Typealyzed: Or, who IS this blog, anyway?

One popular tip repeated often during Book Blogger Appreciation Week (BBAW) 2011, organized around the theme “Cultivating a Community of Bloggers and Readers,” was “be yourself” on your blog, and in your interactions with the blogging world. I agree and I echo that. I strive to do that here and throughout the community. I thought I was doing that.

But the Typealyzer has made me not so sure about that, since this is what it said about The 3 R’s Blog:

ESFP – The PerformersThe entertaining and friendly type. They are especially attuned to pleasure and beauty and like to fill their surroundings with soft fabrics, bright colors and sweet smells. They live in the present moment and don´t like to plan ahead – they are always in risk of exhausting themselves. 

They enjoy work that makes them able to help other people in a concrete and visible way. They tend to avoid conflicts and rarely initiate confrontation – qualities that can make it hard for them in management positions.

I think some of that’s pretty accurate, honestly, especially that last point (and I say that as someone who holds a management position). And I do try to be entertaining and friendly around these parts. But I’ve “typed” myself before with the MBTI – and “typing” my blog is an extension of typing myself, isn’t it? – and I have never been typed as anything that starts with an E. Depending on the questions asked and how they’re evaluated, I tend to come back as either ISFJ or ISTJ. The I is consistent, and has been for years. If Introverts were issued cards, I would be carrying one.

So how is it that my blog happens to be such an extrovert?

I’ve acknowledged on more than one occasion that I am more outgoing online than I am in person. If we already know each other online before we get to meet in person, you may wonder about that, because I may seem pretty outgoing in “real life” too. If I do, it’s because I already know you – and I’ve gotten to know you via writing, from behind a screen. That’s a comfort to my introverted nature, and that comfort may be what allows the extrovert to come out.

A primary difference between extroverts and introverts is whether they draw energy from activity, especially as it involves other people, or are drained by it. In that context, I can see how blogging and social media bring out extrovert in me. I thrive on the multi-way communication they encourage…but when posts don’t get comments, or comments don’t get replies, or tweets go unacknowledged, it truly does bring me down. But take me away from my laptop and throw me into a crowded room, and I can only take so much of it before I need to escape and clear my head. Off-line, I prefer my interactions one on one or in small groups, and there are times when I’d honestly rather interact just with the laptop, or with a book.

In any case, this blog may be a performance, but it’s an honest and heartfelt one – it’s not an act. Perhaps it’s my presenting a better-spoken, more socially-adept version of myself, but I promise it’s still me. And apparently I can surprise myself sometimes.

Have you Typealyzed your blog? How does it match up with your own personality type?

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