Understanding the Blogosphere

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Executive Summary: Social networks and microblogs have in recent years nudged blogging off the social media pedestal. For some consumers, who have more communication tools at their fingertips than they did a few years ago , Facebook and Twitter have supplanted blogging as life-streaming outlets. 118542 118543 But blogs remain an important part of the l andscape . This year , 51% of US internet user s, or 113 million people , will read blogs on a monthly basis . By 2014, the blog audience is exp ected to rise to 60% of internet users, or 150 million people. The number of bloggers will also grow, though somewhat more modestly . In 2010, 11.9% of US inter net users ke ep blogs . By 2014, there will be 33.4 million blo ggers in the US , represe nting 13.3% of internet users. eMarketer’ s estimates of bloggers are limited to people who blog; they do not include marketer s or media companies with public-facing blogs. Key Questions I How many US internet users are reading and writing blogs? I What factors are driving shifts in the way people use blogs? IWhat role do media and corporate blogs pl ay in the blogosphere? I How does social media usage affect blog reading and writing? The Blogosphere: Colliding with Social and Mainstream Media September 2010 Paul Verna [email protected] Report Contributor Tracy Tang Digital Intelligence Copyright ©2010 eMarketer , Inc. All rights reserved. illions and % of internet users US Blog Readers, 2008-2014 2008 91.4 (45.0%) 2009 102.6 (48.5%) 2010 112.7 (51.0%) 2011 122.6 (53.5%) 2012 133.8 (56.5%) 2013 141.6 (58.0%) 2014 150.4 (60.0%) ote: internet users who read blogs at least monthly ource: eMarkete r , Aug 2010 118542 www.eMarketer.com millions and % of internet users US Bloggers , 2008-20 14 2008 22.9 (11.3%) 2009 24.0 (11.3%) 2010 26.2 (11.9%) 2011 28.1 (12.3%) 2012 30.1 (12.7%) 2013 31.6 (13.0%) 2014 33.4 (13.3%) Note: internet users who update blogs at least monthly Source : eMarkete r , Aug 2010 118543 www.eMarketer.com

Transcript of Understanding the Blogosphere

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Executive Summary: Social networks and microblogs have in recent years nudged blogging off the social media

pedestal. For some consumers,who have more communication tools at their fingertips than they did a few years ago,

Facebook and Twitter have supplanted blogging as life-streaming outlets.

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But blogs remain an important part of the landscape.This year,

51% of US internet users, or 113 million people, will read blogs

on a monthly basis. By 2014, the blog audience is expected to

rise to 60% of internet users,or 150 million people.

The number of bloggers will also grow,though somewhat more

modestly. In 2010, 11.9% of US internet users keep blogs. By

2014, there will be 33.4 million bloggers in the US, representing

13.3% of internet users. eMarketer’s estimates of bloggers are

limited to people who blog; they do not include marketers or

media companies with public-facing blogs.

Key Questions

IHow many US internet users are reading and writing blogs?

IWhat factors aredriving shifts in the way people use blogs?

IWhat role do media and corporate blogs play in the blogosphere?

IHow does social media usage affect blog reading and writing?

The Blogosphere:Colliding with Social and

Mainstream Media

September 2010

Paul Verna

[email protected]

Report ContributorTracy Tang

Digital Intelligence Copyright ©2010 eMarketer, Inc. All rights reserved

illions and % of internet usersUS Blog Readers, 2008-2014

2008

91.4(45.0%)

2009

102.6(48.5%)

2010

112.7(51.0%)

2011

122.6(53.5%)

2012

133.8(56.5%)

2013

141.6(58.0%)

2014

150.4(60.0%)

ote: internet users who read blogs at least monthly ource: eMarketer, Aug 2010

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millions and % of internet usersUS Bloggers, 2008-2014

2008

22.9(11.3%)

2009

24.0(11.3%)

2010

26.2(11.9%)

2011

28.1(12.3%)

2012

30.1(12.7%)

2013

31.6(13.0%)

2014

33.4(13.3%)

Note: internet users who update blogs at least monthly Source: eMarketer, Aug 2010

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The Blogosphere 2

The eMarketer View

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Despite the success of other social media venues

such as Facebook,Twitter and Flickr, blog

readership has increased steadily and is expected

to continue on an upward path. Just over half of US

internet users are now reading blogs at least once a month,and

this percentage will climb to 60% in the next four years.The main

drivers behind these increases are the prevalence of blogs in the

mainstream media, the increased use of blogs for corporate

marketing and easy-to-use personal blogging platforms.

