Pew Internet Project Reports on Bloggers

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 percent of adult Internet users and that the number of blog readers has jumped to 57 million American adults, or 39 percent of the online population.

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

• 54 percent of bloggers say that they have never published their writing or media creations anywhere else; 44 percent say they have published elsewhere.
• 54 percent of bloggers are under the age of 30.
• Women and men have statistical parity in the blogosphere, with women representing 46 percent of bloggers and men 54 percent.
• 76 percent of bloggers say a reason they blog is to document their personal experiences and share them with others.
• 64 percent of bloggers say a reason they blog is to share practical knowledge or skills with others.
• When asked to choose one main subject, 37 percent of bloggers say that the primary topic of their blog is "my life and experiences."
• Other topics ran distantly behind: 11 percent of bloggers focus on politics and government; 7 percent focus on entertainment; 6 percent focus on sports; 5 percent focus on general news and current events; 5 percent focus on business; 4 percent on technology; 2 percent 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 percent of all Internet users have done this. A whopping 77 percent of bloggers have shared something online that they created themselves, like their own artwork, photos, stories, or videos. By comparison, 26 percent 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."

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

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 percent of whom are bloggers.