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The Truth About Blogs (Info You Can Use!)
Here is an article I came across that I thought presented some of the info that may be helpful as you consider aspects of Blogs...
(Reprinted from the San Francisco Chronicle)
THE TRUTH ABOUT BLOGGING
Lots of us do it, and it's not political, according to study
- Joe Garofoli, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, July 20, 2006
A popular notion about bloggers is that they're pajama-wearing partisan ranters living in Mommy's basement. There they while away their underemployed time obsessing about the latest Connecticut Senate race poll, while fancying themselves a new type of journalist, independent of government's influence and free to make up facts.
The reality of the blogosphere is a lot less partisan, a lot more diverse and nearly half female, according to a new study from the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Many of the nation's estimated 12 million adult bloggers -- a threefold increase in two years -- are like ChristinaPalsky.
The suburban Philadelphia resident is under 30, blogs as a creative outlet and does not fancy herself a journalist. And like most bloggers, she has never published before and is more interested in sharing her life with the world than ranting about politics or popular culture. Palsky's audience is in the hundreds and, like most bloggers, she is well educated, gainfully employed and blogs fully clothed.
"This study does unpack a lot of myths we have about bloggers," said AmandaLenhart, a Pew senior research spe******t who co-authored the study. "What it shows is that the technology is bringing a lot more voices to the national conversation. No, they might not all have the most scintillating things to say, but they are bringing a greater diversity to the dialogue."
The study is based on in-depth telephone interviews conducted with 233 self-identified bloggers found through a random nationwide telephone survey. While the authors concede that "the low number of respondents is a significant limitation to this study," other blog experts and observers say the study's findings are in line with their knowledge.
"It confirms a lot of the things we've been seeing internally and other studies that are out there," said DavidSifry, founder and CEO of Technorati, a San Francisco-based firm that tracks 50 million bloggers internationally.
English is the second most prevalent language among blog posters internationally, Sifry said. Thirty-seven percent of postings are in Japanese; 31 percent in English.
Pew estimates that 57 million Americans read blogs -- enough to say that many Americans know that blog is short for Web log, an online journal that is regularly updated and can include snippets of video, audio, photos and reams of attitude and inner dialogue.
Lenhart said scholars are divided as to whether the term "blog" originated in 1997 or 1999. The practice boomed after an army of political bloggers surfaced during the 2004 elections.
Among them was Palsky.
By day, she is a 27-year-old information technology spe******t who programs computers in her father-in-law's pediatrics office outside Philadelphia. By night, she blogs for an hour or two on TinaPopo (tinapopo.typepad.com). About 200 people check out the site daily to see her musings on life, she said. This number occasionally includes her mom, who requested that she not use the f-word so often.
From a July 11 posting on TinaPopo:
"My hairdresser and I have a long-running joke that I serve no other purpose than to make her life more difficult. Each and every time I go to see her -- whether it's for a cut, a trim, a foil, single-process color, anything -- she examines my hair, sighs and asks why I decided I needed to cut my own bangs and layers when I knew I'd be seeing her in a matter of days. Or why, when she's managed to find the exactly-right color combination for my highlights, do I insist on running out to CVS and buying a bottle of Clairol Born Blonde, which is only going to leave my hair with an alarmingly bright combination of orange and yellow." Palsky began blogging shortly after the 2004 presidential elections, "just to get my feelings out about it. I was disappointed." When those feelings were quickly purged, she began blogging about other subjects. Like her life.
That's the norm, as the Pew study found that the largest percentage of bloggers in their sample (37 percent) blog about their "life and experiences," and 52 percent said the major reason they blog is to express themselves creatively.
"Yeah, it's a creative outlet," Palsky said, "and it's also good to get feedback from people you don't know. But even if I didn't get feedback, I'd still do it."
And while many of the world's most visited and influential blogs like www.dailykos.com and the www.instapundit.com are male-run political playgrounds, Pew found only 11 percent of bloggers riff on politics. And that 46 percent are women.
That's not news to ElisaCamahort, a co-founder of next week's second annual BlogHer conference (www.blogher.org) in San Jose. Last year, 300 people attended the one-day gathering of female bloggers. This year, 750 have signed up for the two-day conference trailed by a host of major sponsors, including General Motors and Johnson's baby products.
"These companies see that bloggers are the amplified influencers of a community," Camahort said. "People like to blog because to quote (press critic) JayRosen, (blogs) are little First Amendment machines."
Yet Pew found that only 34 percent considered their blog to be a form of journalism. The study reported that 56 percent either "often" or "sometimes" spend extra time trying to verify facts; 59 percent "hardly ever" or "never" post corrections when they got it wrong. More than half write under a pseudonym.
"Many bloggers have a certain degree of disdain for journalists," said RobertCox, president of the Media Bloggers Association (www.mediabloggers.org). "When people talk about bloggers influencing the media, or politicians, you're talking about maybe 200 bloggers.
"There's a lot of bloggers at the hyper-local level, writing about the soccer team or government. Altogether, those bloggers can have more effect together than Kos or (Instapundit's) GlennReynolds."