Most news sites use reporter blogs and microsites featuring

user-generated content to fill coverage voids and provide a

feedback forum for readers.These tactics have moved blogs into

the foreground and raised their sphere of influence in the media.

Similarly,marketers have also increased their use of blogging for

functions such as customer service and corporate

communications. Increasing numbers of consumers rely on these

blogs in their interactions with companies.

What Is a Blog?eMarketer uses the following definition, adapted

from an entry that appears on Wikipedia.

A blog,short for “weblog,” is a website maintained

by a person, group or company with regular entries

of commentary, descriptions of events or other

content such as photos or videos.

This includes media blogs such as The New York

Times’ dozens of reporter and topic blogs; corporate

blogs;dedicated news blogs such as the Huffington

Post; celebrity blogs such as TMZ and Perez Hilton;

technology blogs such as TechCrunch and Mashable;

and personal blogs.

The number of blog creators is also expected to

climb, though not as steeply as that of blog readers.

For many people,the appeal of blogging is not as intense as it was

when blogs were the leading form of social media.Today,people

have many other social tools at their disposal, and some of them are

more fun and less labor-intensive than blogs.Facebook offers most

of the capabilities of blogs;users post frequent updates that can

include photos,videos and links.

To give an idea of how blogging stacks up against social networkusage, there will be 26 million bloggers in the US by the end of 

2010 compared with some 150 million Facebook users.

In addition, Twitter has taken some of the momentum from

blogging with its ability to reach a wide universe of followers in

real time with text bursts,photos and links to other media.And

platforms such as Flickr and YouTube have enabled photo and

video sharing on a massive scale,trumping the need for using

blogs for those purposes.

Nevertheless,overall blogging rates will inch upward.The biggest

factors driving the increase are the ease of use of blogging

platforms and the growing comfort level with blog reading among

US internet users.Blogs with broad reachwhether media blogs,

corporate blogs or influential technology or celebrity blogsare

creating a culture in which blogging is accepted as an integral part

of the media landscape.This encourages users with something to

say to take to the blogosphere.

The relationship between blogging and the rest of 

the social web is complexand often symbiotic.

With so many means of expression at their disposal,users

gravitate toward the ones that suit their needs. In some cases,a

Facebook page might replace a blog. In other cases,Facebook or

Twitter might serve as a marketing vehicle,essentially drivingtraffic via short teasers to longer content on the blog.

Social media users are more likely than average adults users to

use blogs overall, and specifically as a tool to start an online

search for a product or service,according to the Retail Advertising

& Marketing Association.

Key eMarketer Numbers: Blogging

150.4 million US blog readers* in 2014, up from 112.7 millionin 2010

60.0% US blog readers* % of internet users in 2014,up from 51.0% in 2010

33.4 million US bloggers** in 2014, up from 26.2 millionin 2010

13.0% US bloggers** % of internet users in 2014, upfrom 11.3% in 2009

Note: *internet users who read blogs at least monthly; **internet userswho update a blog at least monthly Source: eMarketer, Aug 2010

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The Blogosphere 3

Blog Readers

eMarketer estimates that in 2010 more than half 

of US internet users will read blogs at least once a

month.This equates to nearly 113 million people.

By 2014,60% of the US internet population,or just

over 150 million users, will read blogs.

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A comparative estimate of 2008 and 2009 data on the blog

audience from researchers including Universal McCann,

Accenture,BIGresearch and Lightspeed Research shows a

disparity of findings.This is largely due to differences in survey

samples,internet access levels, frequency of use and other

methodological benchmarks.The differences are also a function

of varying perceptions of what constitutes a blog. In the absenceof a standard definition,survey participants have their own ideas

about whether the sites they visit are blogs.This makes it difficult

to get a precise reading of the total size of the blogosphere.

