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Pew Internet & American Life Project
A Blogger Portrait
The Internet Has Empowered a New Class of Commentators Eager to Share Personal - Much More Than Political - Views
by Amanda Lenhart and Susannah Fox
Pew Internet & American Life Project Report
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. Blogs, the survey finds, are as individual as the people who keep them. However, most bloggers are primarily interested in creative, personal expression - documenting individual experiences, sharing practical knowledge, or just keeping in touch with friends and family.
Related surveys by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that the blog population has grown to about 12 million American adults, or 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. To date, much of the public and press attention to bloggers has focused on the small number of high-traffic, A-list bloggers. By asking a wide range of bloggers what they do and why they do it, the survey found a different kind of story about the power of the internet to encourage creativity and community among all kinds of internet users.
Some key findings.
- 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% on entertainment; 6% on sports; 5% on general news and current events; 5% on business; 4% on technology; 2% on religion, spirituality or faith. Additional smaller groups focus on a specific hobby, a health problem or illness, or other topics.
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 - 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, such as their own artwork, photos, stories, or videos. By comparison, 26% of internet users have done this.