TWS2009 - WHO are the bloggers?

Background

• Technorati has been publishing our State of the Blogosphere study since 2004

• This year we went beyond size, geography and technological trends

• We surveyed Technorati’s registered user base to understand:– Role of blogging in their lives– Tools, time, resources used for their blog– How blogging has impacted them personally, professionally and

financially• Survey fielded in July 2008, and received 1290 responses

WHO ARE THE BLOGGERS?State of the Blogosphere

Who are the bloggers?

Male66%

Fe-male34%

Gender

Less than $20,000

$20,000 - $49,999

$50,000 - $74,999

$75,000 - $99,999

$100,000 - $150,000

More than $150,000

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

15%

22%

13%

10%

13%

8%

Household Income

What is your gender? n=1,290

What is your marital status? n=1,290

Are you a parent? n=1,290

What are the ages of the children who live at home with you? n=1,290

In which group does your household income fall, before taxes? n=1,032

• Two-thirds of bloggers are male

• Two thirds-of bloggers are 25-44, and one in four are 45+

• 44% of bloggers are parents; among them, half have one or more children under the age of five

• Bloggers are a highly-educated group

– 70% have college degrees

18-24 yrs13%

25-34 yrs36%

35-44 yrs27%

45-54 yrs15%

55+8%

Age

U.S. bloggers are more educated and affluent than the general Internet population

Demographics BloggersGeneral internet

population*

Male 57% 50%Age

18-24 years old 8 1525-34 years old 34 1935-49 years old 37 4750+ 11 22

Single 26 19Employed full-time 56 47Self-employed 20 8Household income >$75,000 50 43College graduate 74 56Some graduate school 42 20

Source: ComScore Plan Metrix, July 2008

Blogging is a truly global phenomenon• Bloggers responded from all six continents, live in 66 different countries and

publish their blogs in 20 languages – 43% of blogger respondents live in the U.S.– 72% publish their blog in English (survey was only provided in English)

What country do you live in? n=1,290

In what language do you publish your blog n=1,290

Europe27%

Asia13%

North America48%

South America7%

Australia3%

Africa0%

Geographic Distribution of Bloggers, by Continent

PERSONAL BLOGGERS

(79% of total)

PROFESSIONAL

BLOGGERS

(46% of total)

Bloggers self-identified as Personal, Professional, or Corporate bloggers

CORPORATE

BLOGGERS

(12% of total)

CORPORATE: blog for your company in an official capacity

PERSONAL: blog about topics of personal interest not associated with

your work

PROFESSIONAL: blog about your industry and profession but not in an

official capacity for your company

There is overlap between the segments

Corporate bloggers:

• 69% are also personal bloggers

• 65% are professional bloggers

Professional bloggers:

• 59% are also personal bloggers

• 17% are corporate bloggers

Personal Bloggers do it for Fun … But Wouldn’t Mind the Cash• More than 4 in 10 personal bloggers hope to make money on their blog some day.• One in five are already making money on their blogs

My blog is my primary source of income

I consider blogging to be my full-time job

My blog is a source of supplemental income for me

Right now I blog for fun. I would like to make money on my blog some day

I blog for fun. I do not make any money on my blog

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

2%

4%

15%

42%

54%

Why I blog

Which best describes your involvement with blogging? n=646. BASE: [Is your blog personal, professional, or corporate?: Personal (blog about topics of personal interest not associated with

your work)

PERSONAL

Some expected truths:

• More likely to be personal bloggers (83% vs 76% of men)

• Blogging topics are also more likely to be personal: Personal musings (66% vs. 47%), Family updates (36% vs. 16%)

• Women blog to stay connected and make connections. Why they blog:

- To keep friends and family updated (45% vs. 25% of men)

- To meet and connect with like minded people (69% vs. 58% of men)

• Their blogging style more likely to be conversational (75% vs. 59% of men)

FEMALE

Blogger Highlights

34% of blogger population

Only 9% of female bloggers are 18-24 (vs. 15%

male)

And less expected truths:

• Female blogers are more sophisticated about advertising:

- Twice as likely to sell through an ad network (16% vs. 7%)

- And more likely to have affliate links (41% vs. 32%)

• They are also savvy about driving traffic to their blogs

- More likely than male bloggers to participate in a blogroll link to other blogs, get listed on a blog directory, produce content for other blogs

• 36% have converted business leads from their blogs (vs 27% of men)

