BlogSweden 4

BlogSweden 4A survey of Swedish bloggers

and blog readers

Hans Kullin, May 2009http://www.kullin.net

Summary

A total of 1,500 blog readers responded to an online survey in February 2009. Out of these respondents, 1,065 had at least one blog and the results of their responses are included in this presentation. The typical Swedish blogger in the survey is: •female•16-20 years old•reads 6-10 blogs daily•spends 6-10 hours per week reading blogs•often read blogs in the evening (6PM to 12 PM)•likes to read blogs about everyday life experiences•reads blogs to be entertained•has clicked on an ad on a blog•is a member of one or more social networks in order to stay in touch with friends•has during the last 12 months shared a negative AND a positive experience online about a company, product or service •does not publish on a mirco blog

• does not think that social media such as blogs, micro blogs and social networks will influence what party she will vote for in the next election

• blogs because she likes to write• updates her blog every day• does not mind being contacted by businesses in her

role as a blogger• is not anonymous• does not have ads on her blog of which she gets part

of the revenue

Changes compared to the 2008 survey: • spends more time reading blogs and reads more blogs • has become even more positive towards being

contacted by businesses

Hans Kullin, May 2009

Introduction – two monologues do not equal dialogue

Somewhat simplified - up until a couple of years ago the media landscape was still formed in a way so that most communication went from businesses or organizations to the receivers (consumers). Feedback of course existed but was limited . With the growth of social media, consumers have gotten their own publishing platform on which they can express views about brands and share information with others. But the answers in this survey do not describe a situation where real dialogue occurs, rather a landscape where two groups of senders are talking past each other. When bloggers publish negative views about brands, they rarely get any response from companies. The real dialogue instead appears between consumers. To improve dialogue, businesses need to implement strategies for when and how to respond to social media comments.


Sex

More women than men are active in the Swedish blogosphere. Four out of five bloggers in the survey are female. In the first survey from 2005, male bloggers outnumbered female bloggers (60.7%) but the share of bloggers that are female has risen steadily (this year up to 82.2% from 76.2% in 2008). This view is confirmed by research by WII:

”Especially women up to the age of 25 use blogs and the younger the more common it is. Female bloggers in this age group are twice as common as male bloggers.” – Svenskarna och internet, 2008 (WII)


Age

In the first BlogSweden survey from 2005, almost half of the bloggers were aged 26 to 35 years. This year, just like in 2008, it is the 16-20 year olds that by far is the largest age group.


How many blogs do you read per day on average?

Bloggers read more blogs and the ”super users” that read 26 or more blogs per day on average has grown from 9.4% to 14.9%.


How many hours per week do you spend reading blogs on average?

Bloggers also spend more time reading other blogs. A majority, or 53.1% (up from 34.7%) of bloggers in the survey spend 5 hours or more per week reading blogs.


At what times during the day do you normally read blogs?

Most of the blog reading takes place in the afternoon or during the evening. Nordicom concluded in its internet barometer that online usage has increased during the evening (between 5PM and 10PM), especially among young people. But blogs can also serve as a news source in direct competition with traditional media such as the morning paper. Among the respondents that said they read blogs about politics and society, as many as 30.5% read blogs in the morning and 36.8% before noon.


http://www.nordicom.gu.se/common/publ_pdf/266_internetbarometer_2007.pdf

What types of blogs do you usually read?

Blogs about every day life experiences continues to be the most popular topic to read about, followed by fashion & design and photo & art. Many respondents say they mostly read friends blogs. Female bloggers read:- Fashion and design 60.0%- Every day life experiences 58.2%- Phot and art 48.6%Male bloggers read:- IT and blogging 63.7%- Journalism and media 56.8%- Politics and society 50.0%


Why do you read blogs?

The most common reason to read blogs is for entertainment. But blogs also fill several social needs and serves as a way to manage both old and new relations to other people. Blog readers say they read blogs to get a glance of the lives of friends and people they don’t know. On top of that, blogs also serve as a complement to traditional news media with their additional views on the public debate.


How much time will you spend on blogs and social networks the next 12 months?

Even though the respondents spend more time reading blogs, as many as one in four bloggers say that they will spend slightly or much more time on blogs and social networks the next 12 months.


Have you ever clicked on an ad on a blog?

A majority, or 54.2% (up from 45.7%), of bloggers say that they have ever clicked on an advert on a blog.


Have you ever bought a product or a service because of recommendations you read on a blog?

Blogs can influence purchase decisions. More than one in three bloggers, or 37.9% (up from 35.2%), say that they have bought a product or a service thanks to recommendations on a blog. Among blog readers who read blogs about PR and advertising the share is even higher, 56.3%.

” Nielsen has conducted some studies that show a correlation between online buzz and sales of products.” - Emanuel Rosen, The Anatomy of Buzz Revisited, p. 50


Have you ever refrained from buying a product or a service because of information you read on

a blog?

As many as 38.5% (up from 34.6%) of the bloggers say that they at least once have decided not to buy a product or service because of views posted on blogs. Companies should take note about this since blog posts often rank high in a Google search for a product name, which means that bloggers may influence the image of the brand.


Have you ever, as an effect of what you read on a blog, called or emailed others, signed a petition, sent letters to the media, or joined an organisation,

in order to influence a company or a politician on an important topic?

