Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Blogging: Mainstream or Niche?
ReadWriteWeb has an interesting analysis of the blogging market overview data recently issued by Technorati. Basically, they have a somewhat more subdued perspective about the state of blogging -- specifically with Technorati's assertion that blogging has become mainstream. Rather, they look at the info and see a decidedly niche set of participants.
One thing it is important to note is that we're talking about AUTHORING, not READING blogs. So people WHO BLOG.
RWW's POV is that the data show a very distinct set of author demographics -- demos that indicate that the appeal of blogging is niche. Here are the data they cite:
Another set of stats they cite indicates that the number of blogs created is declining slightly after years of explosive growth:
2006: 1.3 million blog posts per day
2007: 1.5 million blog posts per day
2008: 900,000 blog posts per day
Before you get all mopeyfaced, there is NOTHING surprising to this. I mean, there is always a point where growth slows, and 900,000 blogs a day is still a lot. Actually its a heckuvalot.
While RWW is less breathless on the topic than Technorati, they still feel the news about the state of blogging is very positive:
... The fact that publishing is opening up to millions more people around the world is a beautiful thing. The fact that many of them report being well-to-do and underemployed at the same time is something to take into consideration but not a repudiation of the medium. The fact that only 1.5 million blogs around the world are updated as often as once a week does indicate that none of this has really stuck with large numbers of people, however.
Reading blogs is becoming increasingly mainstream and the line between a blog and another kind of website is growing increasingly blurred. Writing full length blog posts even as regularly as once a week is hard, though. We expect that microblogging may become more popular than blogging, if it hasn't already! From updating your status message on Facebook or MySpace, to posting 140 word updates on lunch or politics on Twitter to offering truncated public religious testimonials on a site like Gospelr (Twitter for Christians) - there are a whole lot of people already microblogging, if you will.
And as we all know, UGC in the form of video is growing so rapidly; at some point all the multitasking in the world cannot get around the fact that there are only so many hours we are awake every day. Besides, we all have TPS reports to fill out too! ;-)
;-)
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.
Another set of stats they cite indicates that the number of blogs created is declining slightly after years of explosive growth:
2006: 1.3 million blog posts per day
2007: 1.5 million blog posts per day
2008: 900,000 blog posts per day
Before you get all mopeyfaced, there is NOTHING surprising to this. I mean, there is always a point where growth slows, and 900,000 blogs a day is still a lot. Actually its a heckuvalot.
While RWW is less breathless on the topic than Technorati, they still feel the news about the state of blogging is very positive:
... The fact that publishing is opening up to millions more people around the world is a beautiful thing. The fact that many of them report being well-to-do and underemployed at the same time is something to take into consideration but not a repudiation of the medium. The fact that only 1.5 million blogs around the world are updated as often as once a week does indicate that none of this has really stuck with large numbers of people, however.
Reading blogs is becoming increasingly mainstream and the line between a blog and another kind of website is growing increasingly blurred. Writing full length blog posts even as regularly as once a week is hard, though. We expect that microblogging may become more popular than blogging, if it hasn't already! From updating your status message on Facebook or MySpace, to posting 140 word updates on lunch or politics on Twitter to offering truncated public religious testimonials on a site like Gospelr (Twitter for Christians) - there are a whole lot of people already microblogging, if you will.
And as we all know, UGC in the form of video is growing so rapidly; at some point all the multitasking in the world cannot get around the fact that there are only so many hours we are awake every day. Besides, we all have TPS reports to fill out too! ;-)
;-)
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.
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