July 5, 2012

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Lurkers, de-lurk! Who is reading this blog?

By Ilana Yurkiewicz

Join Our Community of Science Lovers!

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American

Today marks the one-year anniversary of the Scientific American Blog Network. Happy first birthday to us!

To celebrate, we’ve decided to take a page from fantastic science writer and Discover Magazine blogger Ed Yong, who every year asks his readers: who are you?

Since I joined the blog network in February, I’ve been thrilled with the readership and comments I’ve received, whether here, over email, or through some other online portal. But sadly, most of you remain anonymous to me. It would be very helpful to hear from you and learn more about who is reading and what you think.

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Here are some guiding questions, also inspired by Ed Yong and Drugmonkey. Feel free to answer as many or as few as you want, and interpret as loosely as you wish.

  • Who are you? Fear not – you don’t have to tell me literally. You can sign in with a screenname, and I won’t ever know your true identity. But tell me the other stuff that makes you you. What do you do? Do you have a background in health or medicine?

  • Why do you read Unofficial Prognosis? Which posts do you like? What kinds of things grab your attention, and what would you like to read more about?

  • How did you find me? Twitter? Facebook? A recommendation? Reading the SciAm blogs in general? etc.

Please reply in the comments section below. If you’re not already logged in, you’ll need to register (I know, I know), but I promise, picking a username and password is not as strenuous as it sounds.

So give me a few minutes of your time? 1) Because I’d love to hear what you have to say. 2) Because if you don’t, I’ll feel lonely and sad.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Ilana

Ilana Yurkiewicz, M.D., is a physician at Stanford University and a medical journalist. She is a former Scientific American Blog Network columnist and AAAS Mass Media Fellow. Her writing has also appeared in Aeon Magazine, Health Affairs, and STAT News, and has been featured in "The Best American Science and Nature Writing.

More by Ilana Yurkiewicz

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