THE WHAT AND WHY OF BLOGGINGState of the Blogosphere

Blogging topics are diverse

CelebrityGamingSportsHealth

Religion/spiritualityScience

TelevisionFamily updates

BusinessTravelFilm

MusicComputers

PoliticsNewsOther

TechnologyPersonal musings

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

13%13%

16%18%

19%22%

23%23%

27%28%

30%31%

34%35%

42%43%

46%54%

Blog Topics

What topics do you blog about? n=1,290

• News and business topics are as prevalent as personal topics

“Other” blog topics include: 2008 election, alternative energy, art,

beauty, blogging, comics, communication, cooking/food, crafts,

design, environment, internet/Web 2.0, Jamaica, LGBT,

media/journalism

Self expression tops the reasons for blogging

To attract new clients to my offline business

To enhance my resume

To make money or supplement my income

To get published or featured in traditional media

To keep friends and family updated on my life

To meet and connect with like minded people

To share my expertise and experiences with others

In order to speak my mind on areas of interest

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%

14%

21%

24%

26%

32%

62%

73%

79%

Why do you blog?

Please tell us why you blog. n=1,290

• Career advancement or monetary reasons are cited by one in four bloggers as motivations for blogging

One in three bloggers are concerned about blog readers learning their identity• Of those concerned about exposing their identity, primary concerns

surround the impact on family and friends

Very important12%

Somewhat

impor-tant20%

Not that important24%

Not impor-tant at

all44%

Other

My employer might disapprove of my blogging while at work

My employer might disapprove of my views

I am concerned about friends/family disapproving of my blog content

I am concerned that my family and friends not be exposed or harassed

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

36%

17%

22%

22%

44%

Why are you concerned about exposing your identity on your blog?

How important is it to you to conceal your real identity on your

blog?

Blogging also has opened up unique opportunities for them

Broadcast media appearance

Speaker or panelist at industry event

Print media contributor

Reviewer or endorser

Blogger roundtable

Interest group event

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%

17%

19%

20%

21%

24%

27%

Have you been invited to any of the following as a result of your blog?

Have you been invited to any of the following as a result of your blog? n=1,290

International bloggers are similar to early U.S. bloggers:

• Male (73% vs. 57% of U.S. bloggers)

• Younger

- 17% are 18-24 (vs. 8% of U.S. bloggers

- Only 10% are over 50 (vs. 21% of bloggers

• Concerned about privacy

- 36% don’t want people to know their identity (vs. 26% in the U.S.)

- Of those, main concern is around family harassment (49% vs. 34)

INTERNATIONAL

Blogger Highlights

57% of blogger population

Majority from Europe & Asia

Half are published in English

In some ways less sophisticated:

• Less savvy about driving traffic to their blog

• Less likely to participate in Web 2.0 activities

- 17% are 18-24 (vs. 8% of U.S. bloggers

- Only 10% are over 50 (vs. 21% of bloggers)

In other ways more savvy:

• Twice as likely to include paid postings (8% vs. 4% for U.S.)

• More likely to get offered free products

- electronics (26% vs. 14% for U.S. bloggers)

- computers (30% vs. 11% for U.S. bloggers)

One in four bloggers spend more than 10 hours per week on their blog

On average, how much time do you spend blogging each week? n=1,290

< 1 hour 1 -3 hours 3 - 5 hours 5 - 10 hours 10 - 20 hours 20+ hours0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

15%

19%21% 21%

12% 12%

Time spend blogging each week

• Only 15% spend less than one hour per week on their blog

Half update their blog daily

On average, how frequently do you update your blog? n=1,290

• Bloggers post an average of 38 entries per month

• 42% of bloggers report that they blog more frequently than when they started

- 23% blog less frequently

Several times each day

Daily 2-3 times per week At least once per week

Once every few weeks

Once a month or less

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

14%

32%30%

14%

7%

2%

Frequency of updating blog

Median investment in blogs is minimal

• However, select bloggers invest $100k annually• Corporate bloggers have highest investment

How many dollars have you invested in your blog over the past year?

