State of the Blogosphere

Technorati’s State of the Blogosphere 2009 report has hit the Web, offering insights into professional blogging activities, brands in the blogosphere, monetization and bloggers’ impact on national and global events. Among this year’s findings and insights:

The “How” of Blogging:

• 15% of responding bloggers spend 10 or more hours blogging each week;

• 20% update blogs on a daily basis;

• 85% of bloggers use tags;

• 59% use a free, third-party hosting service for their blogs;

• 83% use archiving tools; 82% use commenting systems; and 75% support full content syndication; and,

• To attract more visitors, 76% list their blogs on Technorati; 73% tag blog posts; 28% produce content for other blogs/Web sites; and 66% comment on other blogs and hope for reciprocity.

The “Why” of Blogging:

• 71% of respondents blog at least partially to speak their minds;

• 72% blog to share their expertise;

• 61% blog to supplement their incomes;

• 53% blog to attract new clients;

• 56% said their blog has helped their company be regarded as a thought leader within their industry;

• 71% report having much greater visibility in their industry as a result of their blog; and,

• 63% said prospective clients have read their blog and, as a result, purchased their products/services.

Bloggers’ use of Twitter:

• 73% of responding bloggers use Twitter;

• 52% syndicate their blog posts to their Twitter accounts; and,

• 69% use Twitter to promote their blog; 31% to market their business; 48% to interact with readers of their blog; and 62% to bring interesting links to light.

The Future of Blogging:

• 51% of respondents believe blogging will have the greatest impact on politics over the next 10 years, followed by technology (30%), business (27%) and green/environment (21%);

• 38% believe that the blogosphere will have a greater impact on individuals’ understanding of the financial markets in the future than it did during the recent global financial crisis; and,

• 60% believe the blogosphere will have a greater impact on the presidential election in 2012 than it did in 2008.