WHAT: Topics and Trends - Day 2 SOTB 2010 - Page 2

Over half of respondents plan on blogging more frequently in the future, and 43% plan on expanding the topics that they blog about. 39% of Corporate bloggers have plans to begin using their blog to get speaking opportunities.

Company Blogging While the majority of bloggers classify themselves as hobbyists, those who make money at blogging tend to do so on their own, and not in association with another organization. Over half of Self-Employed bloggers (57%) own their own company, and have a blog related to that business, while 31% of Part-Timers classify their blog as their company, and themselves as the owner.

Interview Liz Gumbinner Brooklyn, NY Mom101 Is The Blogosphere Oversaturated? "There is always room for great talent and voices in the blogosphere. It creates niches and more opportunities."

In contrast, over half of Professionals (52%) write for a blog that they do not own. While their motivations for blogging are slightly different than other bloggers', they, like the other segments, report significant benefits to blogging. Blogging seems to be positively impacting respondents' professional lives; among respondents who own their own company, 64% say they have greater visibility in their industry because of their blog and 58% say they have had prospective clients read their blog and purchase products or services.











Blogging Topics

Among Part-Time, Corporate, and Self-Employed bloggers, who are all paid for their blogging services, the most popular topics to blog about are technology and business. Among Hobbyist bloggers, who make up 64% of the total sample, the most popular topics to blog about are personal musings and technology. The diversity of the blogosphere, and the passion for sometimes very niche topics, is also reflected in this question—even given 23 choices, including most broad fields of inquiry, nearly half of respondents say that their primary subject is "Other."





Almost three quarters (74%) of all respondents describe their blogging style as "sincere," and 64% describe their style as conversational. 74% of Corporates and Self-Employeds describe their style as "expert," in comparison to 44% of Hobbyists. Additionally, Corporates were most likely to describe their blogging style as "journalistic."



Only 16% of respondents say that the economic downturn has changed the topics or themes that they blog about, although 30% of Corporates say it has. Among bloggers who have altered their topics due to the economic downturn, 46% say they blog about the economy much more, and 36% say they focus more on value. Among Corporates who have altered their content in reaction to the economic downturn, 45% say they've been blogging more about how our institutions are set up and work together.





2010 Trends: The Impact of Social Media on the Blogosphere

78% of bloggers surveyed are using Twitter, with even more Part-Timers (88%) and Corporates (88%) using the microblogging service. Those who use Twitter say they do so to promote their blog, bring interesting links to light, keep up with news and events, and understand what people are buzzing about. A majority of Self-Employed bloggers (63%) responded that they use Twitter to market their business.

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