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.
… 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