Chapter 3 in the Commonplace Manual explores the idea of relevance, which is one of the three requirements of writing to be published on the site, through the idea of audience. How often do you think of the audience you are writing to? As the reading told us, there is no such thing as an ideal audience, but it’s still important to have an idea what an ideal audience would look like if it did because that helps us understand what and how we should emphasize in our writing. If ideal audience is whom we want to read our writing, we need to think of what we can say to make people want to be part of that audience. But of course, you’re not there standing over their shoulders telling them how they should understand what you say. In fact, if you really think about it, they get very little of you. If people you’ve never met are reading your work, they get a very limited sense that just from the writing. What it’s important to realize is that the sense the reader gets of you is not very likely to be exactly the same way you think of yourself. The Commonplace Manual calls the ‘you’ in the writing the persona. What you need to realize is that even if you are unconscious of the idea of a persona and are not actively trying to shape it the reader still perceives a persona.
Below are some links to some blogs. Take some time to browse through them. As you look through them, pay particular attention to the comment sections. Notice how the people who read the blog talk. What kind of style or facts to they seem to care about? How can you see a relation between the author's persona and the audience that is revealed by the comments? Choose a blog, any blog, and write a short post that explains how the audience (quoting specific comments will be helpful) and the persona influence each other. NOTE: you should be aware of the difference of single-authored blogs and aggregate blogs. The former should be self-explanatory. The latter features post from any number of people, sometimes collected from other random places already out there on the internet.
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