Dollars invested in blog over past year

MEAN $ invested

MEDIAN $ invested

MAXIMUM $ invested

ALL bloggers (n=1,290) $1,018 $50 $200,000

U.S. bloggers (n=557) 635 80 75,000

Non-U.S. bloggers (n=733) 1,348 30 200,000

Corporate bloggers (n=156) 4,795 200 200,000

Bloggers with advertising (n=695)

1,822 100 200,000

Bloggers without advertising (n=595)

95 0 5,000

How many dollars have you invested in your blog over the past year? n=1,290

Bloggers are savvy (and resourceful) in generating traffic

Pay for online advertising

Produce content for other blogs or websites

Get listed on a blog directory

Participate in a blogroll

Link to other blogs and hope for reciprocity

Tag your blog posts

List your blog on Google

Comment on other blogs

List your blog on Technorati

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%

4%

24%

52%

54%

64%

68%

73%

77%

83%

How bloggers attract visitors

Which of the following activities do you participate in to attract visitors to your blog? n=1,290

How many links do you have from other sites to your blog? How many links do you have from your blog to other sites? n=1,290

• Median Links from blog to other web sites: 29 (mean=3,405)

• Median links from other web sites to blog: 30 (mean=4,816)

And they are sophisticated with the use of tools

Mobile updating tools

Photoblog capabilities

Twitter or any real-time updating apps

Ability for multiple authors to contribute

Photo hosting site

Video hosting site

TrackBack implementation

Ability to assign entry to mult categories

Widgets

Search box

Built-in syndication

Archiving posts by date or category

Commenting system

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%

17%

29%

31%

33%

45%

49%

51%

63%

66%

70%

82%

84%

85%

Tools used on Blog

Which of the following tools do you use with your blog? n=1,290

Personal satisfaction is key success metric for 3 in 4 bloggers

Number and quality of new business leads

Revenue

Number of people who are "favoriting" you

Accolades from other media

Your Technorati authority and/or rank number

Number of RSS subscribers

Number of links to my blog from other sites

Number of unique visitors

Number of posts or comments on my blog

Personal satisfaction

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

10%

16%

18%

22%

33%

39%

46%

53%

58%

75%

How do you measure the success of your blog?

• However, bloggers also track a variety of quantitative metrics to measure their success

BLOGGING FOR PROFITState of the Blogosphere

The majority of bloggers have some advertising on their site• Professional and corporate bloggers have more search ads, display ads, and affiliate

marketing on their sites

I don't have any advertising on my site

Rich media ads

Being a spokesblogger

Paid postings

Affiliate marketing links on your site

Display ads

Search ads

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%

46%

4%

5%

6%

20%

28%

38%

Do you have advertising on your site, or receive cash or products through the following means?

Do you have advertising on your site, or receive cash or products through the following means? n=1,290

Among those with advertising, two-thirds use AdSense or other contextual ads

I have a dedicated sales force that sells ads on my blog

I sell my ad inventory through an online ad network

I get paid to post reviews of products on my blog

I sell my ad inventory through a blog ad network

I have a link on the site for interested advertisers and negotiate with them directly

I have affiliate advertising links on my site and get paid for purchases generated from my visitors

I use self serve tools to offer contextual ads or pay per click ads on my blog

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

6%

8%

8%

10%

19%

35%

69%

How they Manage Advertising on their Blog

How do you manage advertising on your blog? n=610

• 1 in 5 negotiate with advertisers directly

• Minority sell through an ad network or have a sales person

Average annual blogger revenue is over $6,000

• However, this is skewed by the top 1% who earn $200k+• Mean among those with 100,000 unique users is $75,000 in revenue

What is your annual estimated revenue from advertising on your blog?

Annual revenue from blog

MEAN annual

revenue

MEDIAN annual

revenue

MAXIMUM annual

revenue

ALL bloggers with advertising (n=406)

$6,252 $200 $350,000

U.S. bloggers with advertising (n=173)

5,063 200 350,000

Non-U.S. bloggers with advertising (n=233)

7,135 200 324,000

What is your annual estimated revenue from advertising on your blog? n=406

More sophisticated:

• Use more tools on average

• 57% have had a readership event (vs. 32%)

• More likely to sell through an ad network:

- 15% online ad network (vs. 8%)

- 19% blog network (vs. 10%)

• More likely to have affiliate ads (48% vs. 35%)

HIGH REVENUE

Blogger Highlights

78% male (vs. 66%)

42% self employed (vs. 22%)

60% professional (vs. 46%)

19% corporate (vs. 12%)

Require more resources and invest more:

• Spend more time blogging:

-81 monthly blog posts (vs. 37)

-57% spend more than 10 hours weekly blogging (vs. 24%)

• Average investment is $7,400 (vs. $1,600)

Bloggers are enjoying CPMs on parity with large publishers

• International bloggers are commanding CPMs twice as high as those in the U.S. on average

What is the average CPM that you receive for advertising on your site?

