On Blogging

The PEW Internet & American Life Project is a non-profit organization which "produces reports that explore the impact of the Internet on families, communities, work and home, daily life, education, health care, and civic and political life." It's a great source of trends and statistics on how the internet impacts American life.

Previously, PEW/Internet has documented that American's blog population has grown to about 12 million American adults (about 8% of adult internet users) and that the number of blog readers has jumped to 57 million American adults (39% of the online population).

Today, PEW/Internet released a new report on weblogs called Bloggers: A Portrait of the Internet's New Storytellers. Among its findings are these:

• 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% focus on entertainment; 6% focus on sports; 5% focus on general news and current events; 5% focus on business; 4% on technology; 2% 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's conclusion? "The ease and appeal of blogging is inspiring a new group of writers and creators to share their voices with the world."

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Further resources on blogging:

• How to Write a Better Weblog
• About.com's list of Web Logs Basics
  
• Weblogs in the Classroom