Influence may be their reward for now. The Pew study found that only 7 percent were blogging to make money.
"That's good," said Cox, "because a lot less than 7 percent of them will make any money doing it."
CHART (1):
---sorry, the formatting will not "duplicate" as a post in this Forum....
Blog study Do you ever use the Internet to create a Web log, or blog, that others can read on the Web? Number (in millions) and percentage of those surveyed who answered "yes" (millions) June 26- July 26, '02: 3.4 (3%) May '03: 4.5 (4%) Feb. '04: 6.0 (5%) Nov. '04 8.0 (7%) Jan. '05 11.7 (10%) Feb. '05 11.1 (9%) May '05 10.0 (7%) Sept. '05 13.0 (9%) Nov.-Dec. '05* 12.0 (8%) Feb.-April '06* 12.0 (8%) * Slightly different question wording: Do you ever create or work on your own online journal or weblog? CHART (2): Bloggers by the millions Number of American adults who use the Internet: 147 million Number of American adults who read blogs: 57 million Number of American adults who keep a blog: 12 million CHART (3): A comparison of all American adults and bloggers Bloggers who are knowledge-based professional workers: 38% Bloggers who are students, either full- or part-time: 38% Bloggers with a college degree: 37% American adults with a college degree: 27% American adults who are students, either full- or part-time: 16% American adults who are knowledge-based professional workers: 13% Source: Pew Internet and American Life Project Surveys. Education data for all Americans is from February-April 2006; margin of error is plus or minus 2 percentage points. Employment data for all Americans is from February-March 2004; margin of error is plus or minus 2 percentage points. Blogger data is from the Blogger Callback Survey, July 2005-February 2006; margin of error is plus or minus 7 percentage points. CHART (4): More blog to share experiences than to earn money Please tell me if this is a reason you personally blog, or not: Major Minor Not a reason reason reason To express yourself creatively 52% 25% 23% To document your personal experiences or 50 26 24 share them with others To stay in touch with friends and family 37 22 40 To share practical knowledge 34 30 35 or skills with others To motivate other people to action 29 32 38 To entertain people 28 33 39 To store resources or information 28 21 52 that is important to you To influence the way other people think 27 24 49 To network or to meet new people 16 34 50 To make money 7 8 85 Pew Internet & American Life Project Blogger Callback Survey, July 2005-February 2006. N=233. Margin of error is plus or minus 7 percentage points. Source: Pew Internet and American Life Project Page A - 1
URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg...NGU1K2AVF1.DTL
©2006 San Francisco Chronicle
(Reprinted from the San Francisco Chronicle)
THE TRUTH ABOUT BLOGGING
Lots of us do it, and it's not political, according to study
- Joe Garofoli, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, July 20, 2006
A popular notion about bloggers is that they're pajama-wearing partisan ranters living in Mommy's basement. There they while away their underemployed time obsessing about the latest Connecticut Senate race poll, while fancying themselves a new type of journalist, independent of government's influence and free to make up facts.
The reality of the blogosphere is a lot less partisan, a lot more diverse and nearly half female, according to a new study from the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Many of the nation's estimated 12 million adult bloggers -- a threefold increase in two years -- are like ChristinaPalsky.
The suburban Philadelphia resident is under 30, blogs as a creative outlet and does not fancy herself a journalist. And like most bloggers, she has never published before and is more interested in sharing her life with the world than ranting about politics or popular culture. Palsky's audience is in the hundreds and, like most bloggers, she is well educated, gainfully employed and blogs fully clothed.
"This study does unpack a lot of myths we have about bloggers," said AmandaLenhart, a Pew senior research spe******t who co-authored the study. "What it shows is that the technology is bringing a lot more voices to the national conversation. No, they might not all have the most scintillating things to say, but they are bringing a greater diversity to the dialogue."
The study is based on in-depth telephone interviews conducted with 233 self-identified bloggers found through a random nationwide telephone survey. While the authors concede that "the low number of respondents is a significant limitation to this study," other blog experts and observers say the study's findings are in line with their knowledge.
"It confirms a lot of the things we've been seeing internally and other studies that are out there," said DavidSifry, founder and CEO of Technorati, a San Francisco-based firm that tracks 50 million bloggers internationally.
English is the second most prevalent language among blog posters internationally, Sifry said. Thirty-seven percent of postings are in Japanese; 31 percent in English.
Pew estimates that 57 million Americans read blogs -- enough to say that many Americans know that blog is short for Web log, an online journal that is regularly updated and can include snippets of video, audio, photos and reams of attitude and inner dialogue.
Lenhart said scholars are divided as to whether the term "blog" originated in 1997 or 1999. The practice boomed after an army of political bloggers surfaced during the 2004 elections.
Among them was Palsky.
By day, she is a 27-year-old information technology spe******t who programs computers in her father-in-law's pediatrics office outside Philadelphia. By night, she blogs for an hour or two on TinaPopo (tinapopo.typepad.com). About 200 people check out the site daily to see her musings on life, she said. This number occasionally includes her mom, who requested that she not use the f-word so often.
