Blog Studies In the News

A Look At The Blogosphere
The Pew Internet and American Life Project released a study on Bloggers (PDF) yesterday (July 19, 2006). I can’t say I was surprised by the findings.

• 8% of internet users (12 million American adults) keep a blog
• 39% of internet users (57 million American adults) read blogs
• 54% of bloggers are under 30 years of age
• 60% are white while 11% are African American and 19% are English speaking Hispanics
• 13% post daily or more frequently; 25% blog 1-2 days a week; 15% post 3-5 days a week. 28% of bloggers say they post every few weeks.
• 79% have a broadband connection at home
• 87% allow comments

What are favorite topics to blog about?

• the bloggers’ life and experience (37%)
• politics and government (11%)
• entertainment (7%)
• sports (6%)
• general news and current events (5%)
• business (5%)
• technology (4%)
• religion, spirituality or faith (2%)

Corporate Blogging Statistics
In other news, Russell Research just published the results of a study on corporate blogging. Some of their interesting findings include:

• 63% started a blog because they felt the need to participate in the blogosphere rather than to satisfy a particular need
• 76% have noticed an increase in media attention and/or web traffic as a result of their blog
• 37% blog at least once or multiple times per day; 39% blog several times per week; and 24% blog once a week or less;
• 71% aren’t happy with the level of interaction on their blogs

Clearly business bloggers are more motivated to blog than general bloggers. They also care a lot more about whether people interact with their blogs.The most surprising thing to me about the corporate blogging study is that 63% started blogs with no clear objectives. No wonder they aren’t getting the results they want.

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