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For additional information on this chart, see the Endnotes section.

For example,Universal McCann’s figures were limited to users

ages 16 to 54 who had daily internet access.This constraint made

the percentage higher than that of Lightspeed Research,which

used a wider age sample (16- to 64-year-olds) and did not specify a

frequency of internet access.Universal’s figures were also higher

than others with even less selective age samples,such as

Accenture and BIGresearch,which polled adult users.

There is an additional factor behind the differing findings.Because

many of the most widely read blogs are seamless from mainstreammedia,survey participants respond differently depending on their

own perceptions,as well as the wording of the surveys.Surveys that

ask generally whether people read blogs are likely to elicit higher

response rates than those that pinpoint certain types of blogs, such

as asking if the participant has read “someone else’s blog.”

In addition, a reader who stumbles across a New York Times blog

while perusing the newspaper’s website might not be aware of 

having read a blog. Similarly, someone who follows political news

on the Huffington Post or celebrity news on TMZ.com might not

think of those sites as blogs.The disparate survey results reflect

these ambiguities. Given the lack of standards in how blogs aredefined and perceived, it is not surprising that the percentages

were roughly between 45% and 65%.

eMarketer’sestimates assume monthly visits to any type of blog

within our broad definition.That includes media blogs,corporate

blogs,dedicated news blogs, technology blogs and the thousands

of long-tail personal blogs.

For more on business blogging, see eMarketer’s upcoming

report “Corporate Blogging:Media and Marketing Firms

Drive Growth,” due to publish in October 2010.

Trends in blog reading areexpected to maintain an upward course

as blogs continue to gain influence in the mainstream media.But

there is a caveat to eMarketer’s forecast:Over time, blogs will

continue to become indistinguishable from other media channels.

For example,The New York Times operates at least 50 public-facing

blogs,which are indexed under such headings as “News and Politics,”

“Business and Finance,”“Technology”and “Sports.”These blogs are

intertwined with the paper’s regular coverage.Readers are routinely

redirected from the main site to the blogs and back again.There is a

near total fluidity between the traditional coverage and the blog posts

As this morphing of blogs and media sites continues to unfold, it willcomplicate the task of forecasting blog reading as its own category

of online activity.The most likely effect of this trend will be that survey

respondents will focus on standalone blogs and not necessarily

consider blogs that areinterspersed into broader media venues.One

way around this conundrum will be for survey designers to ask

detailed questions that take into account the different types of blogs.

This is true for both blog-reading and blog-writing surveys.

illions and % of internet usersS Blog Readers, 2008-2014

2008

91.4(45.0%)

2009

102.6(48.5%)

2010

112.7(51.0%)

2011

122.6(53.5%)

2012

133.8(56.5%)

2013

141.6(58.0%)

2014

150.4(60.0%)

ote: internet users who read blogs at least monthly ource: eMarketer, Aug 2010

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% of internet users

Comparative Estimate: US Blog Readers, 2008-2010

Universal McCann*, July 2009

Accenture**, Jan 2010

eMarketer, Aug 2010

Retail Advertising & Marketing Association(RAMA)**, Sep 2009

Lightspeed Research***, May 2009

2008

61.0%

33.0%

45.0%

-

-

2009

66.0%

60.0%

48.5%

46.1%

46.0%

2010

-

-

51.0%

-

-

Note: *ages 16-54 with daily or every other day internet access; **ages18+; ***ages 16-64; data is for JanSource: eMarketer, Aug 2010

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The Blogosphere 4

Blog Writers

eMarketer estimates that there will be 26.2

million bloggers in the US by the end of 2010, or

11.9% of internet users.

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On a comparative basis,eMarketer’s estimates are in line with

2009 data from Trendstream/Lightspeed Research, BIGresearch,

Boston Consulting Group and Pew, all of which estimated blogging

rates ranging from 11% to 13%.

A Universal McCann study found US blogging rates at a far higher

33%,but the survey was limited to respondents ages 16 to 54 with

daily or every-other-day internet access.

