FW: Pew Internet Bloggers Report

The Pew Internet Project today releases a new report on Bloggers,
available from: http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/186/report_display.asp
.
The press release is pasted in below.

Blogging is bringing new voices to the online world

Most bloggers focus on personal experiences, not politics

Washington, DC (July 19, 2006) - The ease and appeal of blogging is
inspiring a new group of writers and creators to share their voices with
the world.

A new, national phone survey of bloggers finds that most are focused on
describing their personal experiences to a relatively small audience of
readers and that only a small proportion focus their coverage on
politics, media, government, or technology.

Related surveys by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that
the blog population has grown to about 12 million American adults, or
about 8% of adult internet users and that the number of blog readers has
jumped to 57 million American adults, or 39% of the online population.

These are some of the key findings in a new report issued by the Pew
Internet Project titled "Bloggers":

* 54% of bloggers say that they have never published their writing or
media creations anywhere else; 44% say they have published elsewhere.
* 54% of bloggers are under the age of 30.
* Women and men have statistical parity in the blogosphere, with women
representing 46% of bloggers and men 54%.
* 76% of bloggers say a reason they blog is to document their personal
experiences and share them with others.
* 64% of bloggers say a reason they blog is to share practical knowledge
or skills with others.
* When asked to choose one main subject, 37% of bloggers say that the
primary topic of their blog is "my life and experiences."
* Other topics ran distantly behind: 11% of bloggers focus on politics
and government; 7% focus on entertainment; 6% focus on sports; 5% focus
on general news and current events; 5% focus on business; 4% on
technology; 2% on religion, spirituality or faith; and additional
smaller groups who focus on a specific hobby, a health problem or
illness, or other topics.

The report, written by Senior Research Specialist Amanda Lenhart and
Associate Director Susannah Fox, says that bloggers are avid consumers
and creators of online content. They are also heavy users of the
internet in general. Forty-four percent of bloggers have taken material
they find online - like songs, text, or images - and remixed it into
their own artistic creation. By comparison, just 18% of all internet
users have done this. A whopping 77% of bloggers have shared something
online that they created themselves, like their own artwork, photos,
stories, or videos. By comparison, 26% of internet users have done this.

"Blogs are as individual as the people who keep them, but this survey
shows that most bloggers are primarily interested in creative, personal
expression," said Lenhart. "Blogs make it easy to document individual
experiences, share practical knowledge, or just keep in touch with
friends and family."

The Pew Internet & American Life Project deployed two strategies to
interview bloggers. First, bloggers were identified in random-digit dial
surveys about internet use. These respondents were called back for an
in-depth survey between July 2005 and February 2006, for a final yield
of 233 bloggers. Second, additional random-digit surveys were fielded
between November 2005 and April 2006 to capture an up-to-date estimate
of the percentage of internet users who are currently blogging. These
large-scale telephone surveys yielded a sample of 7,012 adults, which
included 4,753 internet users, 8% of whom are bloggers.

"Much of the public and press attention to bloggers has focused on the
small number of high-traffic, A-list bloggers," said Fox. "By asking a
wide range of bloggers what they do and why they do it, we have found a
different kind of story about the power of the internet to encourage
creativity and community among all kinds of internet users."

Some additional data points from the Bloggers report:

* 87% of bloggers allow comments on their blog.
* 72% of bloggers post photos to their blog.
* 55% of bloggers blog under a pseudonym.
* 41% of bloggers say they have a blogroll or friends list on their
blog.
* 8% of bloggers earn money on their blog.


The Pew Internet & American Life Project has created an online version
of the Blogger Callback telephone survey and invites participation from
the general public. The resulting answers will not be a representative
sample, but the online survey will give observers a chance to see the
questions in context and to comment on some specific aspects of
blogging. The survey is online at the following address:
http://www.psra.com/PewBloggerSurvey.html