why is it the system now requires me to prove I’m a human being who can read six letters or numbers in a rectangle besmirched with fog every time I post? That hasn’t always been the case.
I’m really sorry about that; I keep complaining to Typepad, but get nowhere.
As for my own tendency to drop off on weekends — well, that has to do with the fact that this is work-related for me. I naturally run across topics for posts while I’m doing the job in the course of a day. And like you, I’m just not sitting at a computer on weekends. During the week, I’m sitting at two of them, for most of the day.
And Mike — sure, it’s a good thing folks are focused on family on the weekend….
… but isn’t blogging at the office a BAD thing for the productivity of the American workforce?
I mean, it’s a (peripheral) part of my JOB, and I STILL feel guilty for the time I spend on it…
People often don’t read blogs on the weekend because they’re out having fun with friends, busy with home projects, taking weekend trips, and sleeping in. Also, many people access blogs and the internet at work. Since most people don’t work on the weekends, it would naturally follow that your blog would receive fewer hits on those days.
Another poster mentioned that most political news happens during the week. So unless you tend to be a day or two late blogging about current news, you’re simply not going to have much to talk about during the week. I do blog on weekends sometimes because I have more time to go in depth. Blogging at work for me during the week is fatal.