The Pew Internet released a new study on blogging this week. The Pew report was written by Amanda Lenhart and Susannah Fox and it is an important data point because it provides some insight into the universe of the 12 million Americans (8% of adult Internet users) who write blogs and the 57 million (39% of adult Internet users) who read them, as opposed to the many studies that focus on the other segments such as corporate and business blogs and the A-list.

In fact, the title of the Pew Report is " A Portrait of the Internets' New Storytellers."

Also, in contrast to some recently released reports on blogging such as the Jupiter report on corporate blogging, the methodology was included with the Pew press release. Toby Bloomberg has been documenting this disappointing lack of substantiation from Jupiter.

The Pew report says that most bloggers blog about their personal experiences without concern for the size of their audience (about 50% ). Highlights of the report are:

"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.
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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."

Debbie Weil at BlogWrite for CEO's predicts that although the Pew report indicates that corporate blogs are a small part of the blogosphere, they will become a mainstream business communication strategy.

The Washington Post covered the Pew report in an article called, Portrait of a Blogger: Under 30 and Social. BL Ochman at What's Next Online Blog is quoted as noting that most bloggers do not have an audience beyond friends and family and that, " It astounds me that people are willing to do this stuff without getting paid," Ochman said. "I come from a generation that gets paid for our work."

BL responds on her blog that she was misquoted by the Washington Post and her full statement was, "the reason so many of us give away our ideas is that blogging is about much more than making money. Blogging is about connection, about being heard, and also about establishing and maintaining one's reputation as an expert in their field."

One thing is true for sure...we can all blog our opinions whether anyone reads them or not.

Tags: Pew Internet Blog Report, Blogs, Social Media, Washinton Post, Toby Bloomberg, Debbie Weil, Bl Ochman, Corporate Blogs, Media, Amanda Lenhart, Susannah Fox, Jupiter Research

Marianne Richmond also blogs at the Resonance Partnership Blog.

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