MRI Logs Blogs, Finds Less Than 4% Of Us Write Them, 10% Read Them

Social networks may be the rage on Madison Avenue these days, but another form of user-generated media - blogs - have become a popular form of self-expression among a small, but influential group of users. According to new estimates released Tuesday by Mediamark Research Inc., Americans who wrote a blog n the last 30 days comprise less than 4% of the adult population, but their influence - especially in terms of product reviews and federal disclosure rules, has prompted the Federal Trade Commission to propose new standards for consumers blogging product testimonials and endorsements.

 

MRI also found that 10.1% of U.S. adults visited a blog in the last 30 days, while only 3.4% actually wrote one during the same period.

The heaviest activity among blog browsers and writers is among users in the 18-24 and 25-34 age brackets, according to MRI. Adults ages 18-24, for example, are 118% more likely to have written a blog (in the last 30 days) than the total adult population.

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The incidence of both visiting and writing blogs declines consistently in the higher age ranges. Just 6.4% of adults aged 55-64 visited a blog in the last 30 days while only 1.3% of them wrote a blog.

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Who's Blogging?

 

 

%

Adults

%

Ages

18-24

%

Ages

25-34

%

Ages

35-44

%

Ages

45-54

%

Ages

55-64

Visited a Blog in the Last 30 Days

 

10.1

 

15.5

 

16.1

 

12.0

8.6

6.4

Wrote a Blog in the Last 30 Days

 

3.4

7.5

5.9

3.8

2.4

1.25

Source: Mediamark Research & Intelligence, Spring 2009 Survey of the American Consumer

 

2 comments about "MRI Logs Blogs, Finds Less Than 4% Of Us Write Them, 10% Read Them".
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  1. Kevin Lenard from Business Development Specialist, October 21, 2009 at 9:04 a.m.

    Interesting statistics! Once you factor in both ego and experimentation (early adopters), you realize that this whole blogging/Twitter/Facebook thing is just a flash in the pan, not unlike SecondLife (which was touted as the future of social interaction and marketing by early adopters not long ago). Blogging will continue to play a role as a venue for free self-publishing and exposure, Twitter as a real-time, real-life, free and global news service, Facebook as a way to maintain long-term relationships with acquaintances from days gone by, but none of them will be long-term marketing platforms (they have no ROI metric now and putting 'push marketing' onto the very technology that consumers used to tell us they never wanted 'push marketing' is a bit ironic...).

    Just because peopled socialize en masse in a new medium doesn't make it a new mass medium.

    http://AdvertisingBusinessModelRedefined.BlogSpot.com?

  2. Michelle Cunningham from CUNA, October 21, 2009 at 12:49 p.m.

    How many people edit them?

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