Study: 50 million blogs, taking self-indulgence to a new level

It's the Me Generation staking out their real estate on the Internet.

That's the unsurprising conclusion of a new study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, Washington, DC.

Worldwide, there are 50 million bloggers.  Thirty-seven percent of posts are in Japanese; the second largest number, 31%, are in English, according to David Sifry, founder and CEO of San Francisco's Technorati.

According to the Pew Study, 52% of U.S. bloggers use blogs to express ourselves creatively, and 50% see blogs as a way to document personal experiences, or to share them with others.

While only 7% blog to make money.

That's great.  Blogs are, after all, primarily a social medium.

For business people and especially copywriters, though, it's important to remember that -- unless you are a celebrity or an unusually talented narcissist -- you won't make any money unless your blog is about your customer, and what they are interested in that would make them want to buy something.

And, as tests repeatedly prove, that's usually not you.

Source of study data: article by Joe Garofoli in the San Francisco Chronicle.

David Garfinkel
Publisher, World Copywriting Newsletter