Another study by Accenture noted that 39% of US adult internetusers wrote blogs or contributed to online references such as

Wikipedia in 2009,up more than 100% over the previous year.This

number would translate to more than 85 million people in the US

alonea high number even considering that contributions to

online encyclopedias were lumped in with blogging.For that

reason, this number is considered an outlier.

Considering the wide discrepancies among surveys of blog

reading rates,why is there relative convergence among blogger

numbers? The reason is that blog writing is an active and

unambiguous pursuit.A survey participant who is asked whether

he or she writes a blog is not likely to be confused by the question

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For additional information on this chart, see the Endnotes section.

illions and % of internet usersUS Bloggers, 2008-2014

2008

22.9(11.3%)

2009

24.0(11.3%)

2010

26.2(11.9%)

2011

28.1(12.3%)

2012

30.1(12.7%)

2013

31.6(13.0%)

2014

33.4(13.3%)

ote: internet users who update blogs at least monthly ource: eMarketer, Aug 2010

118543 www.eMarketer.com

% of internet users

Comparative Estimate: US Bloggers, 2008-2010

Accenture, Jan 2010 (1)Universal McCann, July 2009 (2)

Retail Advertising & MarketingAssociation (RAMA), Sep 2009 (3)

Trendstream and Lightspeed Research,Nov 2009 (4)

eMarketer, Aug 2010

Pew, Oct 2009 (5)

Boston Consulting Group, May 2010

PostRelease, Jan 2010 (6)

2008

18.0%26.0%

-

-

11.3%

11.0%

-

-

2009

39.0%33.0%

13.0%

12.8%

11.3%

11.0%

11.0%

5.7%

2010

--

-

-

11.9%

-

-

-

Note: (1) ages 18+; includes contributing to online references such asWikipedia; (2) ages 16-54 with daily or every other day internet access; (3)ages 18+, maintain own blog; (4) ages 16-64; write own blog; data is for June; (5) ages 18+; ever create/work on own online journal/blog; (6) ages18+; publish a blog 

Source: eMarketer, Aug 2010; various, as noted, 2009 & 2010118546 www.eMarketer.com

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The Blogosphere 5

Factors Driving Growth

eMarketer’s more modest growth forecast for blogging takes into

consideration several factors that affect blog creation both

favorably and unfavorably.

The key drivers behind the growth in US personal blogging rates

are the ease of use of personal blogging platforms and the

growing comfort level with blogs as a form of media.

There are plenty of hosting options from a variety of providers,such as free,do-it-yourself services for hobbyists and robust,

enterprise solutions designed to scale with the integrated digital

media output needs of large companies.These include blogging

pioneers such as Six Apart,newer but firmly established players

such as Automattic (parent company of WordPress.com), and

portals such as Google, Microsoft and MySpace.

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These off-the-shelf tools allow personal bloggers to quickly and

easily build their sites from scratch.The cost and ease-of-use

barriers to entry have become negligible.

Twitter is also a force in this industry,even though it does not offer a

conventional blogging platform.The company’s microblogging

service is both beneficial and detrimental to blogging.Some former

bloggers now rely on Twitter as their main conduit of expression,

but many use Twitter as a marketing vehicle for their blogs.

At the same time, the growing use of blogging by media

organizations and marketers has raised the comfort level with

blogs as a news source, as a means of interacting with companies,

and as a forum for customer reviews and opinions.These trends

have empowered people to use the blogosphere to reach the

widest possible audience.

In “Technorati State of the Blogosphere 2009,”author Matt

Sussman writes: “While blog postings often focus on the local

issues of the specific blogger,the audience of such blogs is much

less limited than other forms of media have been historically.An

internet-connected world has expanded the marketplace of ideas

available to any individual anywhere.”

Factors Limiting Growth

At the other end of the spectrum,many internet users who onceblogged are shifting to other social media channels.The top three

reasons people blog,according to a BlogHer-iVillage study, are for

self-expression, for fun and to connect with others. Those

activities are increasingly carried out on Facebook,Twitter and

other social venues, making blogs less essential to a person’s

online presence.

