• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, July 20, 2006

Bloggers tend to be Internet newshounds who read online news accounts, join listservs, and scour other blogs at rates that far surpass their non-blogging counterparts, according to a study released Wednesday by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

"Bloggers are avid consumers of online media," said Amanda Lenhart, senior research specialist at Pew and one of the report's authors. "They are consuming online media in a way that even other online users do not," she added.

For instance, almost all bloggers--95 percent--reported reading news online, compared to 73 percent of Internet users at large. The majority of bloggers--55 percent--said they read e-mail newsletters or listservs, compared to 29 percent of all Web users; and 47 percent of bloggers reported reading other blogs for news, compared to 9 percent of all online users.

When it comes to traditional media, however, bloggers don't show markedly different consumption patterns than non-bloggers. Approximately 90 percent of both groups watch TV news, while 85 percent of both groups read newspapers and 75 percent listen to radio news.

For the report, researchers also asked bloggers why they blogged. The most popular motive, cited by 77 percent, was to express themselves creatively. Almost the same proportion--76 percent--said they blogged to document personal experiences, while 59 percent did so to stay in touch with friends and family. Only 15 percent said they blogged in hopes of making money.

Overall, Pew found that 8 percent of Internet users--or approximately 12 million U.S. adults--keep a blog, and 39 percent of Web users (57 million U.S. adults) read them. Last year, Pew reported that 7 percent of U.S. adults kept blogs and 27 percent of online adults in the United States read them.

Wednesday's report was based on surveys of 4,573 Internet users and 233 bloggers, conducted between July of last year and April 2006.