I conducted a blogging bootcamp yesterday with a local organization that provides resources for people with disabilities.
Towards to the of the Q&A session we briefly discussed narrative voice.
For those of you who don’t know what narrative voice is, here are the wikipedia definitions:
- 1st Person – I use this if I want to convey something more personal by using the words “I” (first-person singular) – or “We” (first-person plural) if I’m talking about a personal experience I shared with a friend.
- 2nd Person – You’ll find second-person writing that addresses you, the reader. The word “you” (second-person pronoun). If you search my blog, you’ll see this a lot in the “How To” posts.
- 3rd Person – Some bloggers use this to convey the thoughts of people that are neither the them or you. For example, “Grant Griffiths enjoyed coaching basketball, although he found the players less prepared than usual.”
Their goal is to provide useful information for the readers, so I recommended 2nd person. This way, the reader feels that the author is speaking directly to them.
I was curious about what other bloggers recommend so, I asked.
Here are some of the responses:
Cate made me laugh because I realize that I jump back and forth between 1st and 2nd person. Like I did in the post. 
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When writing post, I do believe it is important to use the 2nd person approach as much as possible. When your readers are reading your post, you want them to feel like you are writing to them individually. This can be hard to do, but with practice it is not impossible.
On that same note however, you have to look at your audience too. You need to consider how they relate to information and what they expect. The 2nd person writing is more personal in my opinion. And for non-profits, this might be very important.
One thing I would caution on, I hate it when people write their About Pages and other information on the site in 3rd person. I find this approach to be very impersonal and cold. Write to me, your reader. If it is your site, why would you want it to appear someone else wrote your information for you. Your whole goal is to build a relationship with your readers so they come to trust you. Third person writing does not do this.
As always, outstanding post John. You hit another nail right on the head.
Grant – Thanks for the props. What do you think about switching narrative voices, like I did throughout this post. To me, it feels natural.
I think as long it is feel natural for you and does not distract from the content or what you are trying to get across to the readers, use it. Breaking things up with different narrative voices can be a good thing.
In this post, I write about each of the narratives in that voice (1st, 2nd, 3rd). It seems to flow.
My favorite 1st person writer is The Bloggess.
Scott thinks that you should write in a voice that's comfortable for you. Since my blog is about relaying personal thoughts on business things, I go first person mostly.
Does Scott feel that he connects with his reader in 1st person? 1st person, after all, is about you, not the reader.
My blog is an informal “behind the scenes of Bears on Patrol” type, so I generally stick with first person to give it the feeling that I'm sharing my personal thoughts and experiences. I do throw in some second person (“What are your thoughts?” “I'd like your opinions”) because I am still writing for an audience and trying to connect with people.
Good point, Blake. 1st person seems to give people the feeling that
they're getting a peek into your world.
Eric writes in the voice that suits him. I flip back and forth. You wouldn't blame him for typing WE when he really means ME, would you?
I actually try to use “we” most of the time instead of me or I.
Sounds reasonable. I go back and forth. I feel like (for my circumstances) we is okay as long as it's not explicit that it really is just my experience or thought.
Hey grant – I've always wondered about this concept of using “we” instead of “I” when it is blatantly obvious that the speaker/writer/blogger is truly talking about them self.
What is the reason for doing this?
Frank, I think for me it goes back to my dad. When we talked about things on the Farm, yes I grew up on a farm/cattle ranch. He never talked about “I” doing things. It was always we did this. Even after all these years, I still try to instill that same thought process in my own children and that is also how I approach things on my blog and how Clay and and I do things on Headway. It is a “we” effort not just an “I” effort.
This use I definitely understand. Thanks my friend for the insight.
I think what I react against is the politicians use of “we” – we've all heard it and it just sounds so contrived to me.
Grant – I appreciate the clarification, too. I tend to be distrustful of we because I associate it with politics as well,, as in “the royal we.” I do think that in blogging, it's hard to communicate these back reasons and nuances, so why not just stick with I?
I try and use first person most often. I tend to call particular actions and thought processes on the carpet a lot. If I use the word “you” I feel like people will think I'm beating them down. When I use “we” I include them in the beating, but join in it with them.
Most often, if I'm using “you” it's to build people up and hope to encourage and inspire them.
I also don't like 3rd person 'about' pages. I know that person wrote it so it doesn't lend credibility to me…just the opposite. Unless they've made it a bit cheeky and pointed out the fact that THEY are the ones writing in 3rd person. That's more forgivable to me.