CPM (cost per thousand impressions)

MEAN CPM MEDIAN CPM

MAXIMUM CPM

ALL bloggers with advertising (n=172)

$7.20 $1.00 $300

U.S. bloggers with advertising (n=67)

4.20 1.20 30

Non-U.S. bloggers with advertising (n=105)

9.12 0.80 300

What is the average CPM (cost per thousand impressions) that you receive for advertising on your site? n=172

International CPC rates are also much higher

What is the average CPC (cost per click) that you receive for advertising on your site?

CPC (cost per click)

MEAN CPC MEDIAN CPC MAXIMUM CPC

ALL bloggers with advertising (n=130)

$10 $0.20 $330

U.S. bloggers with advertising (n=42)

1.98 0.10 50

Non-U.S. bloggers with advertising (n=88)

13.82 0.20 330

What is the average CPC (cost per click) that you receive for advertising on your site? n=130

Half of corporate bloggers have created an event for their readership

Have you ever worked with your readership to create an event either online or in person? n=1,290

Have you ever worked with your readership to create an event either online or in person?

Type of blogger

Corporate bloggers(n=1,015)

Professional bloggers

(n=590)

Personal bloggers

(n=156)

Yes, in person 10% 8% 6%

Yes, online 13 14 11

Yes, both online and in person 24 17 13

No, I have not created an event with my readership

53 61 70

• The majority of these events are in person• 30% of personal bloggers have created an event for their readers• One in five bloggers have hosted an in-person event

Blogging has benefits

Do you attend events to get material for your blog? n=1,290

Do you ever get free admission or other perks in exchange for writing about these events on your blog? n=717

Do you ever get free products to review on your blog? n=1,290

Have you been approached to write as an advocate for a product or service? n=1,290

Were you offered compensation (monetary or product) n=436

One third have been approached to be product advocates, and 5% are “spokesbloggers”

One third of bloggers have received free products

Half of bloggers attend events for their blog

• Among those bloggers who attend events, one third do so for free

One in three bloggers has been approached to be a brand advocate

• Of those approached to be brand advocated, 61% were offered payment

• Corporate bloggers are most likely to be approached to be brand advocates (46%)

Brands enter the blogosphere

Do you talk about products or brands on your blog? n=1,290

• Corporate and professional bloggers are more likely to blog about company information and less likely to post product/brand reviews

• Men and women equally likely to blog about products or brands

Do you talk about products or brands on your blog?

FrequentlyOccasionall

yNever

I post product or brand reviews 37% 45% 18%

I blog about brands that I love (or hate) 41 48 12

I blog about company information or gossip that I hear about 31 32 37

I blog about some of my every-day experiences in stores or with customer care 34 45 21

BLOGS AND TRADITIONAL MEDIAState of the Blogosphere

BLOGS ARE GAINING CREDIBILITY

Newspapers will not be able to survive in the next 10 years

Blogs are often better written than traditional media articles

I get more of my news and information from blogs than other media sources

Blogs are just as valid media sources as traditional media

More people will get their news and entertainment from blogs than from traditional media in the next 5 years

Blogs are getting taken more seriously as sources of information

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

21%

37%

43%

49%

51%

71%

Perceptions of Blogs & Traditional Media

How much do you agree with the following statements? n=1,290

• 37% of bloggers have been quoted in traditional media based on a blog post

• However, 1 in 5 bloggers think that newspapers will not be able to survive

Bloggers spend 3.5x time on the Internet compared to TV

On average, how much time do you spend weekly doing the following activities? n=1,290

Internet Television Mobile Radio Newspaper Magazines Gaming0

5

10

15

20

25

3026.9

7.86.9

4.5 3.8 3.4 3.4

Time Bloggers Spend with Media (hours/week)

• Bloggers spend almost as much time on their mobile devices as watching TV

Bloggers are active Web 2.0 participants

Download podcasts

Share videos online

Share bookmarks or searches

Twitter

Participate in a professional networking site

Photo sharing

Participate in a social networking site

Watch videos online

Subscribe to an RSS feed

Comment on articles or blog posts that you read

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%

30%

33%

41%

41%

45%

48%

64%

68%

69%

84%

Please tell us which of the activities you do online regularly

Please tell us which of the activities you do online regularly. n=1,290

AMONG BLOGGERS, OTHER BLOGS ARE THE MOST INFLUENTIAL FORM OF BRAND MESSAGING

Mobile advertising

Rich Media Advertising

Any online video content

Banner advertising

TV, Print, or Outdoor advertising

Web content (non-blog sites)

Other blogs

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%

4%

12%

14%

16%

33%

46%

61%

Types of Advertising & Content that entice Bloggers to Learn more about Products and Services

What types of advertising or content entice you to learn more about a product or service? n=1,290