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Further,the Technorati Blogosphere report found that 26% of 

bloggers who use Twitter said the microblogging service had

caused them to reduce the amount of time they spent on their

traditional blogs. Users often employ Twitter as a teaser to drive

traffic to their blogs.But at the same time,Twitter can circumvent a

blog, particularly in situations where the user just wants to write a

short comment with a link to an outside source. Similarly, many

MySpace and Facebook users avail themselves of those networks

blogging services and blog-like features.

Adding to these trends,Cox Communications and Pew Internet &

American Life Project noted a significant decrease in the number

of teens who kept their own blogs.

Profile of Select Blog-Hosting Services, 2010

Blogger

Bloglines

Blogs.comFotolog

Friendster

LiveJournal

Movable Type

MySpace

Twitter

TypePad

Vox

Windows LiveSpaces

WordPress

Xanga

Parent company

Google

IAC/Interactive Corp.

Six ApartFotolog

Friendster

SUP

Six Apart

Fox Interactive Media

Twitter

Six Apart

Six Apart

Microsoft

Automattic

Xanga

Pricing

Free

Free

FreeFree; "Gold Camera" membershipstarts at $2.75 for 3 weeks

Free

Free and paid plans startingat $3 per month

Free and paid plans ranging from$395.95 per year (5 authors) to$995.95 per year (20 authors)

Free

Free

$8.95-$29.95 per month

Free

Free

Free and paid plans(custom pricing)

Free and paid plans rangingfrom $25-$45 per year

Source: company reports, 2010

119124 www.eMarketer.com

% of respondentsReasons that US Bloggers* Write Blogs, March 2010

Express myself 81.6%

For fun 80.6%

Connect with others like me 75.4%

Create personal record 68.2%

Give advice 50.9%

Earn money 31.6%

Persuade others20.2%

Note: n=912; *BlogHer site users only Source: BlogHer and iVillage, "2010 Social Media Matters Study"co-sponsored by Ketchum and The Nielsen Company, April 15, 2010

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The Blogosphere 6

In the Cox Communications studya joint project with the

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children19% of US

teen internet users reported blogging in 2010, down from 37% in

2006. Instant messaging also showed a decrease,but the

percentage with social networking profiles was up significantly.

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Pew reported that 14% of US internet users ages 12 to 17 blogged

in 2009,compared with 28% in 2006.The same study also noted

that fewer teens posted comments to their friends’ blogs in 2009

compared with previous years.

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Among 18- to 29-year-olds, the drop was only slightly less

pronounced, with 15% reporting blogging in 2009,compared with

24% in 2007.These findings were somewhat mitigated by an

increase in the number of bloggers ages 30 and up. However, teen

and young adult usage is a strong indicator of future trends,so the

balance of Pew’s data points to waning interest in blogging.

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% of respondents

Communication/Entertainment Activities of US TeenInternet Users, 2006 & 2010

Have personal e-mail address95%

93%

Have instant message screen name

84%

63%

Have mobile phone

63%

84%

Have social networking profile

61%

84%

Have blog

37%19%

Have game system

33%

45%

2006 2010

Note: 2010 n=1,032 ages 13-17Source: Cox Communications and the National Center for Missing &Exploited Children (NCMEC), "Teen Online Safety & Digital ReputationSurvey," June 14, 2010

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% of respondents in each groupUS Internet Users Who Blog, by Age, 2007 & 2009

18-29

24%

15%

30+

7%

11%

2007 2009

Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project, "Social Media and MobileInternet Use Among Teens andYoung Adults," February 3, 2010

111284 www.eMarketer.com

% of respondentsUS Teen Internet Users Who Blog, 2006 & 2009

2006 28%

2009 14%

Note: ages 12-17Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project, "Social Media and MobileInternet Use Among Teens andYoung Adults," February 3, 2010

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The Blogosphere 7

Blogging and the Social Web

In the early days of the medium,a blog was the

only available outlet for people or companies that

wanted to establish a feedback loop with their

target audiences.Today, blogging is one of a

variety of options businesses use to communicate

with customers, including social networking,

microblogging, photo- and video-sharing,and

customer reviews.

This expanded universe of options has encroached on personal

blogging.A study by USC Annenberg showed that 16% of social

media users relied on personal blogs in 2009,compared with 18%

in 2007.By contrast, the percentage of social media users who kept

profiles on Facebook more than doubled to 86% in 2009,from 41%

in 2007.This trend illustrates Facebook’s rise and self-sufficiency as

a blog-like platform.

