Great writing and entertaining content help drive blog readership, according to a new study of blog reader trends. Look no further than must-read blogs like HuffingtonPost.com's Eat the Press, Gawker,
PerezHilton.com, DailyKos, and the Drudge Report.
Some 65.7% of readers polled said they read blogs for entertainment, while 42.5% read for personal interests and hobbies, 32.5% for
education and information, and 12.3% for work.
Among the findings of the study, 30.8% of blog readers read more than three blogs regularly, and of the blogs they read most often, 68.3% of
respondents said they read them daily.
When asked how they find the blogs they read, 67.3% follow links from other blogs. Recommendations on blogs (22.9%) are ranked higher than finding links on
search engines (19.6%) when it comes to selecting which blogs to read. The blog readership study was conducted by online market research service Vizu Answers and Advertising Age.
Opinion
appears to be divided on what makes a good blog.
For example, 43.9% of respondents said the quality of writing determines which blogs they will read regularly, and 43.6% said that topical focus is
a key determinant of regular readership.
In addition, 51.5% said the quality of blog writing helps them determine which blogs are credible and high-quality, and 38% noted that an author's
reputation drives perceived credibility. Frequency of posting and site design also drive what is perceived as a high-quality blog.
So what's a blog, anyway? The study found that 38.4% of poll
respondents indicated that expressing personal opinions is key in separating blogs from other online media, along with writing style (28.2%), editorial freedom (26.3%), and layout (25.8%).
The
majority of people who read blogs for professional purposes use them as tools to track information, while 27.3% use blogs to track trends.
The research also addressed Spanish-language blogs to
find that 43.3% of Spanish-speaking respondents claim to read 10 or more blogs regularly (as opposed to the 16.7% of English-speaking respondents who read more than 10).
English and
Spanish-speaking readers find blogs in similar ways using links from other blogs (59.6% for Spanish and 67.3% for English). For Spanish speakers, newsier, more topical content appears more important
with 81.1% citing this as most important for blogs they read regularly, while author reputation and quality of writing are less important.
Technorati says it's tracking more than 70 million blogs,
with more than 175,000 new blogs arriving on the scene each day.
Bloggers are updating their blogs regularly, racking up more than 1.6 million posts per day with more than 18 updates a second,
according to Vizu Answers.