Blogging, Overhyped? That's Unpossible!
The British Market Research Bureau has completed a quarterly study of blogs in that country, and their findings should be humbling.
… there has been no significant change in the number of people who publish blogs, which remains at just 2% of UK internet users. Furthermore, only 10% - around 2.8 million people - of internet users view a weblog once a month or more.
"There has been disproportionate coverage of blogging, still only a minority ever read blogs and a tiny proportion publish them," said [Senior Associate Director Trevor] Vagg. "This suggests there is an over-hyping about how big the idea of people's journalism is through using technology like camera phones and weblogs."
Vagg points out one loophole - they might not be widely read by non-journalists, but because journalists read them, blogs end up having a wide influence on culture and public debate.
If you missed it, this would be a good time to read former Reason editor Matt Welch's excellent farewell to warblogging.
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Bloggers navel gazing? NOOOOOO!
A Simpson's reference? With a dry cool wit like that, it's no wonder nobody's reading.
Mr Vagg recognised that the relatively small number of bloggers potentially wielded a hugely disproportionate influence in setting trends and opinion-leading.
Just like, well,... like, um, journalists.
I look forward to other studies that confirm 99% of people do not use the words, "Bennifer", "Brangelina" or "Tomkat", and that because "The Sopranos" has a viewership of 13 million, that means approximately 275 million Americans don't give a shit that the new season has started.
Funny you should mention that. We just had our tomkat fixed -- now he's a soprano.
Oh, yeah? Well, I think the British Market Research Bureau is totally over-hyped.
SR - Amen!
Re: no boom in blogging - with 72 million myspace accounts, I find it a little hard to believe. Maybe their definition of "blog" is too restrictive?
Wow a mainstream organisation poo-poos blogs...what a shock! They have been doing that for quite a few years now. Funny any time people look at blogs they never seem to mention the big ones in the UK. The Guardian is very good at not mentioning the highest traffic UK blogs.
Great headline.
Ralph will always be near to my heart.