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But the relationship between blogging and other social media can

also be symbiotic.The Retail Advertising and Marketing

Association (RAMA) noted that over 18% of adult social media

users reported using blogs, compared with 12% of average adults.

Although the survey did not specify whether respondents were

asked about reading,writing or commenting on blogs, the

underlying message is that social media users are more engaged

in a host of digital activities that include blogging.

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In a similar finding,the RAMA noted that 12% of social media

users were influenced by blogs to start an online search for a

product or service in 2009.Among average adults, the response

rate was only 8%.

% of respondents

Social Media Sites Used by US Social Media Users toKeep a Personal Blog or Profile, 2007-2009

MySpace

70%

69%

46%

Facebook

41%

56%

86%

Personal blog18%

17%

16%

hi5

2%

0%

1%

Other

23%

16%

12%

2007 2008 2009

Note: for self-publication, social networking or other purposesSource: USC Annenberg School Center for the Digital Future, "The DigitalFuture Project-Year Nine" as cited in press release, April 26, 2010

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% of respondents

New Media and Technologies Used by US SocialMedia Users vs. Average Adults, December 2009

Social mediausers

Averageadults

Mobile phone 74.9% 63.0%

Text messaging on mobile phone 51.9% 32.1%

TiVo/replay TV/DVR 33.8% 28.5%

Instant messaging online 31.2% 21.2%

iPod/MP3 player 29.5% 20.8%

Video gaming 26.8% 19.8%

Take picture/video on mobile phone 25.0% 16.1%

Watch video/TV online 23.2% 15.5%

Blogs 18.5% 12.3%

Satellite radio (XM-Sirius) 13.3% 11.8%

iPhone 12.4% 8.5%

Web radio 11.7% 8.4%

PDA 11.6% 8.4%

Watch video/TV on mobile phone 8.2% 5.2%

Note: ages 18+Source: Retail Advertising & Marketing Association (RAMA), "Social Media:An Inside Look at the People Who Use It" conducted by BIGresearch, March3, 2010

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The Blogosphere 8

Further, a study by BlogHer and iVillage found that active social

media users read,wrote and commented on blogs at rates far

beyond average internet users.The study defined social media

activity as using the BlogHer site, so the survey responses

understandably reflected a predilection for blogging activity.

Nevertheless, the study illustrates a strong connection between

blogging and other forms of social media.

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Blogging platform Typepad estimated that adding a Facebook

“like” widget to a blog sidebar resulted in a 50% increase in traffic

from Facebook to that blog.This was based on a test conducted in

the spring of 2010 with 1,500 Typepad blogs.Similarly,adding the

Facebook widget to blog post footers resulted in a 200% traffic

increase for 2,400 Typepad blogs tested.The Typepad report

noted:“There’s no denying that readership on Facebook can have

a powerful impact on a blog’s traffic with the right tools.”

Darren Rowse of ProBlogger.net, a leading proponent of usingsocial media to promote blogs, advocated using the blog as

“home base” and social media sites as “outposts.”

In September 2009, Rowse posted a video on ProBlogger.net that

described his approach, which he said was inspired by fellow

blogger Chris Brogan.“The idea is you build a home base for what

you do,and your home base is something you have complete

control over,” said Rowse.“Around the home base I interact in a

variety of other places… The activities that I’m doing on the

outposts are quite similar to what I do on the home base but

they’re there to reinforce and build the home base.”

For Rowse, the outposts are social media spaces including

Facebook,Twitter, LinkedIn,YouTube, digg and Friendfeed, all of 

which he uses to steer traffic to his home base at ProBlogger.net.

