A RECENT STUDY at the University of Central Arizona has concluded that chin rubbing during blogging may actually improve the blog itself.

“The tactile stimulus of the fingers against the epidermis of the chin produces pheromones that enliven the underlying dermis which is the center of creativity for most bloggers,” said Professor Sharon Ditz, chair of the Department of Dermatological Science.

Dr. Ditz studied forty bloggers over a two year time period. The subjects were filmed and the films subsequently compared with the blog posts created during the relevant time periods on the tape.

“For most of the subject bloggers,” said Dr. Ditz, “the chin rubbing, what we call chubbing, appeared to be non-purposeful. But a few exhibited definite symptoms of conscious contact of the fingers with the chin, especially the males with chin whiskers. Either way, in a statistically significant percentage of the cases, almost 64%, the chubbers blog postings were judged to be creatively superior to the non-chubbers.”

The study was initiated through a grant from the Dermatological Office of Positive Epidermis (D.O.P.E.) and the judging of the subject blog posts by a special panel of blog experts, including the award winning blogger, Irwin “Seat o’ the Pants” Slatskin.

Follow-up study has been authorized and funded, says Dr. Ditz. “I certainly hope that any bloggers who we contact will cooperate with the second phase of our study. We feel like there are a lot more chubbers out there, as well as potential chubbers, whose blogs might really reap the benefit of an initiation of chubbing as a means of increasing the blog’s substantive interest level.”

Will you be a second phase blogger?