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How Much Time Do You Spend in Web 2.0 -- Interesting Article from the Read/Write Web

by Tom Johnson on Apr 16, 2008
categories: blogging technical-writing

The Read/Write web has a fascinating post about the amount of time people spend in Web 2.0 activities. Here's a graph from their post that sums it up.

In short, content creators, such as those who publish blogs and podcasts, spend 5-10 hrs a week. To be a community directory, you can spend 10-20 hrs.

I distinctly remember a question Thom Haller asked me after my presentation last year at Doc Train West. He threw up his hands and said, "Where do you find the time to do all this?" I had just been explaining how to use the Web Developer Firefox extension to see your blog's styles and then tweak them in the stylesheet file.

This question caught me by surprise, but it's one that has since come up again and again. My feeling is that everyone has time to do what they want in Web 2.0; it's just a matter of priorities. I would say that I spend about 5-10 hours a week writing blog posts and producing podcasts.

For people who have second jobs or who work 70 hrs a week, dedicating a lot of spare time to Web 2.0 is unlikely.

Just curious about your thoughts. Do you feel you spend too much time in Web 2.0 activities? What would you like to be doing with your life instead?

About Tom Johnson

Tom Johnson

I'm an API technical writer based in the Seattle area. On this blog, I write about topics related to technical writing and communication — such as software documentation, API documentation, AI, information architecture, content strategy, writing processes, plain language, tech comm careers, and more. Check out my API documentation course if you're looking for more info about documenting APIs. Or see my posts on AI and AI course section for more on the latest in AI and tech comm.

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