Day 1: Who Are The Bloggers? SOTB 2009 - Page 3

Large or small, professional or casual, nearly half of active blogs have some authority. In looking at the just over five million blogs tracked by Technorati who posted in June, 45% have a Technorati Authority number of 1 or more, meaning they can truly claim their place in the active blogosphere.

Bloggers and Traditional Media

As the concepts of blogging and mainstream media continue to converge, it’s not surprising that there is quite a bit of overlap between the two entities. Despite being perceived by some as enemies of the traditional media, bloggers actually carry a journalistic pedigree. 35 percent of all respondents have worked within the traditional media as a writer, reporter, producer, or on-air personality.

By way of contrast, consider that less than 1% of the US labor force was employed as a journalist in 2006. Monthly magazines and daily newspapers are the best-represented types of media outlets among those bloggers who have worked in the traditional media, with radio a strong third.

And the true overlap reveals itself in the 27 percent of respondents who both blog and work in traditional media. Despite “the sky is falling” rhetoric, respondents do not regard the rise of online media and blogging as the death knell for newspapers or other traditional media. Bloggers do agree their medium is ascendant and 69% agree that blogs are getting taken more seriously as information sources. At the same time, only 35% of this audience gets its news and information from blogs more than from other media sources now, and only 31% believe that newspapers will not be able to survive in the next ten years.

The media picture is therefore muddled: bloggers know they are picking up steam but seem reluctant to claim media hegemony. Maybe it’s because so many used to be traditional journalists...



Media Habits of Bloggers

Television, blogs and social media were the top three media consumed – though the actions necessary for the creation of social media, such as sharing searches (2.58 hours per week among all) or videos (1.69 hours per week among all) are not themselves as popular as passive readership. Respondents also report spending a significant amount of time per week reading physical newspapers – but only 2/3 the amount of time they spend reading newspapers online.

Among media activities, social media is preeminent on mobile devices, though reading blogs is a strong second. Given that podcasts grew up specifically around mobile devices and that Internet radio has recently been optimized for performance in the mobile space, bloggers report devoting surprisingly little time to them on the go.

That pretty much describes the bloggers. Going into further detail, please read Day 2 of the State of the Blogosphere report, discussing the "what and why" of blogging, tomorrow.

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