Chips Off The Blog.

I dislike housework intensely, but sometimes I have to do it. This morning, I was intrigued by the statistics for readership of this blog. I can see each day from where people tap into the rich vein of my writing. In broad terms, most of the readers are from North America (the USA supplies over 30%, mainly from the east and central USA), and Barbados makes up 20%. But I have readership stretching around the globe, in Europe (especially the UK), into Africa, through the Middle East, Asia and into Australia. If I look at precise locations, I can see Qatar and Israel, which are intriguing, and Mumbai, Karlskrona (Sweden).

I'm shocked that the site manages to get about 3200 visitors a month, not unique necessarily, and they include me, but I am not boosting my own stats.

But I am very small pototoes and curiosity killed the cat. I had to dig deeper.

Technocrati reports regularly on 'the state of the blogsphere', and note that around 16 million blogs exist (it could now be closer to 20 million) [see latest report for 2008]. Taking a few of the statistics and comparisons they highlight:

Most bloggers are male and age under 35 (oops, I'm out of my age bracket big time, but I am young at heart). Most blogs are personal (I fit). Most bloggers are fully employed (not just blogging) and highly educated (well, of course). Most bloggers, by a large margin, are NOT single (do relationships drive people to blog?). Anyway, over your coffee or wine or late afternoon aperatif, you can look at the snapshot a bit more.

comScore MediaMetrix (August 2008)

• Blogs: 77.7 million unique visitors in the US
• Facebook: 41.0 million | MySpace 75.1 million
• Total internet audience 188.9 million

eMarketer (May 2008)

• 94.1 million US blog readers in 2007 (50% of Internet users)
• 22.6 million US bloggers in 2007 (12%)

Universal McCann (March 2008)

• 184 million have started a blog | 26.4 US
• 346 million read blogs | 60.3 US
• 77% of active Internet users read blogs

All Blogs Are Not Created Equal

• Take a quick journey into the size of the Blogosphere

  

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%

* Among those with advertising on their blogs

The numbers vary but agree that blogs are here to stay, but they are being challenged by the opportunities to post stories in social networking sites (such as 'Notes' in Facebook), which I have regarded as backdoor blogging and if we were unionized would be the reason for a work-to-rule or wild cat strike. Our mantra could be, "Don't let Facebook hog the blog." Try it.

So, sorry to have started you off with a little brain exercise this morning, but after a great night's partying and a buzz still in my body, why should you get off free?