I feel like I see a lot of About pages that use the 3rd person only for the first paragraph or so. I've always assumed that is so that it looks proper in search results and so that someone can easily take a snippet of it without it needing to be edited. But yes, I agree with you. A whole About page on EricPratum.com or JohnHaydon.com or whatever in third person would seem odd.
My about Page is titled in the 3rd person, as if asking a question, then switches to the 1st person.
David – That's interesting. It seems like you write about helping people break free from 9-5 thinking, which can make people feel like your beating them down – if not done correctly.
You seem to do it very well, though.
Zen Habits does a great job of using 2nd person, without coming across as arrogant.
Thank you! I try to beat people up with a soft bat. LOL
I don't want to be that guy that comes across as angry and screaming about how horrible the corporate world is. I want to be the guy that opens doors to new ways of thinking and challenges people to review WHY they think the way they do.
I agree that Zen Habits does a great job too! Just very humble in the approach.
I wonder what the difference is between 1st and 2nd narrative from a business standpoint. For example, if you start writing in the 2nd person, and people get turned off, couldn't that be a good thing? A way of filtering out people who may not ever become customers? I wonder…
Have you ever read IttyBiz? She comes across so edgy that I'm sure she turns many people off. Maybe she's realized that she hates doing business with wimps.
OHMIGOSH! I totally love her. I love how blunt she is. She tries to come across as a total B- but you can tell that she genuinely cares about people and wants them to get past themselves as an obstacle. I love that so much and respect what she is doing. By being so edgy, she gives people a license to look at themselves honestly. I'd love to meet her in person some day and see how her offline personality transfers.
While my personality is not QUITE like that, I imagine as I hang around longer I'll develop a bit of an edge too…at least, I hope to.
My blogging voice has improved in leaps by reading The Bloggess.
John Haydon thinks Danny Brown agrees with all approaches. In fact, John was only recently speaking to Grant Griffiths about why I liked this approach, and if it works for you, great.
Of course, Danny Brown likes to drop names like Scott Stratten to pretend that Danny is interesting to know. You know it's a scam, but John Haydon and Michael Martine would blog differently.
And don't get me started on cell phone providers…
John wants to hear Danny rant about Canadian cell phone companies. John thinks this would be entertaining.
Danny's navel-gazing will soon be over and cell phone companies not in the third person might soon be written about.
John hopes you blog about AT&T's shit network.
Writing for the web is totally different than writing for academia or for print (although there's definitely an argument to be made for print going the way of the web too). Blogging should always feel personal – that's what people want. And remember, you're always only ever talking to one person, even though you may have many readers (i.e. people that start blog posts or video posts with “Hi everyone!” is missing the boat). It's always about 1:1 relationships, there are just many of them. It's never 1:M. If you think about it that way, the language you should use becomes pretty clear.
Steffan – Thanks for your contribution tom the post. Your 140-character summary was useful.
I think if you approach blogging like a conversation (that's how I think of it), then it's only natural that you slip in and out of first and second person, because that's just how people talk. Except for Scott and Danny Brown. But they're special.
On a completely unrelated note, I just realized I'm the first girl to comment on this post. So yay me.
Yay for you (John says in the 2nd person). I actually repurpose many of my emails to customers who've asked a tactical question. Because of this approach, I use “you” a lot throughout my blog.
Yay Cherita! Love your tweets!
I switch back and forth between 1st and 2nd person – the majority of my posts are “how to” articles about helping the one-person-nonprofit-development-shop do it all, “faster, smarter, better” and I'm usually using personal stories to illustrate my point. Then there are the snarky opinion pieces written entirely in 1st person …
Pamela – I've employed the idea of Personas in my blog writing (sounds like you have too). It's made a huge difference.
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Unlike any of the commentors above, I tend to blog mostly in the second person, sometimes in the third person, and rarely in first person. I've never really considered “hmmm…should I blog in the first, second or third person?” but the voice comes out as I think appropriate for the content and the audience, mixed with my personal style. I position my blog as part “how to” and part advice. I also try to bring in a lot of facts, examples, and case studies. That said, I keep my audience in mind while writing each post (generally the nonprofit community at large) and write conversationally to the readers, adding in third person examples throughout the piece. Third person pieces are generally case studies or dissecting trends.
My About page, by the way, is in first person
Debra – I went back and looked at a few of my posts. Most of them are in the second person too.
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Grant – I appreciate the clarification, too. I tend to be distrustful of we because I associate it with politics as well,, as in “the royal we.” I do think that in blogging, it's hard to communicate these back reasons and nuances, so why not just stick with I?
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