• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, August 29, 2005

According to a comScore Networks report detailing the scale, composition and activities of audiences of Weblogs, commonly known as "blogs," nearly 50 million Americans, or about 30 percent of the total U.S. Internet population, visited blogs in Q1 2005. This represents an increase of 45 percent compared to Q1 2004.

Dan Hess, senior vice president of comScore Networks, said "The fact that we found 30 percent of the online population to have visited blogs clearly underscores the commercial importance of consumer generated and driven media. … its’ demographic composition relative to the total population will appeal to many marketers."

Other key findings of the Behaviors of the Blogosphere report include:

• Five hosting services for blogs each had more than 5 million unique visitors in Q1 2005, and four individual blogs had more than 1 million visitors each
• Of 400 of the largest blogs observed, political blogs were the most popular,   followed by "hipster" lifestyle blogs, tech blogs and blogs authored by women
• Compared to the average Internet user, blog readers are significantly more likely to live in wealthier households, be younger and connect to the Web on high-speed connections
• Blog readers also visit nearly twice as many web pages as the Internet average, and they are much more likely to shop online

To view the full Behaviors of the Blogosphere analysis, please visit here