Who are we?

Findings from this study:

* An estimated 12 million Americans blog (almost half of them female) and 57 million read those blogs.

* Globally, at least 50 million people blog; the top language is Japanese (37%) with English second (31%).

* Some 37 percent blog about their "life and experiences," and 52 percent said the major reason they blog is to express themselves creatively.

* Only 11 percent of bloggers discuss politics.

* Only 34 percent consider their blog to be journalism.

* More than half write under a pseudonym.

* Only 7 percent are blogging to try and make money. (Which is good, because even if you run ads on your site, you don't make anything at all unless people click on them!)

The complete study can be found at www.pewinternet.org.

Blog study

Do you ever use the Internet to create a Web log, or blog, that others can read on the Web?

Number (in millions) and percentage of those surveyed who answered "yes"

(millions)
June 26- July 26, '02: 3.4 (3%)
May '03: 4.5 (4%)
Feb. '04: 6.0 (5%)
Nov. '04 8.0 (7%)
Jan. '05 11.7 (10%)
Feb. '05 11.1 (9%)
May '05 10.0 (7%)
Sept. '05 13.0 (9%)
Nov.-Dec. '05* 12.0 (8%)
Feb.-April '06* 12.0 (8%)

* Slightly different question wording: Do you ever create or work on
your own online journal or weblog?


CHART (2):

Bloggers by the millions

Number of American adults who use the Internet: 147 million
Number of American adults who read blogs: 57 million
Number of American adults who keep a blog: 12 million


CHART (3):

A comparison of all American adults and bloggers

Bloggers who are knowledge-based professional workers: 38%
Bloggers who are students, either full- or part-time: 38%
Bloggers with a college degree: 37%
American adults with a college degree: 27%
American adults who are students, either full- or part-time: 16%
American adults who are knowledge-based professional workers: 13%

Source: Pew Internet and American Life Project Surveys. Education data for
all Americans is from February-April 2006; margin of error is plus or minus 2
percentage points. Employment data for all Americans is from February-March
2004; margin of error is plus or minus 2 percentage points. Blogger data is
from the Blogger Callback Survey, July 2005-February 2006; margin of error is
plus or minus 7 percentage points.


CHART (4):

More blog to share experiences than to earn money

Please tell me if this is a reason you personally blog, or not:


Major Minor Not a
reason reason reason
To express yourself creatively 52% 25% 23%
To document your personal experiences or 50 26 24
share them with others
To stay in touch with friends and family 37 22 40
To share practical knowledge 34 30 35
or skills with others
To motivate other people to action 29 32 38
To entertain people 28 33 39
To store resources or information 28 21 52
that is important to you
To influence the way other people think 27 24 49
To network or to meet new people 16 34 50
To make money 7 8 85

Pew Internet & American Life Project Blogger Callback Survey, July
2005-February 2006. N=233. Margin of error is plus or minus 7 percentage
points.

Source: Pew Internet and American Life Project