% of respondents

Online and Offline Activities Among Active* US Social

Media Users**, March 2010

Reading blogs

96%

Watching TV

88%

Listening to radio

86%

Facebook

82%

Commenting to blogs

69%

Writing blogs

68%

Reading message boards

68%

Reading print magazines

64%

Reading print newspapers

54%

Commenting to message boards

45%

Note: n=1,550; *use social media weekly or more; **BlogHer site usersonly Source: BlogHer and iVillage, "2010 Social Media Matters Study"co-sponsored by Ketchum and The Nielsen Company, April 15, 2010

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The Blogosphere 9

Conclusions

The rates of blog reading will rise appreciably over the next

several years. These increases will be driven by an ongoing

confluence between blogs and traditional media,as well as by the

growing use of blogs at the corporate level.Blogs are an increasingly

accepted part of the news and opinion loop in a broad variety of 

subject areas,notably politics, technology and celebrity culture.

The numbers of blog creators will also increase, albeitmore modestly. This growth will be spearheaded by the ease of 

use of blog hosting services and the widespread acceptance of 

blogs in the media mix.

Social media will also promote blogging by acting as a

traffic aggregator to blog sites. However, this will be a

double-edged sword, as social venues can also inhibit blogging by

providing users with powerful platforms of self-expression.

Endnotes

Endnote numbers correspond to the unique

six-digit identifier in the lower left corner

of each chart.The charts from the report are

repeated before their respective endnotes.

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Extended Note: eMarketer defines blog readers as internet

users who read blogs at least monthly.

Citation: Accenture,"Mobility Takes Center Stage:The 2010

Accenture Consumer Electronics Products and Services Usage

Report," January 5 ,2010;"Global Web Index" conducted by

Lightspeed Research,May 28, 2009;Retail Advertising & Marketing

Association (RAMA), "All About Moms," conducted by

BIGresearch, September 16,2009;Universal McCann, "Power to

the People: Social Media Tracker Wave 4," July 30, 2009

% of internet users

Comparative Estimate: US Blog Readers, 2008-2010

Universal McCann*, July 2009

Accenture**, Jan 2010

eMarketer, Aug 2010

Retail Advertising & Marketing Association(RAMA)**, Sep 2009

Lightspeed Research***, May 2009

2008

61.0%

33.0%

45.0%

-

-

2009

66.0%

60.0%

48.5%

46.1%

46.0%

2010

-

-

51.0%

-

-

Note: *ages 16-54 with daily or every other day internet access; **ages18+; ***ages 16-64; data is for JanSource: eMarketer, Aug 2010

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Extended Note: eMarketer defines bloggers as internet users

who update blogs at least monthly.

Citation: Accenture,"Mobility Takes Center Stage:The 2010

Accenture Consumer Electronics Products and Services Usage

Report," January 5 ,2010; Boston Consulting Group, "China's

Digital Generations 2.0," May 1, 2010;Pew Internet & American

Life Project,"Usage Over Time," October 30,2009;PostRelease

survey conducted by Synovate, provided to eMarketer, January 25,

2010;Retail Advertising & Marketing Association (RAMA),"All

About Moms," conducted by BIGresearch,September 16, 2009;

Trendstream and Lightspeed Research, "The Global Web Index

Wave 1," November 26,2009; Universal McCann,"Power to the

People:Social Media Tracker Wave 4," July 30, 2009

% of internet usersComparative Estimate: US Bloggers, 2008-2010

Accenture, Jan 2010 (1)

Universal McCann, July 2009 (2)

Retail Advertising & MarketingAssociation (RAMA), Sep 2009 (3)

Trendstream and Lightspeed Research,

Nov 2009 (4)eMarketer, Aug 2010

Pew, Oct 2009 (5)

Boston Consulting Group, May 2010

PostRelease, Jan 2010 (6)

2008

18.0%

26.0%

-

-

11.3%

11.0%

-

-

2009

39.0%

33.0%

13.0%

12.8%

11.3%

11.0%

11.0%

5.7%

2010

-

-

-

-

11.9%

-

-

-

Note: (1) ages 18+; includes contributing to online references such asWikipedia; (2) ages 16-54 with daily or every other day internet access; (3)ages 18+, maintain own blog; (4) ages 16-64; write own blog; data is for June; (5) ages 18+; ever create/work on own online journal/blog; (6) ages18+; publish a blog Source: eMarketer, Aug 2010; various, as noted, 2009 & 2010

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Related Information and Links

Related Links

ProBlogger.net

http://www.problogger.net

Technorati

http://www.technorati.com

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