State of the Blogosphere / 2008 Introduction * Introduction * Day 1: Who Are the Bloggers? <http://www.technorati.com/blogging/state-of-the-blogosphere/who-are-the-bloggers/> * Day 2: The What And Why of Blogging <http://www.technorati.com/blogging/state-of-the-blogosphere/the-what-and-why-of-blogging/> * Day 3: The How of Blogging <http://www.technorati.com/blogging/state-of-the-blogosphere/the-how-of-blogging/> * Day 4: Blogging For Profit <http://www.technorati.com/blogging/state-of-the-blogosphere/blogging-for-profit/> * Day 5: Brands Enter The Blogosphere <http://www.technorati.com/blogging/state-of-the-blogosphere/brands-enter-the-blogosphere/> Previous reports: 2007 <http://www.sifry.com/alerts/archives/000493.html> , Index <http://www.sifry.com/stateoftheliveweb/> Welcome to Technorati's State of the Blogosphere 2008 report, which will be released in five consecutive daily segments. Since 2004, our annual study has unearthed and analyzed the trends and themes of blogging, but for the 2008 study, we resolved to go beyond the numbers of the Technorati Index to deliver even deeper insights into the blogging mind. For the first time, we surveyed bloggers directly about the role of blogging in their lives, the tools, time, and resources used to produce their blogs, and how blogging has impacted them personally, professionally, and financially. Our bloggers were generous with their thoughts and insights. Thanks to all of the bloggers who took the time to respond to our survey. Blogs are Pervasive and Part of Our Daily Lives There have been a number of studies aimed at understanding the size of the Blogosphere, yielding widely disparate estimates of both the number of blogs and blog readership. All studies agree, however, that blogs are a global phenomenon that has hit the mainstream. The numbers vary but agree that blogs are here to stay * comScore MediaMetrix (August 2008) * Blogs: 77.7 million unique visitors in the US * Facebook: 41.0 million | MySpace 75.1 million * Total internet audience 188.9 million * eMarketer (May 2008) * 94.1 million US blog readers in 2007 (50% of Internet users) * 22.6 million US bloggers in 2007 (12%) * Universal McCann (March 2008) * 184 million WW have started a blog | 26.4 US * 346 million WW read blogs | 60.3 US * 77% of active Internet users read blogs [ http://www.technorati.com/blogging/state-of-the-blogosphere/ ]