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Sunday 4 August 2013

Tracking readership by country


I have been tracking readership by country in order to get a view as to who wants what to read and from where.

The results may surprise you.

The highest readership is made up of Americans, of course, who will read all political, theological and cultural posts readily.

That may not surprise you. But, what is surprising is the group which comes in second, which most of you would think would be English readership when it comes to spiritual topics.

The UK readers are usually second highest when I make write about current issues in the Church in England, or English politics. The UK readership is very provincial, which is not a criticism, but an observation.

The English are not interested in the perfection or spirituality posts. They are more interested in the pragmatic postings.

Is this not interesting?

The group after the Americans which are most interested in the spirituality posts are the Germans and the Russians, and then, the Ukrainians.

Perhaps these nationalities are more apt to pursue philosophical and spiritual topics. One imagines a group of trad Catholics sitting around a cafe in Moscow discussing Etheldredasplace on perfection, with men in beards and smoking cigars with ladies in black skirts who are trim from riding bicycles, contemplating on the higher stages of holiness.
Actually, a cafe in Krakow

Seriously, this is an interesting phenomenon, which I have noticed over a period of time.

Is it a national characteristic to be more interested in spirituality than political hot topics regarding religious freedom? Is it a question of anti-intellectualism in English Catholicism, which is a huge problem for the Church in England?

Is it that the British have so many good blogs that mine is not a priority?  My blog is heavily geared to the American and English audience as it is, obviously, in English and I am an Anglophile American.

But, I am really intrigued by the Europeans who follow certain topics more than the Brits.

Comments from my beloved British would be appreciated. Maybe I should write about rugby, or cricket.

UPDATE: The English have made a come-back as of August 6th. Maybe they were all listening to Test Match Special....