Information on blogs can also activate people to try to influence political decisions or other important topics. One in three blogers, or 36.8% (up from 32.5%), has done that.Blog readers that read blogs about politics and society are more likely to act on information on blogs: 70.4%.


Have you done one of the following during the last 12 months?

More than half of the bloggers have published a negative opinon about a product, service or a company. It is even more common to publish positive opinions, almost two in three bloggers have done so in the last 12 months.


If you shared a negative opinion online, were you ever contacted by the company in question afterwords?

Considering the influence blogs can have on consumer purchase decisions, it is remarkable that so few bloggers have gotten a response from the company they criticized. Businesses may feel insecure about how to behave when they read negative opinions about their brands on blogs. To minimize this uncertainty, businesses should introduce policies for how and when they should respond.


When you form an opinion about a company, how trustworthy are the following as spokesperson for the

company?

Recommendations from friends and family is still seen as the most trusted source of information about a company. This year, a blogger is seen as more trustworthy than the company CEO.

• In the table, a value below 2 means that a majority of the respondents find the source to be somewhat or not trustworthy.

• A value above 2 means that a majority finds the source to be quite or very trustworthy.


Why are you a member of one or more social networks?

Members of social networks participate for reasons that relate to social interaction. Social networks make it simple to keep in touch with friends and to find new contacts. These sites are also used for entertainment , for passing the time and to share information. Worth noting is that all alternatives get a higher value than in 2008, which may indicate that members find more and more value from participating in social networks.


Do you write on any of the following micro blogs?

Micro blogs such as Bloggy and Twitter are still not used to a large extent by bloggers. Eight in ten bloggers do not use micro blogs. The percentage is much higher among the blog readers who read blogs about politics and society (41.4% Twitter, 24.1% Bloggy, 17.7% Jaiku and 12.8% Nanoblogg ) and those who read blogs about PR and advertising (57.9% use Twitter).


I think that social media such as blogs, micro blogs and social networks will affect what party I will vote for in

the next election.

Political parties are engaging in social media, probably with the hope of influencing the opinion in the next Swedish election 2010. Most bloggers do not think that social media will affect what party they will vote for, although male bloggers are more likely to be influenced by social media than female bloggers.This does not necessarily mean that social media will not influence the next election, because respondents may be unwilling to admit that their views can be influenced.


Why did you start a blog?

The most common reason to start a blog i still becasue it is fun to write (85.0% compared to 88.5% in 2008), but the social interaction is also important. Examples of comments: :

”To get response and opinions from people I

don’t know.””To share my thoughts and

photos””To spread knowledge

about a chronic disease””To save memories”

”To clear my thoughts””Easier than a homepage”

”To be seen”


How often do you update your blog?

Almost two out of three bloggers update their blogs at least once a day (64.2% compared to 66.5% last year). Female bloggers update their blogs more often than male bloggers – 68.5% compared to 44.3% update at least once a day.


I don't mind if companies contact me in my role as a blogger.

Bloggers are still very positive towards being contacted by companies. The average score has increased to 3.71 from 3.43 in 2008 and 3.09 in 2006 (between 1 and 5, where 5 is ”strongly agree”).Bloggers that read about fashion and design are even more positive to be contacted by companies (3.93).

Bloggers

Readers of fashion blogs


In what ways do you prefer that companies contact you in your role as a blogger?

Personal email is the way that most bloggers prefer that companies or organizations use to contact them (85.8%, up from 76,5%). Comments on the blog is the second most popular way (45.7%, up from 41.3%). Press releases are not as popular among bloggers.


Are you anonymous when you blog?

Bloggers are to an increasing extent not anonymous (62,8%). Last year the share was 54.4% and in 2006 the share was 49.9%.


Do you have ads on your blog from which you get part of the revenue?

Only one in ten bloggers have ads on their blog, from which they get to keep part of the revenue. That is a slight increase from 9.1% in 2008. The low percentage that have ads echoes the finding that most people don’t start blogs to make money.


How much money have you earned from blog ads during the last 12 months (in kronor)?

The bloggers that do have ads are still not making a lot of money. But the percentage that earned more than 1,000 kronor during the last 12 months has increased to 21.5% from 17.3% in 2008.


About the survey

BlogSweden 4 is the fourth annual survey of Swedish bloggers and blog readers. The survey was performed on SurveyMonkey.com between February 8 and 9, 2009 with a total of 1,500 respondents, out of which 1,065 had at least one blog. Respondents were chosen by convenience sampling which means that the results of the survey is not statistically valid for all Swedish bloggers, but only for the respondents of the survey. That also means that comparisons between this survey and previous surveys cannot be made with statistical certainty. However, the results may serve as an indicator of what bloggers think and can be used as a starting point for further research. BlogSweden 1 was performed in May 2005, BlogSweden 2 in July 2006 and BlogSweden 3 in Januariy2008.

Published under Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial Share Alike License 3.0.

About Hans Kullin

PR consultant and Nordic practice leader for Digital PR at Burson-Marsteller. Has been blogging at Media Culpa (http://www.kullin.net) since February 2004 and is the only Swedish PR blog on Advertising Age’s list of the world’s most influential media and marketing blogs: http://adage.com/power150/

Mobile: +46 70-291 78 22, E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected].

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kullin , Jaiku: http://kullin.jaiku.com

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BlogSweden 4

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