State of the Blogosphere

As a blogger, I would be remiss if I didn't pay attention to the blogosphere as a whole.  Fortunately, in addition the numerous individual blogs I read regularly, there exists a blog search engine called Technorati that does some of this work for me.  Every year since 2004, Technorati has published a report called State of the Blogosphere that follows growth and trends in the blogosphere.  If you are an aspiring blogger, I hope to provide you with some relevant, up-to-date information about the blogosphere, but if you are just a casual reader, then you can also benefit from this note.  Did you know that more and more people are turning to blogs for their news instead of the mainstream media?  

The significant growth of mobile blogging was an important trend in 2010.  With the advent of the IPhone, Android, and other smart phones, 25% of all bloggers are already engaged in mobile blogging.  Moreover, 40% of mobile bloggers report that this new form of blogging has promoted shorter, more spontaneous posts.  Another interesting trend is the increase in the number of women and mom bloggers.  The study found that women and mothers are more likely to blog about brands, products, parenting, politics.  

Here's how this study was conducted.  A representative sample of 7,200 bloggers were surveyed, and the margin of error was +/- 1.2% at a 95% confidence level.  That means that the experimenters are 95% sure that the margin of error between what is in reality true and what was found in the experiment is within 1.2%.  The sample was then divided into four categories: hobbyists, part-timers, corporates, and self-employeds.  Hobbyist means that these bloggers currently report no income from their blog and they composed 64% of the sample.  I suppose I would fall into this category.  Then, part-timers receive compensation for their blogging, they do not consider it their full time job.  Corporates blog full-time for their company or organization and comprised just 1% of the sample.  Finally, self- employeds blog for their own company or organization.

Just who are the bloggers that compose this established method of communication?  As a whole, bloggers are highly educated and an affluent group and nearly half of all blogger surveyed have earned a graduate degree.  Here are a few more telling statistics about bloggers:

• Two-thirds of bloggers are male.
• 65% of bloggers are age 18-44
• 79% of bloggers have college degrees and 43% have graduate degrees
• 1/3 have a household of $75,000 and 1/4 have a household income of $100,000
• 11% of respondents to the survey derive their primary income from blogging

The survey asked the question, "Why are you blogging a lot more of somewhat more often now?"  Not surprisingly, among those who blog professionally, 62% said it has been proven to be valuable for promoting their business.  Among all bloggers, the most common answer was "I enjoy interacting with my audience."  In the past, I've written about how important it is to know why you are doing what you are doing.  I think I upkeep a blog for a few reasons.  First, I'm rather reserved in person, so writing my thoughts gives me a chance to express myself.  Second, I've received so much positive feedback that I've come to realize writing blogs has had a positive impact on my social life.  Third, I enjoy providing friends and family with information that might be valuable to them.  

Later, I found the results of another survey question to be interesting.  The question read, "Which of the following influences the topics you blog about?"  The options were as follows

• Web portals like Yahoo! or AOL
• TV Shows I watch
• Radio programs I listen to
• Podcasts I listen to
• Blogs I read
• Conversations with family
• Conversation with friends
• News websites like CNN.com or NYTimes.com
• News aggregators like Drudge Report or Huffington Post

Of all these options, conversations with friends was the most common response among all bloggers surveyed.  For me, other blogs and conversations with family and friends certainly are two important influencing forces, but what influences me more than anything else is a genuine desire to inform other people and to express my thoughts in an intelligible, coherent manner.  Moreover, I want to make people think critically about what I write about.  Sure enough, the question, "Why do you blog?" was asked later on in the survey.  The possible answer choices are as follows:

• To attract new clients for the business I work for
• To make money or supplement my income
• To enhance my resume
• To get published or featured in traditional media
• To keep friends and family updated on my life
• To share my expertise and experiences with others***
• To meet and connect with like-minded people***
• In order to speak my mind on areas of interest***

For the first time, State of the Blogosphere surveyed consumers on their trust of and attitudes towards blogging.  The study found that while blogs have not replaced traditional media, they are becoming more popular as a primary information source while trust in traditional media is decreasing.  Of the people surveyed, 46.1 % said that they trust traditional media less than they did 5 years ago.  33.8% said blogs are getting taken more seriously as sources of information.  

Later, the survey asked, "What topics do you blog about?" and "What is the primary topic that you blog about?"  Apparently, the survey did not do a decent job of offering enough choices because 47% and 30% responded "Other" respectively.  Then, "How would you describe your blogging style?"  The options were sincere, conversational, expert, humorous, journalistic, motivational, confessional, confrontational, and snarky.  74% of all bloggers responded, "Sincere" while 64% said, "Conversational".  87% of surveyed bloggers said they use Facebook.  I wonder how many people have made Facebook and their blog one in the same as I have.   

Near the end of the survey, there was a question that read, "Looking back on the history of blogging so far, what fields do you think it has had the greatest impact on?"  The top three answers were celebrity/gossip, technology, and politics.  According to respondents, the Gulf of Mexico oil spill generated the greatest amount of buzz in the blogosphere in 2010.  In addition, 42% said they read about the Haiti earthquake and 36% read about Wikileaks releasing internal reports about the war in Afghanistan.  

Despite the length of the survey, it did provide some valuable information about the current condition of bloggers worldwide.  Believe it or not, blogging is becoming one of the most prevalent and widespread ways to both spread and receive information.  If you found the Sparknotes version of the State of the Blogosphere interesting and want to read the whole report, you can find it here.

Until we meet again.