Technorati.com is the world’s leading blog search engine, an engine that indexes more than 1.5 million blog posts in real time. TIME Magazine has written that “If Google is the Web’s reference library, Technorati is becoming its coffee house.”
Since 2004, Technorati has been studying the space of blogs and bloggers–called the blogosphere–and has tried to unearth blogging trends and themes. For the 2008 survey, Technorati’s team tried to dig deeper into blogging and its emerging role in society, asking bloggers about “the role of blogging in their lives, the tools, time, and resources used to produce their blogs, and how blogging has impacted them personally, professionally, and financially.”
Here are the summarized results of Technorati’s key findings. To view the entire study, click HERE.
How many bloggers?
>> A Universal-McCann study (2008) revealed:
- 184 million worldwide have started a blog | 26.4 US
- 346 million worldwide read blogs | 60.3 US
- 77% of active Internet users read blogs
"Not all blogs are created equal," says Technorati
Who are the bloggers?
Global Snapshot of Bloggers
| Demographics | U.S. Bloggers (N=550) |
European Bloggers (N=350) |
Asian Bloggers (N=173) |
| Male | 57% | 73% | 73% |
| Age | |||
| 18-34 years old | 42% | 48% | 73% |
| 35+ | 58% | 52% | 27% |
| Single | 26% | 31% | 57% |
| Employed full-time | 56% | 53% | 45% |
| Household income >$75,000 | 51% | 34% | 9% |
| College graduate | 74% | 67% | 69% |
| Average blogging tenure (months) | 35 | 33 | 30 |
| Median Annual Investment | $80 | $15 | $30 |
| Median Annual Revenue | $200 | $200 | $120 |
| % Blogs with advertising | 52% | 50% | 60% |
| Average Monthly Unique Visitors | 18,000 | 24,000 | 26,000 |
Segment Snapshot of Bloggers
| Demographics | Personal (N=1015) |
Corporate (N=156) |
Professional (N=590) |
With Advertising (N=695) |
No Advertising (N=595) |
| Male | 64% | 70% | 72% | 66% | 66% |
| Age | |||||
| 18-34 years old | 52% | 45% | 48% | 53% | 45% |
| 35+ | 48% | 55% | 52% | 47% | 55% |
| Single | 36% | 24% | 31% | 34% | 34% |
| Employed full-time | 52% | 51% | 55% | 49% | 56% |
| Household income>$75k | 37% | 49% | 42% | 40% | 37% |
| College graduate | 70% | 74% | 74% | 69% | 72% |
| Average blogging tenure (months) | 35 | 35 | 38 | 35 | 33 |
| Median Annual Investment | $100 | $200 | $150 | $100 | 0 |
| Median Annual Revenue | $120 | $250 | $300 | $200 | 0 |
| % Blogs with Advertising | 53% | 64% | 59% | 100% | 0% |
| Average Monthly Unique Visitors | 12,000 | 39,000 | 44,000 | 46,000 | 4,000 |
Global Bloggers by Gender
| Demographics | Female (N=438) |
Male (N=852) |
| Personal Blog | 83% | 76% |
| Professional Blog | 38% | 50% |
| Age | ||
| 18-24 years old | 9% | 15% |
| 25+ | 91% | 85% |
| Single | 29% | 36% |
| Employed full-time | 44% | 56% |
| Median Annual Investment | $30 | $60 |
| Median Annual Revenue | $100 | $200 |
| % Blogs with advertising | 53% | 54% |
| Sell Through a Blog ad Network* | 16% | 7% |
| Have Affiliate ads* | 41% | 32% |
| Have Contextual ads* | 61% | 73% |
Blogging in Graphs
Technorati says…
“Bloggers are not a homogenous group, but they are an educated and affluent one: three out of four U.S. bloggers are college graduates, and 42% have attended graduate school. They skew male, and more than half have a household income over $75,000.
“They are experienced: although it has only recently exploded into the mainstream, blogging is not a new phenomenon. Half of bloggers are on their second blog, and 59% have been blogging for more than two years.”
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*Tomorrow, more summarized updates from Technorati’s State of the Blogosphere 2008!
