Commentary: Why Are Blacks Blogging More?

A new study shows African-Americans are more likely to blog than white people, despite having fewer computers. What gives?

By Cord Jefferson
Posted: 04/04/2012 05:38 PM EDT
Filed Under blogging, Twitter, Fox News, Juan Williams, Internet, National News

We’ve known at least since the explosion of the Black community on microblogging site Twitter that African-Americans are obsessed with producing content on the Internet. But perhaps you don’t know exactly how obsessed. Today, that changes.

According to a new study from UC Berkeley sociology doctoral candidate Jen Schradie, African-Americans are one and a half to two times more likely to blog than white people.

“Blacks consume less online content, but once online, are more likely to produce it,” Schradie told the Berkeley News Center.

In 2008, 17 percent of African-Americans were likely to blog compared to just nine percent of whites. And this despite the fact that Blacks are less likely to own a computer or have access to the Internet than whites.

Schradie’s study didn’t go into why Blacks are blogging far more than whites, but Schradie’s gut tells her it has something to do with Blacks being cut out when it comes to popular media.

“Perhaps, African Americans, who have been marginalized from the mainstream news media, now have a platform for participation and are more likely to blog,” she says.

Black political pundit Juan Williams recently caused controversy when he asked why Black people are not more serious about decrying Black-on-Black violence. The fact is that many Blacks do speak out about this violence — not just in the streets, but on their blogs and Twitter accounts as well.

It’s just that Williams and his colleagues at Fox News and the Wall Street Journal frequently aren’t listening.


The opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of BET Networks.

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