From a July 11 posting on TinaPopo:
"My hairdresser and I have a long-running joke that I serve no other purpose than to make her life more difficult. Each and every time I go to see her -- whether it's for a cut, a trim, a foil, single-process color, anything -- she examines my hair, sighs and asks why I decided I needed to cut my own bangs and layers when I knew I'd be seeing her in a matter of days. Or why, when she's managed to find the exactly-right color combination for my highlights, do I insist on running out to CVS and buying a bottle of Clairol Born Blonde, which is only going to leave my hair with an alarmingly bright combination of orange and yellow." Palsky began blogging shortly after the 2004 presidential elections, "just to get my feelings out about it. I was disappointed." When those feelings were quickly purged, she began blogging about other subjects. Like her life.
That's the norm, as the Pew study found that the largest percentage of bloggers in their sample (37 percent) blog about their "life and experiences," and 52 percent said the major reason they blog is to express themselves creatively.
"Yeah, it's a creative outlet," Palsky said, "and it's also good to get feedback from people you don't know. But even if I didn't get feedback, I'd still do it."
And while many of the world's most visited and influential blogs like www.dailykos.com and the www.instapundit.com are male-run political playgrounds, Pew found only 11 percent of bloggers riff on politics. And that 46 percent are women.
That's not news to ElisaCamahort, a co-founder of next week's second annual BlogHer conference (www.blogher.org) in San Jose. Last year, 300 people attended the one-day gathering of female bloggers. This year, 750 have signed up for the two-day conference trailed by a host of major sponsors, including General Motors and Johnson's baby products.
"These companies see that bloggers are the amplified influencers of a community," Camahort said. "People like to blog because to quote (press critic) JayRosen, (blogs) are little First Amendment machines."
Yet Pew found that only 34 percent considered their blog to be a form of journalism. The study reported that 56 percent either "often" or "sometimes" spend extra time trying to verify facts; 59 percent "hardly ever" or "never" post corrections when they got it wrong. More than half write under a pseudonym.
"Many bloggers have a certain degree of disdain for journalists," said RobertCox, president of the Media Bloggers Association (www.mediabloggers.org). "When people talk about bloggers influencing the media, or politicians, you're talking about maybe 200 bloggers.
"There's a lot of bloggers at the hyper-local level, writing about the soccer team or government. Altogether, those bloggers can have more effect together than Kos or (Instapundit's) GlennReynolds."
Influence may be their reward for now. The Pew study found that only 7 percent were blogging to make money.
"That's good," said Cox, "because a lot less than 7 percent of them will make any money doing it."
CHART (1):
---sorry, the formatting will not "duplicate" as a post in this Forum....
Blog study Do you ever use the Internet to create a Web log, or blog, that others can read on the Web? Number (in millions) and percentage of those surveyed who answered "yes" (millions) June 26- July 26, '02: 3.4 (3%) May '03: 4.5 (4%) Feb. '04: 6.0 (5%) Nov. '04 8.0 (7%) Jan. '05 11.7 (10%) Feb. '05 11.1 (9%) May '05 10.0 (7%) Sept. '05 13.0 (9%) Nov.-Dec. '05* 12.0 (8%) Feb.-April '06* 12.0 (8%) * Slightly different question wording: Do you ever create or work on your own online journal or weblog? CHART (2): Bloggers by the millions Number of American adults who use the Internet: 147 million Number of American adults who read blogs: 57 million Number of American adults who keep a blog: 12 million CHART (3): A comparison of all American adults and bloggers Bloggers who are knowledge-based professional workers: 38% Bloggers who are students, either full- or part-time: 38% Bloggers with a college degree: 37% American adults with a college degree: 27% American adults who are students, either full- or part-time: 16% American adults who are knowledge-based professional workers: 13% Source: Pew Internet and American Life Project Surveys. Education data for all Americans is from February-April 2006; margin of error is plus or minus 2 percentage points. Employment data for all Americans is from February-March 2004; margin of error is plus or minus 2 percentage points. Blogger data is from the Blogger Callback Survey, July 2005-February 2006; margin of error is plus or minus 7 percentage points. CHART (4): More blog to share experiences than to earn money Please tell me if this is a reason you personally blog, or not: Major Minor Not a reason reason reason To express yourself creatively 52% 25% 23% To document your personal experiences or 50 26 24 share them with others To stay in touch with friends and family 37 22 40 To share practical knowledge 34 30 35 or skills with others To motivate other people to action 29 32 38 To entertain people 28 33 39 To store resources or information 28 21 52 that is important to you To influence the way other people think 27 24 49 To network or to meet new people 16 34 50 To make money 7 8 85 Pew Internet & American Life Project Blogger Callback Survey, July 2005-February 2006. N=233. Margin of error is plus or minus 7 percentage points. Source: Pew Internet and American Life Project Page A - 1
URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg...NGU1K2AVF1.DTL
©2006 San Francisco Chronicle