Two surveys by the Pew Internet & American Life Project in November show that:
- 8 million American adults say they have created blogs;
- Blog readership jumped 58% in 2004 and now stands at 27% of internet users;
- 5% of internet users say they use RSS aggregators or XML readers to get the news and other information delivered from blogs and content-rich Web sites as it is posted online;
- 12% of internet users have posted comments or other material on blogs.
Still, 62% of internet users do not know what a blog is. So that is both good and bad news. Good, because there is a huge market for nano-publishers like us. Since we are the early creators of blogs, our blogs are already very-well indexed in search engines and more likely to show up in search results. Bad, because our target market is still relatively small. Or in other words, do what you are doing and be patient.
The survey also found that a blog is a better way to reach high-value audience. Both blog creators and readers are likely to be men, young, technologically savvy, broadband users, financially well-off, veteran Internet users, and of course, well educated. Some of these are changing, particularly in the blog readership group, but still blogs are about reaching an audience that advertisers love. These are the group of people that are more likely to drive ebusiness and they are definitely attracted to excellent content - something that we have been emphasizing in the ebusiness blog.
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